Every year, seniors toil away,  thinking about what college they want to go to when they graduate.

Some people have a dream college that they know they are going to when they graduate. However, for me I had a couple of different schools at the top of my list

At the beginning of my senior year I applied to seven different colleges. I got into most of them, and while most people would be so happy by that, for me it just made me so much more stressed out.

Some of the colleges I applied to were just backups, colleges I would go to if I did not get into my dream schools. I applied to IUPUI, Valparaiso, Southern Indiana, Ball State and Olivet Nazarene just so I could have other options. I also applied to IU Bloomington, but that was just more for my dad. My top picks of colleges are Belmont University or  Murray State University.

Choosing a college comes down to many different categories, each differing from person to person. Some things students think about when choosing a college is the money, location and classes.

For me it was about what college gave me the feeling of home or sense of security. So at my college visits, I tried to picture myself living there at the campus I was visiting. I thought about how it would feel to be away from home living there, if it was somewhere I could live for the next four to six years of my life.

When it came down to choosing a college, my choices were between my favorites Murray and Belmont.

Belmont was the college that I said I was totally going to for the past year and a half. It was like a dream when I went to visit. It was a beautiful campus, I fell in love with everything the campus had to offer from the housing to the location. Belmont is a six hour drive from my house. It’s a college right in Nashville, Tennessee. Everything with Belmont was perfect.

I never thought of going anywhere but Belmont. That was until I visited Murray. Right when I went, I knew I was going to go there. The whole college felt like home, from the small town to how big the campus is.

I fell in love with the campus so fast. On the way home from the visit I told my dad that I was definitely going to Murray instead of Belmont. At first he thought I was making my decision a little too fast. But it felt like home.

I plan on going to Murray to get my bachelors degree in social work, in hopes of working in Kentucky as a social worker for two years after that so I can take advantage of a tuition assistance program.

After all the stress and worry, choosing a college came down to simply what “felt” right.  Time will tell if I made the right call.