By: Beau Turner, high school student
Selecting a college to put on your list can be hard. Choosing what city or what state can be even harder. I would know. I just went through the college selection and college application process this summer. While selecting colleges I was able to come up with a few guidelines to help me pick the right schools to apply to!
The first guideline I set for myself was the location of the school. I grew up in Bellevue so a major city (Seattle) was in my back yard. I didn’t really want to go to college in the middle of nowhere so most of my colleges were in cities or between them. Keep in mind these colleges might be bigger or smaller student-wise than others.
The second guideline was activities around and for the school. For each college I was interested in I looked at their website at activities and clubs they had. I figured these clubs would be a good way to meet people that had similar interests! Also, I looked for activities that went on around the college. Things like year round concerts, outdoor activities, and night life were important to me and can be discovered by researching the city or area.
The third guideline was majors. I have personally don’t know what I want to do when I grow up. So when I researched colleges I made sure they had at least three majors I was interested in just in case I wanted to change my major during college. I figure I’m attending college for an education so why not study something I’m interested in.
The last guideline I had was the size of the school. I am not very into large crowds and groups of people. I felt like a smaller college would help me make more friends and help me feel more like I was part of a community. However, large colleges aren’t bad, they provide more diversity and opportunity socially than smaller colleges.
Bottom line I tried to figure out what would make the college experience a good one. It took a lot of research but while you are searching you begin to figure out what colleges you like and what you like about them. It shouldn’t be a chore! I had fun and it got me excited about furthering my education. Good luck!
