How to choose a college; 5 steps

Hi, so nice to meet you here! My name is Rebecca. The reason why I write this blog post is that the things I learned and experienced in my own journey to finding a suitable college for myself may also be able to help parents and students like myself who may find themselves lost in a jungle of choices, or maybe even the opposite of that, a lack of choices.

A few years ago I found myself at some kind of turning point of my personal life. High school raduation from was just around the corner and I had not a single clue which college I wanted to or had to attend after that. My parents had their list of preferred colleges ready, and most of my high school friends were already being accepted to the colleges and universities of their choice. And with deadlines for college application approaching very quickly, I knew that somehow I needed to start to find a suitable college for myself. And it’s not easy... choosing the right college is such a very important and crucial decision, affecting the rest of your life. So I came up with some sort of a game plan to find a college that matches me. The following steps are those I took in choosing a college.

Deciding on my future career

The first step I took was one of the most important ones: to determine what I liked and what I didn’t like. I quickly ruled out being a medical practitioner, a legal advisor or a graphic designer. I also knew there were a few career choices that were way out of my league, such as becoming an architect, engineer or something in performing arts. Besides my own self-knowledge, my high school grades clearly showed that as well and that’s why after a lengthy thought and rethink process, I narrowed down my choices to the fields of Communications, Journalism, Information Technology and Business Management.

My high school counselor helped me aswell by conducting a Career Assessment Test on me, which revealed many of my personal strengths, weaknesses and tendencies. From this test, I discovered I was best suited for a career in Business Management and thus related studies. I highly recommend you to do one of these Career Assessment Surveys. They are not really expensive and they can even be found through a Google search as well.

Matching courses with colleges

The next step I took in finding the right college was to list the available colleges and universities in my area that offered Business Management studies while having an acceptable track record (ask around, read online reviews, consult your school counselor or use The Fiske Guide to Colleges if you live in the US). Very shortly after I started making my list I came up with 20 colleges that I was able to feel confident with for the next four years in my life. All of those 20 colleges had more then one specialization within my study field of choice, all these 20 colleges were fully accredited, and had good to outstanding graduation rates and great reputations. Next, I narrowed down my list a bit further to 12 by selecting those universities which were located in or near a large city. That was one of my personal criteria. You should also think of your own criteria before selecting a college for yourself since you are spending a few years there and you must be able to do your study in an environment that suits you best.

Narrowing down the list of suitable colleges

My SAT scores were above average, although they would not have been able to take me to Yale, so I had a wider selection of options to choose from. Therefore, my final decision would mainly be determined by the available funds from my mum and dad, any avaiulable  scholarships or grants, and the extra cash I would be able to make through on-campus work. I thoroughly read the information provided on the websites of each college and took virtual tours of their facilities. Each college seemed to have its own individual strength from large libraries to state of the art student housing or a wide variety of extra curricular activities and sports.

Finally, by looking at what was most important to me, I was able to narrow down my colleges list from twelve to five based on the following criteria: going to college within six hours of hometown, the available budget for college, and a smaller student body that could offer me a more personal approach and attention to my education.

Involving parents & college applications

So it’s starting to get somewhere now! After completing the previous steps it was time to get my parents involved in my decision making proicess. They helped me all along the way already, but now I really needed their help in making that one final, important decision. I showed them my list of 5 colleges that I had shortlisted, including the most vital details, locations, and costs. Together, we narrowed the list down to 3 possible colleges that I was able to attend. They wanted a college or university which would be convenient for them to visit, but would also have excellent teaching and good student housing facilities. The next weekend I downloaded, printed and filled out all three application forms and mailed them to the colleges and universities. The waiting game has begun for the responses to come.

Making the final choice

Within a few weeks, I received acceptance letters from all the colleges and universities where I sent my application to. At the end, my mum and I decided the best way to make the final decision was to visit the various college campuses. We took three days to visit all three colleges together. Visiting the actual universities was really very different from the virtual tours I took before. My final choice was actually easy after these visits!

The most crucial and important steps along the way for me were to take the Career Assessment Test, researching my college / university choices on the respective websites through reading and taking virtual tours, and sitting down with my parents to discuss which colleges and universities to send actual applications to. All of this helped make my final decision on which college to attent and I truly hope that my guide on how to choose a college can help you as well in finding a college or university as you make career choices.