It’s My Decision

by Elwood R. Peterson

Director of Guidance for the Church’s Educational and Career Advisement Center

At last I’ve made it!

After all of these programmed school years of having others make my decisions I can really begin choosing for myself. Graduation is here and the rest of my life is my decision.

I guess there is more to a decision than just choosing. I’m going to have to live with my choice for a long time, and if I blow it, I’m the one who will suffer later on.

I don’t even really know where I want to be a few months from now, let alone what I will be doing in a few years. I guess I should consider the alternatives. I could work, go to school, or even stay home, but I am afraid that the last alternative couldn’t last too long.

Of course, my folks want me to go to school. But which occupation is best for me?

I know I need a pretty good salary that I can depend on, so I guess some kind of training will be essential for me to get a good job. I wonder if I would like technical college better than university training. It would be less expensive, and I could learn a trade in two years and maybe live at home while I am going to school.

But I’ve always sort of wanted to go to college. I’d like to know what it is like to live in a dorm and go to all the games.

Say I decided on college; then the next big decision needs to be made. How do I select a school that’s right for me? Should I start in a junior college and try to transfer to a four-year school for my junior year? I guess I should be making application right now.

I’d like to grow spiritually. I wonder what opportunities the Church provides for students. I remember that in seminary we talked about going to a school that had an institute. That might be a good idea because I want to have Mormon friends. I’ll have to check and see if there is an institute located near the schools where I want to go.

I wonder what it would be like going to a Church school.

I bet that there wouldn’t be the pressure to do things that are against Church standards. I remember the times when so many of my friends did things that I didn’t want to do. I remember how hard it was to say no.

Ricks—I wonder what it would be like.

One of my friends went there last year and said that he felt like he really belonged and that people really cared. He talked about the good teachers. I don’t want to go someplace where I will be just a number and where I’ll feel all alone.

They have an open door policy so that all students graduating from high school are admitted. Also, if I decide to go for just two years, I could complete an associate degree. Or I could transfer the credits I earned to a four-year college.

I wonder what my friends would be like. It would really be something to go to student and Church activities where everything is run by students. I wonder what a student ward would be like and what kind of a job I would have.

How am I going to know what’s the right thing for me?

BYU … 25,000 students … I can’t imagine being around that many Latter-day Saints my own age. Just think what a football or basketball game would be like with that many people yelling.

I’ve heard that they have devotional assemblies each week, and the speakers are General Authorities, sometimes even members of the First Presidency. I’d like to go to a student ward and meet lots of returned missionaries.

I’d sure have to study. I wonder what classes would be like. And I wonder what major I’d like. I understand they have over seventy majors. How do you ever decide.

I wonder if I would be admitted? I know that you have to have good grades in high school and on the ACT. And then the bishop has to interview you.

Well, I might as well try. I don’t have anything to lose. Last year I saw a group from the BYU Program Bureau perform, and they looked like they were having so much fun. I wonder if I could join one of the clubs.

Hey, I remember hearing the stake BYU admissions adviser talking about the new BYU calendar. They’re starting at the end of August this year and having the first semester end before Christmas.

Then the next semester ends in April. That would give me four months to work before school started again. And I bet I could get a good job since I’d be out of school before the other kids would be.

Or maybe Mom and Dad would want me to attend the semester starting in June and ending in August. Then I could graduate in just three years.

Can you imagine that? Me, a college graduate in just three years! And it would still leave me a two-month summer vacation each year.

How am I going to know what’s right for me?

I guess that I really can’t make up my mind until I have all the facts. That’s what I’ll do. I’ll write to a technical college, a junior college, the state college, Ricks, and BYU. I’d be stupid to try and decide without knowing the facts. Maybe I can even go and look some of the schools over. And then if I really pray about it, I’ll know what’s right for me.

Illustrated by Ralph Reynolds