- Size of College
- Location of College
- Major
- Geography
- Life beyond academics
- Cost of Attendance
Size of College
The choice of size of college is an important factor and is often determined by your personality and how you interact with large/small groups. The best way to approach this is to ask yourself questions. Are you comfortable charting your own path without much guidance? Or perhaps you prefer talking over your academic and career choices? Do you feel you absolutely know what you would like to do and not much can make you change your mind? Or are you open to options? Or perhaps you like many subjects and are undecided? Are you good with learning in a large group environment? Or do you prefer smaller groups? Do you like discussion groups?
The reason is because there are nearly 2,800 4-year colleges in the US. The college size can span from a very small campus of 1,000 students to an ultra large campus with 30,000 students. It is a huge stretch mentally for anyone (students and/or adults) to be happy and succeed on various levels in a college that has 1,000 students as well as in a college with 30,000 students! Very small colleges work out well for some students and not so much for others. Same with the very large universities, which can be fine for some students and overwhelming for others.
And yet students and parents will select college size ranging from very small to very large while figuring out where to apply. Just don’t do that. If you enjoy larger settings then look at colleges that mid sized- large/very large colleges. If you prefer smaller settings, then look at small-medium/large schools. The only reason we like to include large schools is because many state schools/colleges/universities are large, and you don’t want to take away that option completely. Also, many state universities have honors colleges which have the feel of a smaller college setting.
Ask yourself as you are evaluating colleges for application: what kind of setting is going to work for your personality? And then if you can, visit a couple of options on the opposite end of the spectrum to ensure that you are making an informed choice.
Location of College
This metric is a little fuzzy as it should not be a gating item in selection of your college. Usually the location of a college is determined by the following tags: Urban/City, Suburban/Small City, Small Town/Rural. While the choice of location can be influenced by your personality and to a certain extent where you grew up. Did you grow up in a large city or a small town? Are you looking for locations similar to you grew up? Or are you looking for a different experience?
The location of a college should also be considered in relation to the size of college as well as what kind of life beyond academics are you are hoping to lead. Are you a student who is looking to spend your spare time on campus or off campus? There are so many variations such as a large campus setting in a small town or a small college in a small town. Or a large campus setting in a large city versus small college in a large city.
Unless you are sure you don’t like a large city or a rural setting, it is good to be flexible on this metric. Include most options so that you don’t rule out good choices for college.
Major
This is one criteria that can be as broad or narrow as you would like it to be. However, most students will know by high school if they would like to pursue science or engineering or humanties or social studies etc. Its okay to be undecided. But it is good to have an idea of the kind of subjects that interest you and you would like to pursue. There will be only a few students who will consider science, liberal arts, engineering subjects on an equal footing. If you are such a student, there are many options that you may want to research, such as the 3-2 programs, dual majors, minors etc. While it is true that STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) majors usually get higher paying jobs upon graduation as compared to liberal arts majors, that should not influence you to go into a STEM major if you do not like STEM subjects. Neither should you choose a major without researching the job prospects, internships, graduate school possibilities.
The best way to pick a major is to look at the subjects you enjoyed in high school and offers you future opportunities that might be of interest to you. The choice of major or being undecided is quite important because not all colleges will offer every major nor will all colleges allow undecided majors to choose any impacted (majors that cap admission) or highly sought after majors. When certain majors are highly sought after, then some colleges will not allow students to transfer to these majors unless they are declared right in the beginning.
Since the choice of major/undecided will determine the colleges that offer the subject and has a vibrant department to support the students, this is an important criteria to find the college that will fit you.
Geography
Geography can be an important or a fuzzy criteria based on couple of things. The choice of geography will determine your cost of attending college and how far you are going to be from home. Most state schools or public universities have a resident and non resident tuition. Staying in state public can be cheaper than going out of state unless you get reasonable amount of merit aid. The cost calculation is different if you are looking at private colleges. Private college cost is not so sensitive to the geography and they have the same tuition for resident and non resident students. Also attending a college that is far away from home does incur additional costs such as paying for plane tickets. It can limit the number of trips for students and parents.
Additionally, students may prefer to be in a certain state, area, location, weather. These are also important factors that can affect the emotional and social wellbeing of a student. Some students are quite sensitive to these factors and others not so much.
While it is tempting to view geography as purely the distance away from home or a particular state/region of choice, the cost and if it is preferable for the student to be in the home state should always be considered while evaluating colleges for application.
Life beyond academics
While most of your time at college will be spent on academics, and/or athletics, you will some of your spare time exploring life beyond academics. Some students choose to join activities on campus, others prefer to step off campus. On campus, most colleges will have extracurricular activities, clubs, sororities, etc. Each college will have an individual culture and social fabric and you should feel comfortable on campus. While this might not be a big factor while choosing colleges for application, it does become a bigger issue while choosing a college to attend. However this is a good factor to keep in mind and evaluate as you research the colleges further. You can also check the “reputation” of the school with regards to parties, campus safety, the area outside the campus, as well as check student reviews on sites such as Niche.
Cost of Attendance
The affordability of college is a very big topic and merits its own post. It can be a very important factor or not depending on the family’s finances and the cost of colleges of choice. Planning the finances can be further complicated by merit aid and its attendant factors. However the most important thing is to ensure that a student takes little to no debt for their college education. This is especially true if the student decides to go to graduate school or medical/law school or even business school right after graduation. It is always wise to have financial safeties included in your list for application.