We are driving slowly. Slower than the speed limit will allow. It's a back road in Massachusetts, and we are visitors, but I don't think that's really an excuse.

I am driving, while my mom hands the directions. She's yelling. I'm yelling. The directions say one thing, and the road does another.

We finally pick one fork in the road and take it praying it will eventually take us to University of Massachusetts at Amherst. I am scared that we are driving into further abyss, and my mom is worried we will be late for the tour.

Is all this animosity worth it? Will this one school help me, as a second semester junior, decide where I want to spend the next four important years of my life? Yes.

I am by far not the only junior, or sophomore for that matter, to take advantage of the week we had off from school for spring break to go to sunny, warm—actually not that warm—Boston. I visited more than five schools, and at the end, I was no closer to finding the school of my dreams.

It would make senior year a lot easier, if I knew what school I wanted to go to from the start, and then I could put all my energy into that application. Unfortunately that is not what happened. The good news is I learned what did not want. That's a start.

Big or small? In the city or outside the city? Big city or small city? All these are important questions that perspective college students should be thinking about when they college visit. Whether or not a person is blown away by a college is not important. What is important is that certain aspects of each school you visit will make your decision easier in the long run.

It seems early to be thinking about college when you are trying to deal with high school. Lets not forget, that many high school juniors, who did not forget to bring their assigned English reading with them on their journey, did millions of college visits. It is hard to think about something that is so far in the future when you have a lot going on in your life at the present.

When traveling the country for a glimpse at college life, it is hard not to get caught up in the statistics and demographics of a college or the competitiveness. While statistics are important in the long run, the competitiveness will only make your decision more stressful.

So parents, when you find yourself lost in a remote part of the country looking for the college that fits what your child is looking for, make sure to take into consideration that while they might not find one school they find particularly good for them, each school visited brings them closer to a choice. The pressure from within themselves is already so strong. Do not increase it by forcing them to make a decision so early in the process.