The Best Way To Choose A College

By Author: Syed Jamal
Total Articles: 12
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For some high school seniors, choosing the college of their choice is easy. This is because either their parents have chosen it for them, or they have simply known where they have wanted to go their whole lives. But for some seniors and some adults, this would be one of the toughest decisions they would have to take. To help out, here are some tips.

Visit a College, virtually or in person, and make sure it feels like home.

I can remember when I was about to go to college for the first time, I had my heart set on a particular college. It was one of the most prestigious schools in the area and I could travel and be a commuter student. One day, a friend invited me to an open event that another school was having. Once I stepped on campus, it felt like home. I didn't feel uncomfortable or weird and everyone was genuinely nice. It is a very small school where everyone is known by name and not their student ID. Having a school feel like home is important, after all, you will be spending in upwards of two to four years there. Check out the school’s Facebook page, alumni group and its website. You should be able to see ...
... events, updates and activities that are exciting for you and in which you would want to participate. Also check out the videos on You Tube. All of this will give you a good sense of the school’s culture and feel to help you make a sound decision.

Check out the Athletics and Organizations.
One of the things that most students are going to school for is Athletics or an Organization they were involved in while in high school. Athletics and organizations were always a way to stay busy in high school and to keep focus on your grades, and the same can be said as well for athletics and organizations in the higher education arena. Not only that, there are scholarships available for athletics, as well as organizations or for your parents being from certain organizations. This will help keep the cost of college down for lower income families.

Do they have my major?
I know most first time students do not know what they are going to major in, or have changed their minds about a half a dozen times by the time they start for the fall semester. But for those that do know, going to a school that has you major is beneficial because you can stay at the same school and not have to transfer out to another school. This means you will not have to go through the process of filling out all of the paperwork all over again, which is time consuming. For those that do not know what they want to be or major in, almost all schools have a General Studies program available until you are able to find out what you want to do.

These are just a few helpful items that have helped me in deciding which school I wanted to go to. There are many other factors like location, how your parents feel about the college, and overall reputation of the school, that factor into this decision. The one piece of advice that I can give is that you pick the school that is best for you and your future. You can do an online research to find the list of colleges in US to apply.

The author of this article is currently associated with EducationUSA at the United States-India Educational Foundation. They offer advice to Indian students on how to study in USA.