By Beau Cline
Deciding on what college you want to attend is a very intimidating task. I like you was posed with this exact question at the beginning of my senior year. Up until this point, our future was decided by parents and guardians who are always looking out for us and pointing us in the right direction. However, the time comes in life where you need to start making your own decisions. For many of us this first decision is what college you want to attend and that can be scary as we’re entering this new stage in life. Hopefully These 7 steps will help take some of the intimidation away from this life changing decision.
The first step you should take is a Self-Assessment of your interests, values, and different goals you want to achieve. You should think about what subjects or fields of study you’re interested in, what your preferred learning environment is, and your career aspirations. A helpful strategy for finding these interests is to pay attention to what you are spending your time and money on outside of essentials.
Now you can start your research on different colleges that align with your interests, and goals from the previous section. Look into their different academic programs, majors offered, facilities, extracurricular activities, location, and campus culture. You can also explore their online websites, and brochures to gather more information on the experience. Talking to attending students is highly recommended as that’s a first hand source where you can ask any questions specific to you.
An important thing to always remember is to ask for help when you need it. Like I said, this is our first big decision as adults and it happens to be figuring out what we want to do in life. At times it can feel overwhelming, so I implore you to ask the people who’ve led you this far in life for help and I assure you they’ll be glad you reached out.
Another essential step is to make sure you consider the financial aspects that come with college. Evaluate the costs to attend each school. These prices can be affected by research tuition fees, available scholarships, extra financial aid opportunities, and cost of living in that area. Review all the different financial packages that they offer to make sure you are getting the best deal.
Finally you’re getting to the fun steps, this is when you should start checking for campus visits and campus tours. If it’s possible, get an in person tour to fully experience the college and its facilities. If you can’t get an in person tour many virtual tours exist now that are very in depth. In my experience this is an overlooked step, you’ve spent so much time working on applications, essays, and recommendations that once you’ve been accepted into a college you forgot to look at what it will be like when you’re actually there.
A helpful extra step you can take is to try and reach out to current students, former alumni, and college professors. This can provide a valuable insight that otherwise would have been hidden to you, as all these people have had their own experiences at the school. Finding these people might be a challenge if you don’t directly know them, but there’s plenty of ways to reach out using online forums and social media platforms. For example, rate my professor is a valuable website where you can see reviews on professors from your school.
At times this process can be very overwhelming, but at the end of the day, you must realize there are so many options out there. With Community colleges offering cheap schooling options, Trades offering essential work skills that are in high demand and the military offering lifetime benefits free education and early retirement. At the end of the day don’t feel like you need to follow one path because that’s what everyone else is doing. This journey is a long one and as long as you follow your passion, and put in the hard work that it takes, you’ll end up where you thrive most.
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