IDENTIFYING WHAT YOU NEED AND WANT IN A COLLEGE
Many students say that they have no idea about what they want in a college. That’s understandable since very few high school students know the characteristics students should take into account when they begin the college selection process.

To help you being thinking about what you want, go to the College Selection Questionnaire located in The Checklists section of this website. Don’t worry if you don’t know exactly how to answer the questions; give the best answers you can.

The questionnaire should take you about 5-7 minutes. When you are done, from your responses summarize what you want in a college and write them down on the following summary form:

Author’s note: If you don’t want to take the time to complete the questionnaire, at least take some time to look at the different questions so that you become familiar with what to look for in different colleges.

adMISSION POSSIBLE® TIP! Not only is your list of preferred college characteristics critical to your putting together a good college list, it will also be very useful to you when answering college application or interview questions as to “Why do you want to attend X college?”

SUMMARY LIST OF WHAT I WANT IN A COLLEGE

1. Physical Location (either region or individual states):

2. Landscape/environment and kind of weather (e.g., near the ocean, in the mountains or desert, etc.):

3. Nearby community (e.g., city, town, college town, etc.):

4. Cities you would like to be in or near:

5. How far or close you want to be from home:

6. Religious affiliation of and/or ethnic make-up of student body:

7. Kinds of colleges or universities in which you are interested (e.g., private liberal arts, Ivy League, public state university, science and engineering, etc.):

8. Size of undergraduate student body (e.g., 1000, 5000, 10,000 or 30,000+):

9. General campus personality, atmosphere (e.g., intellectually oriented, outdoorsy, sports are big, etc.):

10. Type of curriculum (e.g., lots of course requirement, few course requirements, etc.):

11. Academic considerations (e.g., competitive or cooperative academic climate, large or small classes, etc.):

12. Types of students (e.g., really smart, liberal, moderate or conservative, preppy, techies, free spirited, etc.):

13. Campus environment and facilities (e.g., beautiful, well kept campus, fast, moderate or quiet pace of life, good dining halls, etc.):

14. Athletics (e.g., good work out facilities, Div I, II, III sports, etc.):

15. Anything else: (e.g., a special major or program you want; something that you want to avoid, etc.):

The above list of characteristics can help you research colleges and identify those that meet your needs. This is just a beginning list; as you read guidebooks, visit colleges, and talk with college contacts, you will become aware of other things you want or don’t want.