On Choosing a School - How Did You Decide?

[Oso]

I've committed to a specific program that's hosted by a handful of colleges throughout the United States. I've narrowed it down to three schools of interest. One of them feels intuitively right to me, more so than the other two. However, the logical part of me urges caution, reminding me to consider all the other factors like quality of education, environment, experience, opportunities, and essentially, my future as a whole.

I'm looking for some external wisdom to help me approach this decision with clarity.

For those of you who have had to choose between multiple schools, or made any big, committed decision where you had to weigh intuition against logic, how did you go about it? What helped you make your choice? What worked, and what did not?

Any perspectives are appreciated.

[Aquarius]

Choose whatever field youre going to do for the rest of your life.

[Aquarius]

If its high school, choose a good one that is like averegely expensive.

[Michael569]

It is important to consider what your intuition is telling you but in a major  decision such as choosing the school it also pays to be strategic and consider real life factors.

You can also think backwards about, where you would like to be by the time you graduate and which college is most likely to get you there.

A simple SWAT analysis could also help you to compare at a glance.

And finally, channel your intuition into a practical information. Why do you feel that one particular school is ideal, what is is about it, could you verbalise it? Do no other schools have it or have you not looked well enough?

[Spiritual Warrior]

On 4/10/2025 at 3:44 PM, Oso said:

One of them feels intuitively right to me, more so than the other two. 

Here's your answer right here. We humans like to overthink things. We drive ourselves crazy analyzing all possible scenarios when all we have to do is shut off our brains and listen to our hearts to find the path we're meant to go down. 

You already have the answer you seek. Don't waste you're time overthinking it. 

[Loving Radiance]

It depends on what kind of person you are.

For some it's good to take the questioning voice as a cue to pause and consider all the other variables, and then choose the one you are intuitively drawn to.

For others it's vital to not be distracted by the skeptic inside and the only thing needed is to get an impression of the school area, websites and (online) lectures/talks to know what the right one is.

 

Focus on the intuitive feeling of it being the right one.

Edited April 17 by Loving Radiance

[The Renaissance Man]

@Oso You can make an informed decision without blindly relying on intuition.

• Are the other "non-intuition" factors far better for the other two options?
• Do you feel you have the data to know how your life is likely going to be like 10 years from now?

If yes, choose the best option. If no, collecting more data could be helpful.

The fact that you consider happiness and sustainability as part of the equation is already great. Too many look at "career" as the only variable and get burned (and burned out).