Help on Your College Selection!

So, you are at the beginning of your college process and don't know where to start. No worries, I have your back!

In order to figure out what schools you want to apply to think about these questions:

Do you want to go to a large school or small one? Impact: A larger school means more people so if you love meeting tons of people or want an 'urban' feel that this may be for you. A smaller school gives you a personal feel and may be a better opportunity to build closer relationships (Disclaimer: I am biased to a small school. I didn't want to be classified as a number in the class and my school was a perfect fit for me with just about 3,000 people).

Do you want to go to school in a city or not? Impact: If you are from a city, you may use college as a chance to get into a different scene and vice versa (I went from Boston, MA to a 'smaller life').

Do you want to go to a private institution or a public one? Does it matter to you? Impact: Money matters. Private schools tend to be more expensive and if you go to a public school and stay in the same state you are from you can pay less for your education (There are more details [that I can do in another post] to this question like taking into account your grades and getting into a "needs-based" school which can help make a private education cheaper than actually going to a public institution - that was my case with Smith).

Do you want to live near/at home or want to take an exploratory adventure away? Impact: Living near/at home can reduce your education expenses dramatically by removing your "room & board" expenses on your college bill. Going away from home for school will provide you with a "fresh start" but will be a more expensive option (in many cases).

Once you figure out your answers, I recommend going to College Board and exploring some schools that meet your criteria. You can check out Forbes and USN to get some ideas of some schools you may want to consider for yourself but don't sweat it if your top school isn't here...all of these ranking sites use different criteria to make their selections and sometimes politics (which I won't get into) influence it. This is just for ideas.

Note that there is a give and take for all of these questions and answers, but that is part of the decision making process. If you want a more in-depth explanation for any of these points let me know! I have biases for all of them too given I had to make all of these choices about 5-6 years ago so note them too.

Have you gone through this process and have suggestions that I missed to consider? Are there other questions you have in selecting a college that is right for you that you want to know? Do you want some help in making some decisions on your choice? Post a comment and let me know so I can do my best to help you out!