As most members of my sophomore class can agree, and probably those from the junior class, colleges send a lot of letters. Their plan is to berate me ceaseless e-mails and letters that tell me that Ball State University really is for me.

While I get about five letters and five e-mails a day, there aren’t many different colleges that send e-mails. Some of my most frequent ones are Ball State, Marquette, and Fordham universities. These colleges must send out millions of those a year, but what effect do they have on potential students?

So far I’ve responded three total times, but this was only because I had already heard of the schools. The generic letter sent out has done little to sway me to one day attend a small liberal arts school in the heart of Minnesota.

Having these letters come to me forces me to think about my future. My future has always been something I only grudgingly think about, and this is usually when friends of my parents ask me about it. I always tell them that I have no idea, which is the truth — I do have no idea.

Frankly I enjoy not knowing. Without cemented plans, I can have a broad field of interest which may one day point me in my eventual path. Whether that path takes me to a large state university or the small St. Louis University, I don’t really care.