There are so many choices when it comes to choosing where you will spend the next several years of your life, the task can seem daunting. The last three semesters of your high school life will be consumed with the details of when, where, what, how, who all related to colleges. Take a deep breathe. Remember, this decision needs to be practical but also the best decision for you. When researching colleges and trying to narrow your choices down, there are a few things you should be thinking about.
You know yourself better than anyone else. When deciding on a school you need to ask yourself where and who. Where is the school located? Is it close to home, out-of-state? Don’t pick a school far away just because you want to get away from your parents or home town. Be realistic. Is the school located near where you want to live after graduating? Is it somewhere that offers a lot of opportunities for the field in which you plan to enter after graduating? Also, you might want to check out how large the school population is. Do you work better in smaller class sizes or bigger? Do you need one-on-one time with the professor or do you work better on your own? You should know the answer to these questions when deciding on a school and then apply to schools according to them.
Cost is something very important to think about when applying to schools. Know if you are going to need financial aid or scholarships. If your parents are paying regardless of the cost then you don’t need to worry about it, but that isn’t the case for most students. Research how much money each school generally gives to students and what percentage of the tuition and fees it covers. Check out any scholarships the school offers that you would be eligible for. Then, after making those calculations, figure out if you could cover whatever is left over. If you can’t afford the school and know you won’t be able to get much financial aid, then I suggest looking into schools that you can afford even if they aren’t ideal. Being thousands of dollars in debt after graduation isn’t the most fun thing in the world.
When researching, try to find out what the school is best-known for being focused on. Is it a more liberal studies sort of school? Or does it focus more on business? Obviously the school doesn’t HAVE to be focused on your major, but that is something that might be the deciding factor when choosing between several schools. Even if the department you’re interested in isn’t very well-known, dig a little deeper. Sometimes schools can have unsung heroes; amazing professors that haven’t been given much acclaim. This is when a campus visit can be useful. If you get to sit in on a potential professor’s class, it might give you a better idea about how that department works and you might even be able to meet a professor who can help foster your career interest.
Check out the extracurricular activities the school offers. Many smaller schools don’t offer quite as wide a variety as the larger schools. It would be very disappointing to enroll in a school only to find out they don’t have any sports teams you’re interested in joining or that choir you wanted to sing in. This goes as well for academic programs or Greek affiliations. If you’re interested in a particular club or sorority, make sure the school offers it because not all of them do.
If you’re living away from home, find out what kind of housing is available for each year of being a student at that school. Some universities have special requirements for on-campus housing vs. off-campus housing. Know the price differences for each and how to become eligible. Make sure you know the dates that certain paperwork is due. Some schools require you to submit a housing form well before you have decided on that college exclusively. This is very important because if you try to get housing late, sometimes there won’t be any available and then that screws up the entire plan.
One thing I had to learn the hard way, was how my school handled transferred units. Make sure you know ahead of time how your school handles any credits you may want transferred if you decide to move to a new school. See if the units you take at the school will actually count at other schools. This could be a deciding factor. My advice is to not go to a school if their units don’t generally transfer to others. You may think you’re in love with the school, but things change and you don’t want to have wasted time and money if things don’t work out.
It’s unfortunate, but something you may also want to look into is if the school has enough money to stay open until you graduate. In this poor economy, this is a question you will need to ask. Many schools are having to raise tuition and drop programs just to scrape by.
Many of the answers to these questions can be found at websites like collegeboard.com that compile all the information for you. If the information is not there, you should also become familiar with the websites of each school and be able to navigate it well.
