For most college-bound students, May 1 is the national deadline to commit to a college or university. Even though many Wolverine seniors discovered which college they would attend through early decision or athletic commitments, most used April to finalize their decision.  April is as a pivotal month for seniors, as the last day for colleges to send out admissions decisions is April 1.

The beginning of senior year is often full of filling out applications to colleges. While many seniors apply to under 10 schools, some go for more.

“I applied to 17 schools; all over the east coast and Stanford,” said senior Safiya Osei, who will be attending Bowdoin College in Maine this fall. “Some schools like Ohio University and Hofstra and Bridgewater sent me a free [application] so I went ahead and applied for safety.”

Even though Osei applied to many  schools, deciding on her top choice wasn’t hard.

“I ended up choosing Bowdoin because I fell in love back [during a program] in November,” she said. “I also got the opportunity to talk to their pre-med advisor [which I plan on majoring in] and learned about their promise to help all graduates of Bowdoin.”

Many seniors use college visits to gauge how much they want to attend a school.

“I really wanted the school spirit aspect of college, and I wanted to feel like I was somewhere that people really loved their school,” said senior Megan Herrup, who will be attending Virginia Tech (VT) in the fall. “I chose Tech because when I toured there, it felt like I was coming home.”

Price and location is also a major factor for most students when deciding on a school, including Herrup. While many students want to get away from Virginia or their dream schools are located far away, going out-of-state is usually more pricey. For Herrup, her college journey led her to choosing to go in-state over her original top choice, which was out-of-state and more expensive.

“Tech wasn’t originally my first choice, but after weighing the pros and cons,

and realizing that it was best to graduate without debt, I decided to [go in-state],” she said.

For senior Pilar Jimenez, who will be attending the University of Virginia (UVA) in the fall, realizing her top choice came through her feeling.

“I applied early action [to UVA] and got in,” she said. “I officially made my decision… [later in March] when I would only look at the UVA pages, Facebook groups, and Dean J’s Instagram. I never did that with other

schools.”

Though Jimenez is excited about her school, she explained that if she were to advise next year’s seniors, she would advise them to start their applications earlier.

“[I would advise them to] make a chart with all of the deadlines, really scope out [each college’s] website and try to get a better feeling of what each school is about,” Jimenez said. “I would [also] start applications in August, as soon as you can.”

Herrup also gave similar advice.

“Some advice I would give [to the Class of 2018 when applying] is you’ll know where you belong when you feel it. Go on tours, explore your options in-state and out-of-state,” said  Herrup. “It’s important to remember that it’s a very stressful time, but all the work is worth it in the end, I promise.”