How to Choose the Right College

Why do students pick certain colleges? We’ve heard every reason imaginable! For example, we know one student who decided to apply to a college because during the campus tour he noticed that there
was a Krispy Kreme donut shop right in the center of campus. We can even tell you about a student that wanted to get so far away from home that she took out a compass and a map and drew a 400 mile circle around her house. Then she vowed never to apply to a college within that circle.

Depending on your personal priorities, these may or may not be good reasons to pick a college. And it's important to remember that what makes one school a student’s dream college may make it a nightmare choice for you. Nevertheless, there are some common steps that we believe all students need to take that will help them in choosing the right college.

Imagine colleges are Neapolitan ice cream.

That's right. We want you to think of colleges as tri-flavored ice cream. Now it may have been different in your family; but in our families, when someone brought home a box of Neapolitan ice cream, the first flavor to be eaten was the chocolate, then the vanilla. Finally, when there was nothing else left, it was the strawberry.

In the same way, you need to divide your college choices into three categories. Your chocolate colleges are your top-choice schools but also those that are most difficult to get into. Your vanilla colleges are schools that you have a reasonable chance of getting into and ones you would be happy to attend. Your strawberry colleges are your "safety colleges"—those schools that you will definitely get into.

While there is no absolute rule, we recommend to most students that they have two to three colleges in each of the three different flavors. This insures that you are reaching for your fullest potential while guaranteeing that you'll be accepted to some great colleges that you can choose to attend.

Seek out personal recommendations.

The best way to get started finding colleges is to speak to those around you. Talk to your counselors, teachers, family friends and even (get ready for it) your parents. Often these people will be full of friendly advice and what's nice is that since they know you, they may have specific reasons for recommending a certain college. Take note of their recommendations but don't assume that they will give you the answers. Remember, you are just getting started. Asking the people you know for recommendations is a good way to generate a preliminary list of schools. As you research these schools, you'll begin to discover what is important to you. It may turn out that these initial recommendations were spot on or totally off.

Focus on your academic goals.

When you think about schools, you need to consider what you really want in an education. Do you want to be trained for a specific line of work or do you want a more general liberal arts education? A pre-professional education prepares you for a specific job and includes areas such as engineering and pre-med. Some schools like M.I.T. have very strong programs for those interested in the sciences but might not be right for someone interested in literature. A liberal arts education, on the other hand, aims to equip you with general knowledge and reasoning skills suitable for many jobs.

Here’s a key question to ask every college: How does the college rank in the major you want to study? Universities are stronger in some areas and weaker in others. While it may be too early for you to know whether you want to major in English or history, check out how strong the programs and professors are in the various fields you are considering. One indication of how much emphasis a university places on a major is to find out how many students are studying that major, how many courses are offered in the field and how many faculty members teach the courses associated with that major and others like it. This should give you an idea as to the size of the department and the range of courses. If you want a major in a narrow field, you might have to consider a larger university.

Don't forget to ask about the parties.

Do you want to have three Greek letters shining on your chest everywhere you go? Does the school even have a Greek system? (Harvard doesn't!) Some students are inclined to join a fraternity or sorority, while others feel that their existence on campus is overbearing for those who choose not to go Greek. It's important that you learn about this and other social aspects of your potential college. What do students do on the weekends? What extracurricular activities does the school offer? How close or far is the campus from a major city where you might go to find more cultural and entertainment venues? Are there campus life associations, service clubs or ROTC opportunities?

The social opportunities on a campus are extremely important. No matter how strong your college is academically, if you don't like the social scene, you won't be happy at that school. Be sure to consider the "big picture."

Investigate the type of digs you'll be living in.
When you consider which college to choose to attend, remember that you’ll be living in that situation for four years or more. Think of yourself as a total person, not just a student. You want to find a place to live that suits you. After all, you want to enjoy coming home after classes.

Here are some questions you will want to explore: Do most students live on campus or commute? Whether students spend most of their lives on campus or off makes a big difference in the social atmosphere of the college. Can you live with strangers? Can you bathe near strangers? If you lived in the dorm, would you have roommates? How modern or ancient are the dorms? Does each room have its own bathroom or do you use a shared facility? With overcrowding a problem at many colleges, you should also ask what your chances are of even getting on-campus housing.

Snuggle up with a college directory.

One excellent place to find the answers to some of the questions you have about a college is in a book or website that profiles colleges. Often you can find information about the student population, activities, majors offered, costs and financial aid, as well as some useful statistics such as how many freshmen are admitted each year. If you’re into numbers, these directories can be quite useful.

What these directories don't tell you is the personality of the college or what life is like on campus. To get that information, you need to talk to some real people who actually are from the college—alumni, recruiters, advisors, current students and others—but you want to wait to do that until you have narrowed down your choices to a "short list". That’s where the directories come in. You can utilize the directories at the beginning of your college search to help you make initial selections. Then you can use other sources to pare down the list.

Attend a college fair or talk to the college rep.

Most colleges have brochures, catalogs and web sites. While these are definitely valid places to begin when you are first researching various colleges, they are just that—a good start. But before you make a life-changing choice like the selection of the college you want to attend, you should also talk to real people. Go to college fairs and speak with the college representatives. Typically high schools sponsor college fairs in the fall and college reps visit schools for quality one-on-one sessions with prospective applicants. Take advantage of these opportunities and be prepared—take a list of questions with you so that you don’t get home later and wish that you had asked about a certain aspect of the college that you forgot to mention.

In addition, there are national college fairs sponsored by the National Association for College Admission Counseling http://www.nacac.org and other similar groups. They may be held at a hotel or convention center and often bring together a large number of colleges. When you go to a college fair, don’t be shy about asking the representative all of your questions about the college—that’s why they are there.

Beware of the college brochure.

No doubt you'll soon be receiving tons of beautiful full-color brochures from the colleges you’ve contacted. While these brochures are filled with lots of useful information, remember that they are biased and will tout only the positive aspects of the school. See the pictures of the students studying under the trees in the warm sunshine? That was taken in the early fall before the snow blanketed the campus for next four months. Always view the college’s brochure with a healthy dose of caution.

Compare the brochures from the various colleges. They can be useful in helping you assemble a list of questions that you want to ask representatives later in one-to-one interviews. For example, you might see a science building in one college’s brochure but wonder why such a photograph is not included in another school’s brochure. Could it be that the second school doesn't have a building dedicated to science or perhaps that they share the facility with the math department? If you are looking for a school with a large science department, that might be important to you. It could be a question for the rep from that school when you talk later.

Don't rely on news magazine rankings.

One student we know used the U.S. News & World Report annual college rankings as her only criteria for applying to college. She was accepted by three of the five colleges to which she applied. Only one problem: She realized later that she didn't want to move to the East Coast where all the schools were located! Sure, you can use rankings as a guide to reputation (whatever that means!) but you definitely need to do your own research and have concrete reasons for applying.

Just as you used the college directories, brochures, catalogs and web sites to help you get started in your initial search for possible college choices, include news magazine rankings in your beginning research. If nothing else, the rankings might help you pose questions for representatives of those colleges. A word of advice: Keep your research organized. Too many statistics can be overwhelming if you don't keep up with what you find. Perhaps you can start a folder for each college or a notebook with pocketed dividers. Separate the information you gather for each school and put the rankings information in its place, right next to the brochures and notes you took at the College Fair.

Don't worry about money (yet).

Until now, we have not discussed what is perhaps the biggest factor in determining where you will go to college—money. Yes, it is true that college costs a bundle, with private colleges being especially guilty of exorbitant prices. However, at this point, do not let costs dictate your goals. Even if money is tight, don't make it your primary concern just yet. (If you have trouble paying for the application fee, ask your counselor about a fee waiver.) While tuition is expensive, there is also a ton of financial aid available. Just last year over $97 billion in financial aid was given to students to help them pay for college. The real question is not how much a college costs, but how much you'll have to pay out of pocket after taking into account scholarships and financial aid.

Once you get accepted, you can work with the college to put together a financial aid package that will make the school affordable. Wait until you are accepted by the college and they have determined what kind of financial aid package they can offer you before making cost a limiting factor. It could turn out that with financial aid and scholarships, the most expensive college on your list would actually cost your family the least amount of money.



Final Thoughts ...

As you explore colleges, you'll discover that some factors are not as important to you as others. In fact, the whole point of going through the process outlined in this guide is to discover what aspects of college life will determine your focus as you research. Ultimately, you want to pick schools that meet your needs. As you do your detective work, keep in mind that your college education is one of the most important investments you will ever make in your future and it's worth spending the time to make sure you make the right decision.