B. FINAL DESTINATION: CHOOSING YOUR COLLEGE

DECIDING ON ONE COLLEGE FROM MANY CHOICES
It is April, and all of your acceptances are in. If you are like many students, you now have a number of choices. From this point on, the tables are turned. No longer are you trying to dazzle colleges with your credentials and qualifications; rather, it is the colleges who are doing the dazzling, trying to convince you that they are “the one.”

If you have been accepted to your one favorite college, then the decision is easy. Sometimes that doesn’t happen, though, and then you must choose one college from a number of other choices. Here are some thoughts on how to do that.

If you are unsure about which college to choose, perhaps you don’t have enough information to make a good choice, or that the information you have is incomplete or disorganized. Here are some steps to take to get on top of the information you need:

INFORMATION NEEDED FOR DECISION MAKING

1. Identify what you want in a college.
If you haven’t done this before, put together a list of characteristics you want in a college. Go to the College Selection Questionnaire for ideas about what to identify.

Write down everything you want on a piece of paper and then circle the top 3-5 in terms of their importance to you. Your list might look like this:

• Location in West, Pacific Northwest and Mid-West

• Small-medium city or college town, rural area

• Small, liberal arts college, with no more than 10,000 students

• An intellectually oriented, tight-knit community of students

• A college that offers cooperative rather than competitive environment

• Accessible, supportive professors, small classes, focus on undergraduate rather than graduate students

• A good record for undergraduates getting into graduate school

• Ethnically diverse students from all over the U.S.

• Students who are active in social and political causes

• Classmates who are lovers of ideas and good discussions

• Beautiful, safe campus where most students live on campus