It was the end of Sophmore year and I knew I had a big task ahead of me. My parents had told me it was time to start considering what colleges I might be interested in going to. We went to a book store and bought a college guide that rates schools. Following this my parents helped me narrow a book of thousands of schools to just 40-50 schools. From there on I was on my own.
I had decided a couple things that were important to my education. I want to go to a school that isn't too big (18,000 students undergrad max), a school with an active Jewish community, one that would keep all my options open for the future, one that my parents would be willing to pay for, and last but not least, a school could see myself at.
My list slowly dropped and by mid way through junior year there were twenty-five schools on my list. I made sure to be really organized. I made powerpoints to organize the pros and cons of each school. This was part of how I was able to eliminate schools. I later cut it down to ten and visited all but one of them.
Eventually, in the fall I was able to cut down my choices to just seven. Later I decided I only wanted to apply to five. I applied to University of Vermont, College of Charleston(SC) , Georgia State University (in state safety school), Miami University (Ohio), and University of Massachussetts Amherst. I found that I had a difficult decision ahead of me but was able to make one. In the fall I will be attending the College of Charleston with an undecided major.
I reccommend that everyone finds their own way to pick a college, whether it be a logical mathematical way or based on the opinions of those who are personal friends. Spend plenty of time. This is important.
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I think this post gives a lot of great advice. If I may add on to it, I'd like to say that people should definately have a clear idea of what they want first (like you did) and then go though a couple guidebooks. I found the Princeton Review was a great starting place and the Fiske was a great book to narrow down the list. Once you have a managable list, visiting the school is the best way to get that feeling in your gut if it's the right place for you.
I did something a little different. The end of my Sophmore year I went on collegeboard.com and took the "quiz" that they have on there that matches you up with colleges. I then reasearched information about each and made a list of what I definately wanted in a school. I then looked at the schools I was matched up with to see which schools had what I wanted. Then, I visited them the summer before my Senior year, eliminated a couple that I couldn't picture myself in, and began applications. I found this to make the process a lot easier. A lot of my friends still didn't know which schools they wanted to apply to a couple of months into our senior year. Whichever strategy you choose, make sure you start early. That is key! Once your senior year begins, it will be harder to get things done. Do whatever you can now. It doesn't even hurt to type up an activity sheet now and begin thinking of essay topics.
You REALLY thought out your college options.
I didn't even think about it until my senior year (BIG mistake)
I wish I had the encouragement to start early.
Thanks for the Advice!
yea thats hard core lol. good advise though, im just learning how to search for a college and i've been to two : p