When I was applying to college three long decades ago, it seemed like there was a relative handful of schools that most students at my high school applied to. It was a list that was heavy on the Ivies, heavy on the liberal arts, and sprinkled with "safeties" that included some state schools and small single-sex institutions.

In typical teenage fashion, I set my heart on a particular school -- Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania -- as much for the rather perverse reason that no one from my school had gone there in decades -- as from any real understanding that it would be a good school for me. Fortunately, it turned out to be just right, and I think there was some real good sense behind my desire to re-invent myself in college without any witnesses from the agonies of high school.

These days, it's all a lot more scientific, and a lot more anxiety-producing. As the book "The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less" (coincidentally, written by a Swarthmore professor whose introductory psychology course I still remember vividly, even though it was at 8 a.m.) points out, a proliferation of options doesn't always make us happy. In the case of kids applying to college, it seems to be a recipe for angst.

But in this case, there is at least one real and very significant benefit to all that choice, all those niche schools, all those possibilities, and that's the fact that more and more colleges are looking to a market segment that for too long was not considered college material. Students with learning disabilities are going on to college in greater numbers than ever before, and some smart colleges are making substantial efforts to attract, support and retain them.

The Boston Globe ran a story this week on a number of high schools in Massachusetts that have started holding special college fairs for special education students and their parents. One such event at Arlington High School drew about 200 students and parents to meet representatives of three dozen colleges and trade schools.

For special education students, such fairs can be less intimidating than college fairs for a more general audience, since they don't have to wrestle with how much to say about their learning difficulties in such a public setting. They know that the participating colleges are going to be willing to work with them.

So amid all the societal angst about the grueling college application process, it's good to be reminded of the many benefits of a system that does, indeed, offer a whole universe of choice.