The Most Common Question?

Posted on Thursday, October 16, 2008
Category: Choosing a College

One question passes through the lips of nearly every US college applicant at one time or another:

What college should I attend?

We can’t answer that question (that’s something only you can do!), but we can help you figure out the right answer.

The US has thousands of colleges, so there surely is a match for your wants and needs. Here’s 5 questions for you to answer in order to narrow down your search:

1. What will you study? Some schools have expertise in certain subjects.

2. What size school do you want to attend? Some colleges have a couple of hundred students. Others have tens of thousands.

3. What kind of weather do you prefer? Sun? Snow? Both?

4. What type of city do you want to live in? You can attend a college in the middle of the largest city or the smallest town.

5. What is your budget? Consider not only tuition, but also the cost of living in dorms or an off-campus apartment and other living expenses, such as food and fun.

This should narrow your choices from a few thousand to a few dozen colleges (or even fewer!). Then you can take this shorter list and really look in depth for the college that suits you best. More about that in the next post.

How did you choose your school?