How to Decide Which College Is Right for You

You're a junior in high school and need to apply to colleges soon. But how do you choose one that's right for you? It's a big decision when you're leaving home for the first time. Remember, academics, while important, are only one aspect of the college experience.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

1. Gather all the information you can on schools and programs that interest you. Ask your high-school counselor for ideas, read college catalogs and visit Web sites such as CollegeBoard.com and PrincetonReview.com to compare schools. Talk to friends and relatives. Investigate traditional colleges as well as alternatives such as studying abroad and enrolling in a trade school, music school or art school.
2. Hire a college admissions counselor for expert, personal attention. It may be money well spent.
3. Examine your motivations if you dream of attending one of the nation's most competitive schools. Read 150 Get Into a Top College or University.
4. Look for academic programs that match your interests. Read books such as America's Best Graduate Schools from U.S. News & World Report (available for review and purchase at www.usnews.com). Order course catalogs and visit Web sites such as GradSchool.com.
5. Give careful thought to location. You may want to get as far away from home as possible, but will you miss having friends and family nearby? Can you afford out-of-state tuition and transportation home during the holidays? If you're from a big city, you may feel cramped by a small town. But if you're from a small, neighborly town, a metropolitan area may be overwhelming--or just what the doctor ordered. For students who crave a busy social life, city schools can be deceiving since many go their own way come Friday night. Schools in small college towns offer a thriving campus scene, for the sheer reason that there's no where else to go.
6. Weigh the merits of a small school that offers lots of individual attention against a large one with more resources. Many small schools fly under the radar, offering an excellent education and plenty of space available to incoming students.
7. Pay attention to the composition of the student body as well as demographics. Is cultural and ethnic diversity important to you?
8. Choose schools with strong programs in your areas of interest or major if you've already chosen one. Find out how hard it is to get into the classes you need to graduate.
9. Investigate financial aid options (see 234 Organize Your Financial- Aid Package).
10. Develop an initial list of a dozen or so colleges that interest you. Gather all the information you can and visit the schools while they're in session to get a real picture of campus life, socially and academically. Before you visit, find out when they offer tours and arrange to meet an admissions officer. Bring a parent to listen and take notes, but you should be the one with a solid list of questions. Arrange an overnight stay in a dorm if you can.
11. Get a campus checklist from your high school's guidance office and make a copy for each school. Fill it in during your visit so it will be easier to compare schools when you get home.
12. Find out how much access you'll have to professors and if they or teaching assistants teach most of the classes. Ask about average class size for lectures and labs.
13. Ask students and faculty about the extracurricular activities that interest you. If you're an athlete, meet coaches from your sport and talk to team members. If you're a journalism student, sit in on some classes and see the school newspaper staff in action.
14. Keep your grades up. If you lack the grades or money to get into the college of your choice, attend a community college first. You can save money, improve your grade point average and transfer to a four-year school.

Tips & Warnings

• When you visit a campus, ask students whether they would attend that school if they could choose again.
• Pick up the syllabus for any classes you're interested in. Also keep a copy of the campus newspaper with your notes from each visit.
• Almost all applications can be submitted online or can be downloaded from the college's Web site.
• For some young adults, taking a year off between high school and college may be an invaluable chance to discover more about their interests, to get experience working, to spend time abroad, or just to grow up a bit more before leaving home. Also look into a national service program through AmeriCorps.com. A year's break will not negatively impact your admission into college.
• Experts say to apply to one to two safety schools, three good matches and one or two reach schools.
• Check the National Association for College Admission Counseling site's (nacac.com) Space Availability Survey for openings for qualified students in many schools' freshman and/or transfer classes.
• Don't crowd your campus visits together. A marathon trip to 10 schools will turn every one of them into a blur. Before you visit each campus, schedule a tour and make appointments with admissions and financial aid officers.

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