How To Find a College

Dream a Big Dream
Choosing which college to attend is a major life decision for any student. The school you pick will impact the next four (or more!) years of your life in innumerable ways.

So how do you choose?

Start by letting yourself daydream a bit. What would your ideal college experience be like? Imagine walking through campus. Do you picture a fast-paced, urban setting? Or do you imagine something a little more in line with the "traditional" college experience-complete with tailgating on Saturday mornings?

If city life sounds good to you, research schools in major metropolitan areas, like NYU (http://www.nyu.edu/). Or if you want the Big Ten experience, take a peek at one of the Midwest's best public universities, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. (www.illinois.edu)

Letting yourself fantasize a bit is a great way to figure out what kind of campus will suit your needs, but it's also imperative to examine your priorities. Do you need to save some dough? Then scholarships and loans will factor heavily in your decision.

Size Matters
Would you be better suited at a large university or small? This is also an important detail to figure out, as there are pros and cons to both. At smaller schools you will get one-on-one attention from professors, but bigger schools will have more to choose from.

If you think you'd do well at a large liberal arts college in a quintessential college town, check out University of Iowa (www.uiowa.edu). It has a Big 10 atmosphere and all the benefits of a large campus, like many classes to chose from, lots of athletic events and much more.
Or maybe you want a more intimate college setting? Try a school like Swarthmore, one of the "Little Three" liberal arts colleges. There you will receive a quite, individualized college experience. (www.swarthmore.edu)

For more tips on how to pick the college of your dreams, check out the online article "Finding the Right School," at CareersAndColleges.com.

Check It Out!
Applying to schools takes time and money, so do some research to make sure the schools are a good fit academically. You can find the average GPA and test scores for incoming freshmen and the percentage of applicants who are accepted on university Web sites. For example, MIT posts data on freshman admission here:
http://web.mit.edu/ir/cds/2007/c.html

CareersAndColleges.com has some helpful articles on their Web site about the initial steps to take when searching for your college. "Square One: Getting Started On The College Search Process" is a great place to begin.

Road Trip
It's imperative to visit your top schools and talk to current students and faculty to get an idea what your experience on campus would be like. Also, if you know what you're interested in studying, it's important to research schools that have a good academic reputation in that area…
Check out some helpful articles on campus visits!

"How to Get the Most from Your Campus Visit"

"Mapping Out Your Campus Visit"

Serious About Sports?
Are extracurricular activities very important to you? How about college sports? You don't need to be a super-star to participate in athletics in college. Schools are also looking for athletes who will perform well in the classroom and participate in sports.

For more information, visit the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Web site: www.ncaa.org.

This blog was written by Valerie Anderson

Have any questions you want answered? Click here.