For many seniors on campus, the next step in the future is college with many U.S. colleges and universities having first-year students make their enrollment decisions by May 1. 

“I’m going to major in architecture at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute,” senior Kathryn Hung said. “I made this decision in mid-April because I was trying to decide between RPI and UT Austin. I got my acceptance letters back in January, but it just took me forever to decide because I wanted to visit both colleges first and learn more about their programs because the program is the most important thing to me.”

Although there is often weeks, if not months, between when a student is accepted to a school and when they must decide, some students think the May 1 deadline is too soon.

“I do think that this deadline is cutting it a bit close for the people who get accepted through regular decision since that comes out around April 1,” senior Tanmay Gupta said. “This is especially true since people need to research each acceptance, comparing the pros and cons, and some people even want to visit the college and check out the general vibe before committing. With that, one month seems to be a very short deadline for doing that.”

But regardless of any deadline, each student has different priorities when it comes to choosing their home for the next several years.

“I decided on IU after visiting the campus at an official admitted students event and spending a weekend in the town around early April,” senior Alexander Monroe said. “After experiencing the college atmosphere and campus, I knew it was my ideal college.”