Why you need to pay close attention when you pick a college

It’s a huge deal, right? Picking a college. I mean, it’s not like choose between a red or a blue sweater or where to go for dinner with your friends. Picking a college is something fundamental, something that will influence the rest of your life. It’s about the education you will get, the people you will meet, the networking you will do, the clubs you will belong to. And all these things will contribute to what kind of college student you will become and what your life will look like afterwards.

What factors play a role?

Some kids have it easy. They just go to the same college that their family has been going to for generation and that is the end of it. Their name has been established at the college making life a lot easier. Well, it depends really on what kind of students their relatives were, but let’s assume they were good, hard working folk.

For a lot of kids this is not the case. Some simply have to go to the only place that actually accepted them. Nothing to pick or choose there. Most likely they are relieved to have gotten in anywhere, though some people choose to take a year out to work and develop their resume in order to get in with more choice the next year. If you have the time to spare and a good plan of what you will do with your year off (could be community work, volunteering, internship) it may be beneficial for you to do just that so you are be able to pick a college of your choice the year after.

For some people distance is a key factor. They may decide they want to stay close to home and their family or go as far away as possible for  complete change of scenery and to get a whole different, independent college experience.

What every student should pay attention when they pick a college is of course the college ranking. No matter whether you are a straight A student or pretty average one you will always be wise to try and get into a college that has a good reputation for turning out successful graduates. Even students that are mostly interested in all the activities that go on outside the classroom need to knuckle down at some point and get the work done, so best to do it at as good a college you can get into.

There are student that pick a college based on how easy it will be for them to get a degree there. These are less prestigious colleges of course, but so are those kinds of students, so they could make a good match.

Any good tips?

Sure, we’re always happy to give some tips. First and foremost: do not set your mind on just getting into that one specific college. Of course you will first pick a college you really want to get into, but make sure to have a few backup options in case it doesn’t work out with the college on top op your list.

Talk to people from different colleges. The best information on how to pick a college will come from the students who are attending there. Ask for random recommendations from people you know and you may hear great things about places you never even considered.

Pick a college that fits your goals! If you want to major in science, make sure to pick a college that has a high ranking science department. Same goes for arts, humanities and every other subject. Make sure you make the right fit for the best chance of success.

There are many more tips and focus points on how to pick a college that are useful to look into. Do your homework on this so you won’t have to regret your choice later on.

And while you’re busy with all this, do not forget that you will also need to apply for scholarships to help fund it all.