Choosing a College

College “gurus”, those who have written books on the subject and are keynote speakers at college counseling conferences, usually suggest that you start the process of narrowing down your college search by looking at yourself. Try to figure out why you are going to college. Is it to get training for a particular career field that interests you? Is it to meet different kinds of people who will challenge how you think and behave? Is it to challenge yourself academically and to learn as much as possible? Maybe you aren’t sure what you want from your collegiate experience or even why you want to go or what you want to study.

Let’s start with some simple questions:

• What courses have you enjoyed most in high school and why? Was it the subject matter? The teacher? The class discussions?
• What are your interests? What activities would you like to continue to pursue in college?
• How do you spend your free time?
• How do you respond to a new situation?
• Are you stimulated by competition?
• Do you enjoy spending time with friends or with a group or do you prefer to spend time alone?

The answers to these questions will help you figure out what you will like most in a college. Think about some of the characteristics that distinguish one college from another. One that often comes to mind is distance from home. Do you want to stay local, be within a few hours or see another part of the country? Location brings up several considerations:

• Weather - Do you hate the cold? Is the change of seasons a must for you?
• Natural Resources – Are you looking forward to spending your collegiate years with an ocean view, or are you ready to hike in the Rockies?
• Setting – Are you looking for a close-knit college town or for the hustle and bustle of an urban environment?

Another important factor for students in the college selection process is the size of enrollment. Some students look for a school not much larger than MND where they hope to receive individual attention, a close community atmosphere and where class sizes are relatively small. Other students look for a larger, more diverse school that will offer more choices for majors, clubs and activities.

Other Factors to Consider:

• Admissions Criteria – Be honest with yourself about what you’ve done in high school. Are you an average, above average or a top student? How selective is the school you are considering?
• Facilities – How do you like the campus, the academic buildings, the dorms? Is the campus wireless? Do you like the libraries? How are the dining halls? If you plan to play a sport, what are the athletic facilities like?
• Social Atmosphere – How do you feel about the Greek system? What do students do on the weekends for fun?
• Athletics and Clubs – Are the things you are passionate about represented at the college?
• Religious Affiliation – If the school is not affiliated with a particular religion, are there opportunities for pursuing your personal religious convictions?
• Coed or all girls?
• Cost – Are you willing to take on the financial responsibility of a big-ticket school, or would you rather begin your post-college life debt free?

Obviously, there is no one variable that should determine your selection. Choose the characteristics that are most important to you. Talk through your list with your parents and your college counselor. Study potential schools’ websites and the promotional materials they send, visit the campuses and listen to your intuition. Through this process, you will eliminate the schools that aren’t the right fit and hone in on the few that are where you belong. These websites are very helpful because they allow you to input your choice on many variables and gives you a list of matching colleges:

www.nces.ed.gov/globallocator
www.cnsearch.collegenet.com/cgi-bin/CN/ZDispatch?
www.apps.collegeboard.com/search/index.jsp

Rankings

A number of different books and websites rank colleges on different variables. Some of the rankings are based upon objective criteria such as outstanding women’s basketball teams. Some of the other rankings may be based on very subjective criteria, so it’s important to take notice if the author has any experience or authority on the subject. Some of the better-known rankings are available in the Guidance Office:
 

• Rugg’s Recommendations – published annually
• Fiske Guide to Colleges – published annually
• The College Finder
   

To How Many Colleges Should You Apply?

Most students apply to three or four schools. While this is not recommended, some students apply to only one. (Hopefully they have researched it, visited it and are confident they will be accepted!). Others apply to six or more colleges. The best strategy is to apply to one school in which you are extremely confident you will be accepted. You should also apply to at least one “reach” school – a school for which your GPA and test scores are on the lower end of their acceptable range, but it would be your dream to be accepted. Don’t apply to any school to which you really didn’t seem to connect; it’s a waste of time and money. It’s important to remember that there is no “perfect college.”