The college search is on

How far from home do you want to be? Do you want a big school or a small school? Do you want to have in-state tuition or want to go out of state? Do you want a private or public school? What do you want your major to be? Do you want to be in a rural, urban, or suburban setting? How much are you willing to pay for tuition? What kind of residential housing do you want - or do you want to commute? Do you want there to be greek life? Do you want to be able to study abroad? Do you want to be in a certain club? Do you want to play sports?

All these questions are so overwhelming; as a college senior, it just makes you want to pull your hair out. The only questions you're concerned about are: Am I ready? How will I survive? How will I be able to be away from friends and family?

I knew somewhat of what I wanted in a college. I wanted a 4 year college that was medium sized, in a suburban area, big into community service (a CKI would be a plus!), had study abroad opportunities, nice dorms, had a major for Social Work, was closed off, and had super friendly people. Thanks to the College Board search, it was easy to narrow down colleges - or at least, narrow them down to a couple hundred. Where would I go from here?

I got advice from friends and family, but the list of colleges I liked kept building up - there were colleges in Maryland, Washington D.C., West Virginia, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New Jersey that I liked. How would I know when I found the right one for me? Day after day, I would sign onto college board - narrowing down my searches a little more by picking more specific criteria. No one said this would be easy, right? I just hoped it would be easier.

College? Wait, I thought I was in Kindergarten yesterday.

It's hard to believe that it's already time to go to college. College kids seemed so old, and there's no way I was old enough to go. What is college anyway? That place you live with complete strangers, get slammed with tests, have professors that don't know your name and know nothing about you, eat mush for dinner (or, just skip all meals), and fail miserably? No, I would not let the cliche college stereotypes become true life. I was determined to find a good college - a college that was right for me; a college that I was a person, and not just a number. But where do I start?

Hello, College Board. The place where you discover how many colleges there really are. How in the world am I suppose to find the college that's right for me if there are almost 4,000 colleges all over the nation? Let the search begin...