Approaching the College Search

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Factors To Consider in Choosing a College or University - An Exercise in Defining Your Interests

Think about each of the following twelve factors and how each one might help you identify things you would like (or dislike) in a college or university. After reading the description of each one, determine whether the factor is unimportant to you (0), somewhat important to you (1), or very important to you (2), and circle the appropriate number next to each factor.

Size of School      0    1    2

Do you want to be part of a small, intimate community with perhaps only a few hundred students in your college class and perhaps only a handful of students in each of your academic classes, or would you prefer to be part of a huge campus where you can study in relative anonymity, and where at least the introductory classes can contain several hundred students each? Is it important for you to know most of the people in your class, or are you happy enough simply to know a few people within the larger community? How much does the physical size of a school matter to your decision? 

Urban or Rural Setting    0    1    2

The next question to ask yourself is where you would like to be situated during college. Do you want to study in a large city or urban center, where the city's bustling cultural offerings (concerts, sports teams, restaurants, and nightlife), as well as its downsides (crime, expense, and congestion), become part of your educational experience, or would you prefer an idyllic country setting where there is less distraction and where you can keep a pet, take a run almost anywhere, and otherwise stay on campus and concentrate on your studies? There are benefits and drawbacks to each option, and the decision as to which is "better" is a purely personal one. Take a few moments to think about your preferences. Are there any cities in particular that you would especially like to consider? Are there any regions of the country that you find particularly enticing?

Proximity to Home    0    1    2

Would you like to stay close to your family, or are you interested in getting as far away from them as humanly possible during the years you are in college? Before you make a hasty decision about this, though, consider the implications. Even if you have a rocky relationship with your family right now, that may change; and even if it doesn't, you're still probably going to have to make the pilgrimage home for at least Thanksgiving and winter break. If you're not excited to get home to begin with, it will be even more of a pain in the ass, and an expense, to have to take a five-hour flight to get home.

So how important to you is proximity to home?

Climate     0    1    2

Simply put, how significant an impact on you will the climate have? Are you prepared to completely exclude any school that is under a blanket of snow for four months out of the year, or would climate be a factor only in choosing between two otherwise similar schools?

Unless you suffer from seasonal affective disorder or some other physical or psychological condition that is exacerbated by the weather, we strongly discourage making decisions about schools solely on the basis of their climate, but hey"we're not the ones who are going to live in Nome for the next four years either.

So how important is climate going to be to you? Write down your thoughts.

Cost/Financial Aid   0    1    2

How much school can you and/or your family afford? Alternatively, are you prepared to take on whatever student loans are necessary to bridge the gap between what a school costs and what you can afford? If you are not at all familiar with your financial aid options, it might help you to read Chapter 4 before you answer this question.

So how important is a school's price tag to you?

Academic Schedule      0    1    2

Another significant differentiator between colleges is the academic schedule they feature. The majority of colleges employ the traditional semester system, whereby the academic year is divided into two fifteen- or sixteen-week semesters, with the fall semester beginning in late August and ending before a "winter break," and the spring semester beginning in mid-January, divided by a spring break in March, and ending in mid-May. In most schools based on the semester system, students complete their final exams and semester papers prior to leaving for winter break, and again by the end of the term in mid-May, which leaves them open to begin summer jobs or other experiences from late May through mid-August.

Other colleges and universities employ the full-year, trimester system, whereby each academic year typically comprises three fifteen-week sessions. At many of these schools, students are required to attend at least one third-trimester summer term, which can disrupt recurring summer plans, such as working as a camp counselor, but may also allow students to graduate in less than four years if they elect to attend more than one of these summer terms.