The ONE Thing You Should Do Before Making a College Decision

National College Decision Day is May 1, which means that tons of students across the country (maybe including you!) are about to announce where they plan to spend the next chapter of their lives. It can be a nerve-wracking choice — one that requires a lot of consideration and maybe even a pros and cons list. 

I relied heavily on my own pros and cons list when I was making my college decision in 2021. I constantly revised, reread, and talked it over with my parents. But I kept coming back to the drawing board. The two schools I was debating between were vastly different — not just in location, but in size, program, and benefits — and it made me doubt what I truly wanted. I worried that I would regret picking one school over the other, and I was constantly in my head about it and procrastinated making a final choice. 

After recently coming across Chloe’s (@chlo3_31’s) TikTok about writing a letter to their future self, I realized how much smoother my college decision process could’ve been if I had written down all of my uncertainties and fears about school in addition to my much more fact-based pros and cons list. I needed an outlet for my anxious thoughts. 

If you’re like me and worries are clouding your mind, putting them down on paper may help you work through them and ultimately make your pick. Consider writing a letter to your future college self to express uncertainties or hopes before you decide on the location of your next four years. Then you can read it at a later date and reflect on your thoughts. For me, it’s reassuring to know now that the fears that seemed so big at the time were something I would easily overcome. 

Whether you want to handwrite your letter or use a website like FutureMe, your letter to your future self can include anything that comes to mind about college or the decision you’re trying to make. 

If you decide to write your letter by hand, you can even turn it into a mindfulness check-in and truly personalize the letter and envelope. 

Or, if you’re worried the letter will get lost in the moving shuffle or you won’t be patient enough to wait to open it, FutureMe is a great option. The website allows you to write a digital letter and have it emailed to you at a later time, preventing you from misplacing or impatiently reading it. 

Ready to start writing, but not sure where to begin?

1. How are you feeling about starting college?
2. What’s making you hesitate about choosing a college?
3. What regrets are you worried you’ll have about your college decision?
4. What do you hope to experience during your first semester?
5. What are your goals for your freshman year?

You can also decide — now or later — when you want to open your letter. For example, TikToker Macie (@macie.db) wrote a letter to their future self to be read after graduating from nursing school. Your timeline can be however long or short you want. You could open this on your first day of class, after your first semester or quarter ends, or even when you graduate, like Macie plans to do.

However you want to tackle this project is completely up to you. Deciding what college to go to can be a complicated process that requires a lot of thought. You know yourself best and how you can help clear your own mind to make the decision as smooth as possible.