Admissions office probes applicants\' scary depths It turns out that it's not just me who thinks that sometimes seniors' final choice of college is - let's just say it - whimsical. After a year of visiting, touring, researching, discussing, and agonizing you'd expect a thoughtful, well-reasoned decision when the final college choice is made, but often when I ask them to explain why they made their choice, the reply is simply, "It just felt right."
It turns out that, when making decisions, emotion usually preceeds thought. Thus, we make choices based on our feelings, and THEN we try, sometimes unsuccessfully, to put words around our decisions. The admissions office at UNC Chapel Hill is tapping in to this research to find new ways to appeal to prospective applicants.