Part 1: School selection in five steps

November 12, 5:41 PMCollege Admissions ExaminerLauren Starkey

Previous Next

Comment Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the College Admissions Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

This first post in a series titled The Application Process breaks down the selection of colleges to which to apply into five steps. You’ll see that choosing a list of schools involves both objective and subjective criteria. Begin with the cold hard facts, and listen to your gut. The two will work well together for you. Note that future posts in this series will explore some of the five steps, such as college visits, in greater detail, 

1. What do you know?  It’s as important to identify dislikes as likes. Do you have a potential major or field of study in mind? A geographic location (close to or far from home, cold or warm, etc.)? A preference for large or small schools? Need a vegan meal plan? Like urban or rural settings? What kind of student body are you looking for (diverse, single sex, etc)? Want small classes or are packed lecture halls ok? Keeping in mind that there are scholarships, grants, merit awards, and other types of “free money” for college, what kind of pricetag can you and/or your parents handle?

2. If your list of preferences is small, you may want to consider visiting a handful of very different schools before step three. Find out now if a community of tens of thousands of students feels too big, or if you need the excitement of a big city environment, for example. You don’t necessarily need to visit schools you’re eager to attend—think of this as a general fact-finding mission.

3. Start your research, compiling a list of schools that meet the majority of your criteria. It makes sense at this point to add schools to your list that may be above your price range—you don’t know yet how much aid they provide, or how much assistance you’re eligible for. Websites like collegeboard.com and and petersons.com have interactive search tools, or spend some time in the library with college guides.

4. Do your homework. This involves desk work and field work; college websites are a great place to begin, but you won’t get a great feel for a school unless you visit (and do this while school is in session—it’s not possible to sense much other than scenery during the summer and on breaks). Check out a couple of “Insider” guides to get a feel for campus atmosphere, social life, and other criteria about which the schools themselves may not be forthcoming.

5. Narrow down your list, keeping in mind that you’ll want to retain at least two schools whose reported average GPA and test scores (if required) are below yours, two that are close to yours, and two “reach” schools where your chances of admission are not as high. Many students apply to six schools based on this breakdown, but others apply to many more.