College

[christmas]

So I'm going to be a junior in high school this year and my mom is making me look at colleges i might want to go to...but there's so many schools out there and so much information it's completely overwhelming so I was wondering if there was anyone who's "been there, done that" that might have some advice to help keep me sane...because i have no idea what i should do or where i should go or how to even figure out what school i might want to go to...

[meteorite]

Depends. Do you have a rough idea what you might be interested in studying? Go to the local library and ask the librarian for help locating a Peterson's Guide to 2 and 4 year colleges. That sorts colleges and universities by areas of interest, what they are known for, etc. Hopefully you can find a handful that specialize in a field of study you think you would like, and are more or less affordable for you.

The usual rule of thumb is apply to at least one that is at the edge of what you think you can place into, a few that are in the midrange, and one or two that would be slam dunks as emergency backups. Even if your first choice (or second, or third) doesn't take you, you still can start at one and hopefully transfer credits later if your situation improves.

[christmas]

well i'm pretty sure i want to major in english...*sigh* but we dont have a library in my town...they shut it down for budget reasons...but thanks for the advice...i'll take any i can get...

[Kathy Li]

Another thing to think about is what city do you want to be in? The character of a specific city can determine a lot of what your college experience is going to be like (I speak as a UC Berkeley graduate who roamed San Francisco on the weekends). That can also help you narrow down your choices almost as much as what you can afford.

[Emi]

I just wanted to see if anyone thinks they're going to college out-of-state? I know that some people in my school wants to stay in the state because it's where they've lived their whole lives. But me personally, I want to go far away from my town. Not that I don't like it, it's a great place to grow up, but there are some issues with the people... Anyway... College out-of-state? Or In-state?

[Gryphon]

Heh, generally, at my school, people want to do anything they can to leave the state. However, leaving the state is often more expensive (it depends on the school), because some state Universities have higher out-of-state student tuition. Annnd... then there are some that are gonna cost a lot no matter where you come from.

If you don't know what you're going to major in, eliminate all of the colleges that care about you declaring an area of interest. There are many many more which are accepting of undeclared and make it easy to change majors if you ever want to. Generally, if you go into something like engineering, however, it's better if you start taking classes in the field and then decide to change later instead of discovering maybe it was what you wanted to do after all during your soph year because there are required freshman courses that are hard to make up otherwise.

Division I schools (sports) tend to focus heavily on athletics, and the sports culture may dominate the school, while less stress is put on academics. If that's what you want, then cool. If not, then it's usually better to avoid those schools. But there are exceptions.

[Cress]

I'm in the middle of the same process and here are some things that helped me.
1.What size of college do you want to go to? Do you want big name, or small and personal? What atmosphere are you looking for?
2.Are you looking for rural or urban?
3.Does religious affiliation matter?
4.Finances?

There was a website my school gave me that I can't remember at the moment that allows you to search by all of these categories as well as majors etc. and it gives you the schools that match your preferences, quite handy.

Personally I'm looking for a small, liberal arts college because I don't know what I want to do but I know I'm interested in fine arts, English, anthropology and philosophy, all of which are strong in many liberal arts colleges. Also, those colleges give you very well rounded educations and they're often more personal than places like Harvard or Yale.

For me, location isn't an issue because I'd rather have a college that I feel comfortable in than one that's close to home or far away.

I'll see if I can find the site for you. =)

[Mona0622]

I too am overwhelmed with where to go to college and what i want to do with my life. How did everyone choose what they wanted to do? As far as location, i think that i want to go 3-4 hours away from home at least. I dislike my town. It's small and there's nothing to do. Ah, the joys of junior year!

Sometimes i feel so out of it because some of my friends know exactly where they want to go and what they want to do.

[Garrett Fitzgerald]

I wanted to go to MIT, since I was a geek. (Was???? the rest of YW.net shouts...) I also was interested in Brown, since I knew their computer program was good. When I spoke to my guidance counselor, he suggested I look at Oberlin, since they were strong in both music and computers. One look, and I was hooked. I flew out for an interview and an audition, and was accepted to both the College and the Conservatory. Unfortunately, the financial aid package wasn't any better than Brown's, so the travel costs had me staying in town (MIT had turned me down).

I do recommend trying to get out of town: since I lived so close to my parents, I didn't have any real experience with independent living before I moved to Maine to live with Donna.

[Tuttle]

In terms of living near home or far from home, it matters some, but more importantly is liking where you are. Size of the school is one of the most important things it seems to me, do you want somewhere big or not, because if you go somewhere big and would prefer a smaller environment that'll make a big difference. I'd say check things like how much of party school and drug use in the area, especially if you're affected by that. Definitely think about what you want to major in, because even if you don't know exactly, you can probably get a good idea. I didn't know at all what I wanted to major in when I went to college, but I knew it was on the math/science/engineering side of things, so just looked at those schools.

In terms of living near home, that does have the advantage of if you want to see your family or anything you're close by. This also means they may want to see you more and if you want to be sure with being independent may be harder. I see no problem with going to school near where you grew up, but I'd suggest living somewhere without your family for the independence. In the dorms of course is what would be likely, and though it can be annoying, it can be useful to be separate from your family too.

Don't worry about what you want to do though, you'll figure it out eventually.

[seabiscuit1009]

Right now, I'm in the middle of doing the whole college application thing, and it's crazy. What I've found helps is to stay organized from the very beginning of the college search process. Get a bunch of folders (cheap file folders work great) and designate one for each college that you go visit/investigate/request information from. That way, when your mom asks "Hey, can I see that brochure from Harvard" you'll know right where it is. Later on, when you're actually applying, it helps because you'll be able to find the info and remember stuff about a school you may have visited 6 months ago. Also, you can use the folders to keep track of things like deadlines and what you actually need to apply; on the outside of mine, I wrote down everything that school requires, like essay, application, SAT/ACT score, etc, and the deadline that it's all due. I don't know...this is just what I've found has been working for me. Whew. Long paragraph.

As for actually looking...some people say they can't get to a library, but if you can, most public libraries (and school, actually) have books of colleges that are good to look at. My counselor recomends a book called Fiske's Guide to Colleges; it's pretty good, and it's what I looked through when I first started looking. If you're thinking about smaller, private, liberal arts schools, this books called Colleges that Change Lives is really good (yes, the name sounds all goofy; but I've looked at about four of the schools from the book, and I've pretty much loved all of them.) Anyway, those are good to get started. The College Board's website has a college search thing, which is also useful.

Cress's post has good questions to ask yourself when looking. Personally, I'm looking at smaller, liberal arts schools that aren't more than a 4 hour drive from my house, but that's what I want; in fact, the college I like most is only an hour away (which I don't really like, but the school is seriously a perfect fit.) Be flexible; don't always go for schools with big names, like Harvard, Yale, or one of those big popular state schools like Ohio State University; look at places that can give you an education, if that's what you want. Ummm...get your applications done early, once you start. Good luck with all that; now I'm going to go be a good student and try and finish another application.

[purrypuddycat]

Its all good fun choosing where to go. Im back as an undergraduate in nursing after graduating in music 5 years ago. The first time I was on the smallest campus in the UK with lots of scenery. This time I'm having to travel in on the train to a city and hike across the centre or get a bus up to campus from the train station. Decide what is best for yourself, however if you can afford to live away from home then do it but a word of warning, you will never be the same. Only thing I did wrong was to move back home after graduating, personally that was a bad move (I come from a small town, very local, any of you watch League of Gentlemen-BBC then you will know what I mean lol). Just make sure you live your dream and not anyone elses.

[Emi]

Yeah, I'm actually thinking about going to North Carolina for college. They have a sweet art school there that fits exactly what I want to do. I still have a year to look, and I'm going to visit the campus over the summer. I'm wicked excited! Plus, not many people from my school would go there, well in my grade... So, it's going to be a fresh start.