The deadline to apply for a semester abroad is getting closer for many LUSEM students, as there will be no possibilities to change your mind after thursday. But have you been in doubt about your choice? I have been changing my mind a couple of times during the last days, and probably, a couple of you might also have thought about doing the same.
It might be a bad choice considering you have to do some rethinking, spending some more time figuring out what choice you should do for the fifth semester at the bachelor’s programs. Taking into consideration the amount of time left, one can easily realize it could be a good idea to have some more time when thinking about this matter. However, it might also be a good choice if you just like me, found out the ranking of one of my second-hand choice was not as good as I first thought. Ranking of universities was actually something I did not think about way too much from the beginning, but as I was getting closer to making this important decision, I started to care a bit more about the ranking of specific universities. I thought seriously about changing my mind about the semester abroad.
There is scientific reason to why people possibly change their minds when people get close to making an important choice. You can read in Psychology Today last year, in an article written by Bob Taibbi (posted 28th of May) why this situation happens. Imagine a triangle with a broad base and a pointy top. At the broad bottom, the conflicting sides, in this case, pros and cons with different destinations for a possible semester abroad, are far away from each other, and one side might be the dominant one. You could find yourself in this situation when you are far from actually making an important choice.
As you get closer to the decision however, the conflicting views become more and more clear. In the middle of the process, you might be confused about the entire situation, but as you get closer and closer to the climax, the contrasting views is brought into the decision-making and could result in the fact that you actually change your mind. So, what could you do to be able to reduce the stress connected to making this important choice? One tip could be to sleep on it and then rethink about whether you should change your mind or not, as you are more rested after a good night’s sleep and could make a wiser decision when you are not as stressed as you might have been earlier.
Now you might wonder; have I been changing my mind? I chose to ditch my second-hand choice, but the first-hand choice I have had for months will not be changed. I am personally applying to go to Universidad de Chile in Santiago as my first-hand choice. The main reasons to why I have chosen to apply for that specific university is because I want to practice my Spanish, take a couple of interesting courses, and to travel all over South America after the semester! Whatever you choose for your fifth semester, I hope that you will have great time and return to Lund with unforgettable experiences!
