Many have had a dream college or university since they were young, but not everyone is that way. For some, there are family legacies to uphold, while others are the first in their family to go to college in the country.

Senior Neil Garg had plenty of choices for college: St. Louis University, Pittsburgh University, Rutgers University, the University of Michigan and Michigan State University. For years, Garg didn’t really see Michigan State as his school of choice and was always swaying more toward the University of Michigan. After gaining acceptance to the program of his choice at Michigan State, however, he made his choice. Garg will be a part of the Osteopathic Medical Scholar Program, where he will get exposure to physician and clinical skills as an undergraduate. It is an eight year program, and if he maintains a 3.5 GPA he will not have to take the MCAT.

“MSU is going to be a good school,” Garg said. “I know that the community is really good and the friendships you make there [are too].”

Unlike Garg, senior Alec Fleifel only applied to two colleges: his dream college since he was a kid, Wayne State University, and Savannah College of Art and Design. He got accepted into both and was faced with a decision.

“I looked at the programs,” Fleifel said. “SCAD had more options for me, whereas Wayne [State University] was more heavily based on pure academics rather than creativity.”

Fleifel will major in architecture. He decided to pursue architecture because of his interest in playing with legos and building homes when he was younger. The architecture program at SCAD will take six years to complete. Since SCAD is out of state he is nervous about being alone but he is excited for the test of living on his own.

While Fleifel had to make decisions on where to attend, so did senior Elise Xia. She was torn between the University of Michigan and Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. To help her decide, Xia created a PowerPoint to decide which college was a better fit for her. The more that Xia looked into Duke, the more she saw it as a better fit.

“Something that was super important to me when choosing a school was having a level of personal guidance, familiarity and care from administrators and faculty that I was unsure I’d get at a larger school,” Xia said. “This really proved to me that Duke is the place to go for that.”

Xia and senior Afriti Chinoy had a process of narrowing down their choices. Chinoy quickly figured out she wanted study dentistry. She was accepted into numerous programs but immediately began narrowing them down. She sought a school with a direct dental program that would not be too expensive, and she found that Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio was the best fit.

“Case Western is well-known for its healthcare programs,” Chinoy said. “Plus, I got a lot of scholarship money which made it affordable.”

In addition to the benefit of saving money, she is excited to live on an urban campus.

“I’m definitely nervous especially because of the academic rigor and new location, but I’m excited to meet new people,” Chinoy said.

Xia is excited about what her college experience will bring her. When she goes to Duke this fall, she will take her parents’ advice with her.

“They definitely believe that where I go doesn’t matter; what does matter is what I do there,” she said.