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Selecting
a college can be difficult and time consuming, but it’s a lot of fun
too. There are a number of things that affect your decision, for
example, how far away from home you want to be, population diversity,
religious beliefs, the campus, local facilities, tuition and housing costs, and many more. Figuring out a couple of things before you start
searching can be a big help. |
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What do I
want? |
 First, you should figure out what’s
important to you and search for colleges based on those preferences;
this will narrow down the search right away. There are a number of
different websites that offer quizzes you can fill out to find suitable
schools; one is the
College MatchMaker quiz on the College Board website.Once you complete the quiz, a list of
possible schools will be generated, which you can access by clicking on
“see results” in the top right hand corner. These quizzes are not
perfect and sometimes we have so many preferences that our search
becomes too narrow. If this happens, you may have to sacrifice a couple
of smaller preferences in order to generate a wider list of schools.
I also recommend writing your own list
of preferences and doing your own research on the different colleges
rather than simply relying on the quizzes to do the work for you. You
may already have a pretty good idea of what you are looking for in a
college so you may not feel that taking a quiz is necessary. You may
even have a list of preferences already. But, for those of you who
don’t, starting a list and/or taking a quiz will help you figure out
where to start. |
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Basic Questions |
 Another way you can figure out what’s important to you in a college
before you begin your search is to ask yourself some basic questions.
For example:
- Why do I want to go to college?
- What do I want to study and major in?
- What are my academic goals?
- What are my interests and abilities? What do I enjoy doing and
do well?
- What do I want out of my college experience?
- What campus activities do I want to become involved in - such as
student government, clubs, music or theater?
- How many years do I plan on attending college?
- Do I want to go to graduate school?
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What do they want? |
 Now that you’ve considered your own preferences, you should consider the
preferences of the schools you’re interested in. Some schools will look
for high test scores, while others will be more forgiving of test scores
and value GPA’s or extracurricular involvement. Most schools have an
idea of what they’re looking for in a potential student, and you want to
be comfortable and happy at the school you choose so it’s important to
consider where you will be best suited from both perspectives.
One way of finding out what different schools are looking for is to do
some research. Look for schools you like online and go to their
admissions page to find out what their minimum and preferred GPA is, how
important extracurricular involvement is, and if there are any specific
areas of involvement that are preferred. Some schools will have extra
requirements such as fluency in at least one second language, regardless
of your choice of major. Some programs of study may also require
specific prerequisites for entry into that particular program. So don’t
forget to research the actual major you are interested in before you
rule in or rule out a school. (For help and advice on figuring out a
field of interest see the section on Choosing a Major.) |
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Staying Organized |
 As discussed in the section on college planning, it is important to stay
organized and keep track of each school you are interested in. One of
the things you might want to do at this stage is to keep a contact sheet
of information concerning the schools you are interested in. This means
keeping a list of each school along with their contact information. This
will make it easier for you to see clearly which schools you are
considering and will make it easier to contact them when you need to.
Once you have narrowed down your search and have a list of the schools
you are interested in, you should request information from each of those
schools. Some colleges will allow you to do this online, while others
may prefer a phone call or a letter request. On the contact sheet, you
may want to include a box to check off when you have sent a request and
a box to check when you have received that information. That way you can
keep track of your progress with each school.
Sometimes when you are sending and receiving a lot of letters,
applications, and other materials, it is easy to lose track of things so
this will help you stay on track. You could keep all of your college
information, brochures, and applications in one folder with individual
files for each school, or you might prefer to keep each school separate
by keeping information associated with each school in different folders.
Whatever works best for you is fine; just be sure to create some kind of
effective organization system for your college information.
Choosing a college or several colleges to apply to takes some time.
First you have to start from scratch and think about what you want, what
you have to offer, and what a school has to offer you. Then you have to
compile a list of all the schools you are interested in attending and
request information. The next step will be to arrange to visit the
schools you decide you are interested in. People often think that
visiting a school is something to be done once you have applied; but in
fact, it is an important part of figuring out which schools to apply to.
You should always try and visit a school before you apply to study
there; because otherwise, you are relying on secondary sources to tell
you what the school, campus, and surrounding area are like. |
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Campus Visits |
 Visiting
the campus of a college you are interested in can be a fun opportunity
to check out the atmosphere of a place, test out the cafeteria food, see
what campus and local facilities are really like, and just generally get
a feel for the place and whether it’s somewhere you could live for a few
years. Looking through brochures and reading about a place is a totally
different experience than seeing it in person and can totally change
your perspective on things. After a visit to one school of interest, you
might decide it isn’t for you. Likewise, visiting another school that
perhaps you weren’t so interested in initially may totally capture your
interest. For this reason alone, it’s important to see the schools
you’re interested in rather than blindly applying and deciding where to
go.
Other than the look, feel, and extent to which you like the school
and the surrounding area, there are some other important things to
consider while you are there. For example, you might want to consider
the following questions:
- Do the faculty and staff seem helpful?
- How do you register for classes? Can you easily register for the
classes you need to take?
- What do current students think of the college?
- What are the facilities like? Are the buildings and campus
grounds well maintained?
- How safe is the campus?
- Is it easy to get around campus? Is the college's campus spread
out very far?
- Is public transportation easily accessible?
- What about parking? Can you park close to campus or to where you
will be living?
- Do you have a good overall positive feeling when you leave
campus?
A good way to find answers to such questions is to speak to faculty,
staff, and current students. You could also grab a copy of the school
newspaper and check out what’s on the bulletin boards to see what’s
going on in the college community and how people feel about it. Some
schools also have bulletin boards in the cafeterias where questions and
complaints can be posted concerning the dining halls and food. This is a
good chance to check out any student complaints about the food and the
staff responses! |
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How many schools should I visit? |
 It’s important to visit every school you are applying to. This can be
time consuming and expensive depending on how far the schools are from
your home, and who you want to come with you, but it is well worth
visiting every school you are applying to. Otherwise, it will be hard to
compare schools you’ve visited with schools you haven’t. As I said
before, visiting a campus can be a perspective changing experience,
meaning that a school you thought was exactly what you wanted before you
visited may not be all you had hoped after your visit, and a school you
had lower down on your list may be exactly what you’re looking for.When you’re planning your campus visits, be sure to schedule them so
that you have enough time to recover from one before you begin another.
You want your visits to be fun, not tiring! So, definitely try not to
schedule two in the same day. Most schools will take at least half a day
to a day for tours and visits, so it isn’t likely you’d be able to do
this anyway. Plus, your schools may be far apart from one another, so
you don’t want to be rushing around or taking excessively long journeys
in the space of a few days. Having time in between each visit can also
give you time to consider each school individually before moving on to
the next. There is a lot to consider and you don’t want to forget to
consider anything important and make an uneducated decision based on
something superficial. |
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How do I make a final decision about where
to go? |
 After
each visit you might want to keep a list of things you liked and
disliked about the school. This will help you when it comes to making a
final decision about where to go. Try to focus on the important stuff
like whether the school supports your academic goals and requirements
for your career choices, current student satisfaction with classes,
professors, and administrative issues, and your overall comfort with the
campus and the surrounding area.Avoid making decisions based only on less important issues like whether
your friends, or boyfriend/girlfriend is going to attend, how much
social activity occurs at that school, or because you think that’s where
people expect you to go. Social activity on campus can be important and
it is tempting to follow your friends and have a familiar face around,
but don’t let these kinds of things dictate where you go. Consider all
of the pros and cons before you make your decision. |
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