You own all the paraphernalia, you know all the fight songs, and you’ve already visited (more than once). Maybe it’s where your parents met, or where your older sister went to school. Maybe you like the sports, or the city, or the prestige. Whatever the reason, you know one thing for certain: this is your dream school, and you are destined to go there.
All through high school (or maybe even throughout your life), this school has been your end goal. Every homework assignment, every test, every extra-curricular activity, has all been for one purpose: your admittance to the school of your dreams.
And while goals are great, having your heart set on a specific school can coax you into devastating letdown. Beyond your grades, your application, and your SAT scores, you have little to no control over who admits you and who rejects you.
Not to mention, this attitude will render you numb when it comes to answers from every other college in the universe. When no other school was given a chance to compare to the “dream school,” no other admittance will be of any significance to you. Instead of celebrating these achievements, you’ll remain anxiously in waiting for the one big envelope that you actually care about, should it ever arrive.
Placing this much emotional stock in one place could take a vicious toll on your self-esteem. Investing yourself entirely in the admission to a single, all-important school leaves you very vulnerable. If rejected, you’ll find that you feel rejected not just as a college applicant, but also as a person. You won’t feel good enough and you’ll feel like you failed when in fact, you just aren’t a good fit.
If your dream school happens to be have a high price tag attached to the degrees it bestows, with not much financial aid, setting your heart on that college could also mean taking on a huge debt. Starting your adult life with the burden of a huge debt can be extremely difficult. Are you sure the huge price tag is justified? Will you ever see a return on your college investment if you attend a college that’s beyond your means?
Not only can focusing on a single college leave you heartbroken and financially broke, it could also lead you to overlook many other equally suitable colleges. Because even if you think you chose this dream school for the “right” reasons, what exactly are the right reasons? When you fell in love with a college when you were 12, did you know what you’d want to study when you were 18? When the winner of the 2009 Final Four became your fantasy school, did you know what size school would benefit you most? When you create a long-term emotional tie to a university, you don’t rationally weigh out all the pros and cons. But when you’re choosing where to spend the next four years earning your degree, you’ll want to think things through.
I am by no means advising you not to be ambitious. I’m not advising you not to care about where you end up, or to just “see what happens.” Actually, my point is quite the opposite: set lots of goals and give yourself lots of options. That way, when the admission letters start clogging up your mailbox, you’ll have a lot to be excited about.
