What Are Some Of The Most Important Things I Should Take Into Consideration When Choosing A College/university
Nov.24, 2009 in
College Selection
I am currently in my second semester of high school as a senior..and right now the whole college thing is kind of overbearing.
I am so confused..what are some of the major things I should take into consideration when choosing a college besides the cost. Please and thankyou for any input you can offer.
November 24th, 2009 at 12:17 pm
Location, availability of extra-curricular activities that interest you, programs offered that suit your career interests, accreditation…
November 24th, 2009 at 2:27 pm
Okay. First RELAX. You’ve got time to sort these things out.
Give some thought to what you want to study…you don’t have to make firm decisions now. It’s helpful to have a general idea – you don’t want to enroll at the NJ Inst of Technology if Humanities is really your interest!
Think about the kind of environment you believe will suit you most. Big school, tens of thousands of students, enormous classes, dozens of majors. Small, school with a specialized curriculum. Urban or rural or suburban. Do you want something near home or in some particular part of the country?
And of course, I’d give some thought to cost. In state or out of state? Private or Public? Which school is likely to offer scholarship dollars?
These are things to start thinking about. Over the next year you’ll need to become more and more settled on these issues in order to really narrow down your list of “most wanted” schools.
If you can, try to visit a few schools during the semester. You’ll want to get a feel for the campus and it’s surrounding area. If you visit, spend some time thinking about how you FEEL on that campus. Can you see yourself on that campus with those people for months at a time in all sorts of weather AND paying a hefty price for the privilege?
Good luck and STOP stressing yourself out!
November 24th, 2009 at 4:00 pm
first of all… all the opportunities…
a lot of people decide to change their majors a few semesters into the college experience.. which is ok… but if your at a school, lets say, that is basically all teaching… you will have to transfer to change majors… it is much better to have a school with more to offer than just what you want at the current time…
also, location… would you rather drive or fly to your school?? this depends mostly on how often you want to come home…
thirdly… size… if you are one to be overwhelmed by a class of say 300 people and only 1 professer…. a huge university may not be the place for you… or say you like to have tons of people you dont know around to make new friends… a small private college may not be the place for you…
lastly… a feel… i know this sounds weird… but when you visit the school… you should be able to feel like you could live there for the next 4 years of your life…
hope this all helps!!
November 24th, 2009 at 5:50 pm
You should consider what you plan on majoring. Some schools have better courses for certain majors than others.
Consider some possible scholarships that you could earn as well as the financial availability needed and what you can come up with.
Consider how close to home you are. You should choose a university with easy access to a loved one. Whether it be a cousin or and aunt, someone that you could connect with incase of an emergency.
And lastly, make sure you are doing what YOU want to do and not what your parents want you to do. If you want to go to Madison to major in music, don’t go to Yale to be a lawyer.
Good luck!
November 25th, 2009 at 12:26 am
You need to check out the location and the rating of the College or University. Times Mag zine had an really great article and ranked the Universities. Do research and you can find the times article. One thing to consider is, if you are a serious hard working student, don’t go to the well known party Universities.
November 25th, 2009 at 6:41 am
Location–how far away from your “home” do you want to be?
Programs Offered–make sure that it has programs in the areas that you are most interested; you don’t need to know exactly what you are going into, but on the other hand, you don’t want to decide to go into nursing at a school that doesn’t offer that
Friendliness of Campus–visit the campus when classes are in session and see what the atmosphere is. Some campuses are a lot better than others. This is especially important if you are moving far away from home.
Safety/Security of Campus and near by towns–you probably don’t want to live on a campus where you will be perpetually afraid of assult, theft, etc.