5 questions to ask yourself when picking a school
For those who are rising seniors in high school: in less than 5 months, you will have completed and started sending out your college admissions applications. Both liberating and terrifying, the idea of college looms on your horizon whether you’re ready for the transition or not. Chances are, you’re excited about the prospect of going away to school (no parents! no curfews!) but there are probably still lots of reservations you are experiencing, one of the most stressful being the process of figuring out which college is right for you.
Going to college is, in a lot of ways, like buying a house. You’re making an investment in your future, but you have to pick the right one. And there are lots of different variables that go into deciding which college to attend. What can you afford? Where do you want to be? How do you see yourself growing, when you finally go off to college, and where do you want that college to do for your future? Sitting down and thinking about each variable can be hard, especially when so many different and conflicting ideas are being bantered around in your brain. Unless you are one of the rare people who has known, since they were five, which college you want to go to, the decision-making process is difficult no matter how you approach it.
When I was applying to schools, I made a chart that detailed 5 different things I would have to consider before deciding on the right fit. They were: location, areas of interest, my personality, finances, and my desired career path. When I chose my school, I made sure to consider each variable, and then used my findings to narrow down a selection of schools I wanted to consider. In the end, I found this to be a useful tool, and I am happy with the decision I ultimately made. I hope it can work for you!
5. Location and size
Thinking about location is important, because wherever you end up going for college will be a place you will be stuck for the next four years. If you are a city person, you might not want to go to school in rural Alabama. If you are into the idea of going to school in a small town, urban Chicago is probably not the best location. If you don’t fare well in cold weather, New Hampshire is not a state you want to study in. And if you love to be surrounded by lush, green environments, Arizona won’t fit you at all. There are so many schools all across the United States – 4,352 to be exact – so there should be plenty to choose from. Don’t settle for going somewhere you don’t really want to be — because, trust me, it will come back to haunt you. You should also ask yourself whether going to a big school or a small school better suits your wants. Because there are some big schools out there (40+ thousand students) and some tiny ones (less than 4 thousand students) and finding a number you are comfortable with is essential. Here is a list of colleges and universities according to state, which you mind find helpful in your decision making process.
4. Areas of Interest
What are you interested in? Are you interested in the humanities? Science? Medicine? Law? Business? Even if you don’t have a clue what you want to study, or what you want to be after you graduate, it’s still important to consider your areas of interest. Perhaps you love biology but you also love music. Find a school that accommodates both of those interests, so that once you get there, you can take classes in both disciplines and see which one you’d rather concentrate on. At this point, it would be a shame to limit yourself when it came to your interests, so you should use those interests to guide you into finding a ‘good match’ school. Needless to say, if your interests lie solely in the realm of humanities, it would be unadvised to go to any school whose names ends in “Institute of Technology”. Similarly, if you are into technology, it would probably be best not to go to a school that has the term “Art” anywhere in its name. Think about your interests, and use that knowledge in your research of different colleges.
3. Personality
A variable that often gets overlooked when you apply to school is your inherent personality. Your happiness definitely matters when going off to school, and there is no worse feeling than going to a school you dislike, where you don’t get along with the student body and are unhappy. One thing you have to ask yourself is, in general, what the student body will be like in the ideal school you attend. If you want to go to school with a liberal peace-loving student body, you probably shouldn’t go to the Naval Academy. Capiche? You want to make friends where you go, and in college, you will make some of the closest friends you’ll ever have in your life. You should ask yourself about fit because that’s such a key ingredient in finding the best school for you. US News and World Report has an interesting college personality quiz that might be of help!
2. Finances
I hesitate to put this up here, becuase no matter what, you can probably afford to go to the school of your choice. You can take out loans, you can apply for financial aid, and you can get grants or win scholarships. That said, there is a limit to how much debt any prospective students wants to commit to — debt which can be stressful to pay off. So it’s important, when considering schools, to figure out the financial aid data before you send back an acceptance. These custom calculators can be really helpful in figuring out your financial aid information. They can help you calculate loans, savings plans, award comparisions, and budgeting.
1. Career
College will last 4 years. After those 4 years are done, you’ll be in the real world, where you will be expected to work a real job and have a real career. That’s what college was preparing you for, right? Whether you decide to become a bohemian and work on your art, despite your anthropology and political science double major, or if you decide that graduate school right off the bat is your best bet, or if you decide that what you really want in life is to work in an office and put money toward your 401k, you should start thinking about it sooner rather than later. I’m not saying you should already know what you want to be, but you should realistically consider your wants and your options, and figure out if the school you’re going to will get you there. If you want to be a movie director and you know that’s what you want, why spend 4 years studying linguistics? Go to film school!
