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12 Tips for Making a Good College Choice
1. For a Christian student, think about this: If you are serious about your faith, you should plan to attend a Christian college unless the Lord specifically calls you elsewhere.
The main factor in making a good college choice is FIT. If your Christian faith is the most important thing in your life, it should be the most important thing in your college search. So look for a place that takes your faith seriously. Having said this, however, sometimes the Lord may have a specific purpose in calling a student to a secular college. If this is the calling for you, by all means follow it!
2. If you would not choose a college if it didn't offer you money, don't choose it because it does.
Your college years are an investment that will pay lifelong benefits - not just a four-year expense. Look for the best choice you can possibly make, and don't be enticed to a school just because it offers you money or appears to be less expensive in the short run. It may actually turn out to be more costly in the long run.
3. Most colleges admit most of their applicants.
Good news! While the nation's highly selective colleges get the attention, with horror stories of all the applicants they turn away, most colleges are admitting the majority of their applicants. If you do get turned down by a college, don't take it personally. It's their loss!
4. Look for a college where you feel both comfortable and challenged.
Finding a good combination of comfort and challenge is the key to a good fit. While you don't want a place where everybody is just alike, you should look for a place where you feel that you fit. Each campus has its own "personality."
5. Don't know what you want to major in? Consider it a good thing!
Most students change majors while they're in college. Therefore, it usually does not make sense to pick a college because of a particular major. Instead - have we said this before? - choose a college because it is an overall good fit for you. Many people over-emphasize the importance of a college major.
6. Your grades will be the most important factor in the admission process, but do your best on that three-hour test.
When colleges make admission decisions, they consider a lot of factors. But they are most interested in the courses you've taken in high school and how well you've done. Why? Because research has shown that high school grades - and the courses taken - are the best predictor of college success.
7. You can use test scores to help you find a good academic fit.
There is more to finding a good fit than test scores, of course. But test scores can be helpful if you keep them in perspective. You can use your own score as a reference point to help find specific colleges that may be a good fit academically.
8. Keep a balanced life. More is not necessarily better.
Getting into college is not the primary purpose of high school. The high school years are highly significant years of growth. Students should do their best academically, take classes appropriate to their abilities, be involved in extra-curricular activities, and grow socially and spiritually.
9. Colleges seek to enroll "a well-rounded class" rather than "a class of well-rounded students."
Colleges place a high degree of emphasis on academics in admitting the majority of their freshman class. However, they also seek other attributes. The admissions staff at a highly selective college, knowing it will meet its basic numerical goal, will look for individuals with specific abilities or attributes to "craft a well-rounded class."
10. Talk with your classmates and recent graduates about their college choices.
Your fellow students - especially seniors - are going through some of the same experiences as you. They are visiting college campuses, talking with former students, and forming impressions about colleges. While it's important not to be controlled by peer pressure, it can be a good thing to compare notes.
11. If you have a strong interest in a college, be sure to visit the campus when classes are in session, stay overnight, and imagine yourself as an enrolled student.
You need to visit - to experience first-hand the environment, the "ethos" of the campus. Remember, you're looking for comfort and challenge. Play a mind game - don't think of yourself as a visitor; think of yourself as an actual enrolled student.
12. Make the best college choice you can. However, you're not stuck with it forever.
College life takes adjustments, and you'll need to be willing to try to stick it out. Don't turn and run at your first encounter with homesickness, roommate trouble, or dissatisfaction. But there are sometimes legitimate reasons to transfer, and if you encounter them and find yourself feeling that you really do need to transfer to a different college, it's okay. It does not mean that you failed in your college search. Many people transfer, and when it's done for the right reasons, it almost always turns out well.
For more information about Taylor's admissions process please click here.
