How to Choose Your Future Home When You Can’t Make It to Campus

Trust me—I know how disorienting webinars and online video conferencing can be sometimes. But in lieu of in-person events, colleges have created accessible (and non-awkward) online programming. Here at NYU, all of our schools and colleges, and many of our majors, are holding webinars tailored to their admitted students. We also have general sessions for students and parents about student life, residential life, professional opportunities, and more. Newly admitted students to NYU can register for webinars in the Academics section of the Admitted Student Hub.

There may be no substitute for standing in the center of Washington Square Park, soaking in the vibrant culture of Greenwich Village, or experiencing the dynamic vibe of Downtown Brooklyn, but our virtual campus tour will get you as close to that as possible! Many colleges will have similar offerings, so don’t hesitate to reach out to the admissions team to ask about them.

When it comes to choosing a college, you’re also choosing your future friends and colleagues. My friend Henry was one of the biggest factors in my ultimate college decision. While he was at his home in Connecticut and I was at mine in Sydney, 16,000 miles away, we met on a Facebook group for admitted students. After talking and Skyping throughout April, he sent me a long list of reasons to choose my eventual alma mater. Four years later, we traveled through Europe and North Africa together after graduation.

Regardless of your platform of choice, you can make connections with future classmates from all over the world. So follow the NYU 2027 Facebook page and keep tabs on @MeetNYU on all of your favorite social channels and #NYU2027 on Instagram and Twitter. Connecting with fellow admitted students now gives you a community of people to make these tough decisions with and potentially a future friend on campus. Regardless of where you end up, it never hurts to meet new folks and to work through the college process together.

I spent my first two years of college terrified of emailing my professors. I was anxious about setting up appointments during office hours. Don’t be me. When I eventually started connecting more with professors, I got 10 times more out of my college experience. You can start connecting with faculty and administrators now—it’s expected in the digital age!

If you want more information about housing, next steps, or advising, email or call the respective office. To learn more about support for students of color on campus, reach out to the Center for Multicultural Education and Programs. If you’re really excited to conduct discourse analysis research with a professor in the French department, shoot them a (respectful) email asking them to send more information or schedule a call. Anyone who works at a college cares about learning. Part of that mission involves ensuring you have all of the information you need.

All of that information gathering, whether online or offline, is to find the college that fits you best. You have to answer all sorts of important questions about the colleges that have admitted you. Do they have an academic pathway you are passionate about? Do they have a soccer team or jazz choir you can join? Will you feel supported, seen, and valued at this university? Is [insert any school’s color here] my color? Even from far away, you can get a sense of all of these factors—academic fit, social fit, emotional fit, financial fit—simply by making the most of online resources and reaching out.

At the end of the day—in my case, late in the day on April 30—I ended up enrolling at the college that I initially wanted to enroll in when I first received all my decisions a month earlier. I wavered throughout the month, considering many different factors, but I ultimately went with my heart. A bit cliche? Yes. But the college application process is all about you. You can make a million pros-and-cons lists, and I’d recommend doing precisely that. But there’s also good reason to trust that gut instinct that tells you whether a school will feel like home.

Congratulations and good luck with the decision-making process! It might be scary, but this is the fun part—the power is in your hands. Regardless of where you attend college in the fall and beyond, you will make the right choice. We’re always here if you have any questions.