How to Choose the Right College for You
What Are Your Priorities?
Finding the right college means that it checks off every one of your priorities. Everyone goes to college to achieve their goals, whether finding a good job, partying hard, or finding new opportunities. Finding the right school that helps you succeed in your desired major is important. Knowing the campus and its culture is significant to your success in your academic career.
Can’t I Just Go There for the Flex?
Do not just go to school because it has prestige and looks nice on your resume. Sometimes if that school is not a good fit for you, things can go badly. Sometimes certain schools don’t have the majors you want, and it might be better to go to another school for it.
Impaction of classes is one of the most notorious issues in school. Countless students struggle even to get classes in their major. If you are in the wrong major, you may have the lowest priority and struggle to get into the classes you want. This might take even longer for you to graduate if your goal is to graduate in a short period of time. This might cost you a lot of money and time. So, you need to think wisely to choose what school best fits your needs.
Why Does Location Matter?
When choosing a college, you have to think about where it is. This is where you will find your future opportunities, network, internships, etc.
If you go to UCLA, most of the people you know in your network will be in Los Angeles (LA). So, you will find more opportunities there because you will get to know more people in that area. This doesn’t mean you cannot get a job in other places if you go to UCLA, but most of the people you are going to meet at your school will be your future co-workers or connections down the line.
Some factors to consider when deciding are also the locations’ weather and climate. Think about whether you want to go to rural, suburban, or urban schools. More importantly, do you want to go far away or stay close to home while going to college?
All these factors are important in deciding what school is perfect for you. Everyone’s situation is different, so their choice of schools will be different, too.
Using Kollegio’s college search feature, you can filter schools based on location, such as rural, suburban, and urban settings. This feature also gives personalized recommendations for colleges that fit your profile based on academic factors like GPA and standardized test scores, population size, attending cost, and more!
How Do I Find the Right School?
Researching is key to finding the right college for you. Looking at colleges’ stats, including their rankings and resources, will help you find the school for your desired major. Going to their virtual tours or fly-in programs is also extremely valuable because you get to see the campus for yourself. Going to the campus yourself will give you a better feel for whether the school is right for you.
Additionally, there are tons of information sessions that students can go to for their majors as well. They are usually posted on the college’s websites, where students can contact their offices if they have any questions. There are tons of fly-in programs that students can apply to on a rolling basis.
Lastly, connecting to students who go there is also a smart way to learn more about their experiences. Forming that supportive network will help you in the long run as well. Taking advantage of mentorship programs, talking to teachers and advisors, and reading forums to learn more about schools can all be helpful to your college research process.
Fly-in Programs
Fly-in programs are one of the best things you can do while researching colleges. There are tons of fly-in programs that are listed online. One of them is by CollegeVine.
This gives a whole list of different colleges students can apply to. Some schools offer stipends and fly you out themselves. Make sure to apply as early as possible since it can get extremely competitive.
Evaluating Academic Fit
Sometimes you have to be realistic with yourself and ask if you can handle the workload and pressure from certain schools. This is especially true for Ivy League schools, where students are pressured to overwork themselves.
This can lead to mental and physical health issues caused by stress and pressure–resulting in anxiety, depression, mental fog, etc. These issues will affect you in the long run and lead to burnout, which can be detrimental to your academic career. This is why it is important, to be honest and assess your GPA and scores to see if you can handle the workload certain schools give.
Class Sizes
Most of the time, schools are extremely big and have countless students. This means there will be larger classrooms filled with 200 to 300 students for one class. This means that there is less help and guidance when you are trying to learn certain subjects.
Some students prefer a more personalized way of learning, like in community and state colleges, where most class sizes are approximately 20 to 30 students. This creates a more supportive environment for students to learn in, as opposed to other schools like the UC schools, which are more research-based schools. This means that professors are mainly focused on research, and students have to rely on themselves or TAs to help them through the class.
This is an important factor to note because college is all about relying on yourself. Although everyone’s goals and learning styles are different, students decide if certain schools will benefit their learning.
Financial Aid
It is no surprise that college is expensive. It is even more expensive, considering high inflation rates and barely any forgiveness for student loans.
That is why students need to think clearly about their academic journey and see whether taking out a large loan is worth it for a degree that will help them in the long run.
Students have to think that their degree is a sort of investment for their future in the long run–whether it will help students land their dream jobs, have better alumni connections, and have high graduation rates. These things vary from school to school.
Not only that but understanding the impact of tuition and housing fees on your financial state is important as well. Researching scholarships, financial aid options, and various grants like the Pell Grant is detrimental to the success of your college career.
Extracurricular activities
In some schools, you can only get a social life if you join certain clubs or fraternities. These schools might be “commuter schools,” where it is harder to make friends because everyone leaves and goes to their respective homes. It is up to students to join clubs that will benefit them or even dorm to make more friends.
The quality of clubs and organizations matters as well because these experiences can help a long way when applying for internships and jobs. Some schools require you to pay for club fees, so choosing the right school with high-quality extracurricular activities is extremely important in your academic career.
Additionally, finding out if your school offers study abroad programs is a great option to have when you are in college. Traveling when you can is a privilege that young students should take advantage of, and it can be a great addition to your resume as well.
Kollegio’s Role
Kollegio is an AI counselor tool that can help students decide which school is best for them. Students have many options, such as researching schools’ information, comparing different schools, finding external scholarships, and even a counselor who answers all of the students’ questions 24/7! Due to Kollegio's user-friendly interface, students can easily use this tool to find out more about certain colleges.
Sign up to Kollegio today. PS: It’s 100% free.
Conclusion
Overall, finding the right college can be extremely hard, especially when you are young. It is reckless that life expects students to make big decisions like taking out loans to get a degree that might not help them in the future. That is why planning and researching in depth during their college process journey is vital to their future.
By Vivian Duong
