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As a high school senior, I applied to about 30 universities and was accepted into them all, making it difficult to decide which college to attend. Many thoughts crossed my mind during this process: did I want to go out of state? In state? To a big university? A small college?

I narrowed down my college list by first deciding if I could be independent enough to go out of state. My answer was no. I was unprepared to attend college out of state without a car or the ability to see my family for months at a time. I thought about how I would get groceries, be able to afford to get back home, and more. So, that solidified why I decided to stay in Michigan for college.

After that, I looked at the Michigan schools that accepted me: Eastern Michigan University, Grand Valley State University, Michigan State University, Oakland University, Saginaw Valley State University, University of Michigan – Ann Arbor, and Wayne State University. Automatically, I ruled out schools over an hour’s drive to Detroit because I wanted to go home whenever possible. So my options were the University of Michigan, Wayne State, Oakland University, and Eastern Michigan.

Next, I made a pros and cons list of my high school experience, including things like whether I liked classrooms with many students or just a few. Once I realized I enjoyed having more personal time with teachers and that I would dread walking to class across a large campus, I ruled out bigger colleges.

Dorms were also a significant factor in my college decision because I wanted to be comfortable in my new home. I didn’t like Eastern Michigan’s dorms, and Wayne State’s dorms were expensive. I ultimately decided that Oakland University was the best college for me. Its dorms were new and modern; they also included convenience stores, and the walks to classes were ten minutes at the maximum.

When I started college at Oakland University, I learned it has first-year advising for new students, an office for minority students, a writing center, an honors college, free student parking, and more. These all helped solidify my decision to choose the college. And after being here for almost two semesters, I could not imagine being anywhere else.

Written by Amber Harris, Spring 2023 Let’s Detroit Campus Ambassador