Choosing the right college for you can seem like a daunting task, but have no fear – if you use our helpful tips and poignant suggestions, you might think you’ve been possessed by the demon spirit of Goldilocks because you’ll be exclaiming “…this is juuuust right!” so much.
Decide which factors matter most to you.
If $$ is a major factor (like…if you’re broke, for instance), then you don’t need to waste your time researching schools with bad financial aid reputations or those artsy fartsy ones that cost $40,000 a year (+ fees, books, room & board, mandatory first-weekend keg, etc…). You need to find a school with either great financial aid/scholarship opportunities or one with tuition that’s more in your price range.
Money is just one of thousands of things you need to consider when deciding which college to attend; use your own unique top 3-5 factors to drastically narrow your pool of possibilities to a small group of colleges that are the perfect fit for you. Try to choose the factors that are make-or-break – use specific criteria that would make going to that college completely out the question for you – not just trivial preferences like an abundance of hot co-eds and a lax drinking policy. While these things can be important, the presence or absence of them shouldn’t be the big deal breakers.
For instance, don’t use the “Dining Hall food quality” as one of your main deciding factors; use something like “distance from home” if you don’t have a car, the money to fuel it, or if you absolutely hate making long trips. Ask yourself questions like “Do I care how well-known the college is?”, “What are my realistic chances of getting in?”, “Does the school even offer my major?”, etc.
Choose your Major
Did that last question scare you? If you haven’t already, you need to pick a major. Don’t freak out over it, but at this point in your life you should at least have an inkling of what you’d like to do. My advice would be to choose your major based on what makes you happy, NOT based on what promises the most money. Trust me – money follows happiness.
As a psychology major, I have read countless articles and research papers on quality of life and overall happiness. Whether you believe it or not, the facts speak for themselves, and the facts show that the happiest people, the ones that absolutely love their lives and feel truly fulfilled, are NOT the ones with the most money. They don’t mind getting up and going to “work”, and neither should you. It sounds cliché, but try to think of something you would continue to do even after you won the lottery and didn’t have to work ever again.
If you are the type of person who wants to attend the most prestigious college for your chosen major, the next obvious step would be to search for the colleges that rank highly for your major and create a list/spreadsheet of your top choices. Coming from the #1 ranked school for engineering will give you an edge if you plan to go on to graduate school or compete for an engineering job, but it’s not absolutely vital for your marketability as an employee. If you do really well in your classes and jump through all the other hoops to boost your résumé, even at a lower-ranked school, you should still do well in job searches and in graduate school.
Visit your top choices, if possible.
You’re thinking about spending 4+ years of your life at this place, don’t you think you should see if you can stay there for at least a few days? Call ahead of time and say you’re thinking about visiting, and ask about any visitor packages or opportunities. Almost every school has specific things they do for potential students, such as offering free lunches or giving free school apparel. I don’t know about you, but I’ll take pretty much anything as long as it’s free.
While you’re on the phone make sure to ask about tours or other special arrangements you can make as a visitor so you can learn as much about the school as possible. If you’re feeling frisky, some schools let potential students overnight with student hosts, which is a great way to experience a little of the college life you’d be living if you choose that college. Be warned, though – the students that sign up to be “hosts” aren’t always your typical students so don’t make your decision just on your experience with them. All the fun kids who have been caught for drinking or other debauchery are most likely discouraged/banned from signing up to host visitors, so don’t expect to be greeted with Jello shots and condoms when you walk into your hosts room.
In lieu of visiting, or in addition, e-mail current students of your favorite potential schools (look for any student listings with titles like “Student Ambassador” and the like on the school’s website). Once again, these students were probably chosen as student ambassadors because of their sterling reputation, so don’t expect them to be the “normal” student for that school. They should be good for all the basic questions you have, though, so you should utilize them. At the very least you should find some pictures of the campus and surrounding area to see if it meshes with your expectations and interests.
That’s it for now – we’ve barely scratched the surface so far so be sure to check back for upcoming parts to this series!
Tags: application help, applying to college, choosing the right college, college application, college guide, daunting task, demon spirit, fear, financial aid, goldilocks, helpful tips, reputations
