Steps To The Perfect College List

Posted on: May 10th, 2020

Did you know there are 19.9 million students who attend a four-year college program in the US every year? Choosing the right college for you is as important as earning your degree and learning about social manners and critical life skills. Moreover, you spend a few years of your life in a single institution and pay hundreds of dollars on your tuition fee, books, and travelling.

Many students start their career as a freelancer while searching for a college. The process of making an entire college list begins with a lot of searching. However, a step-by-step guide is necessary for students to ensure that they consider some essential factors and avoid common mistakes.

8 College Counselor Tips To Help Students With Their College Search

Know Your Education Needs

The search for a perfect college begins with self-discovery, which simply means to identify your interests and achievement goals. For some individuals, it is also about finding a place that matches your educational and academic needs. For example, some students might be attending a college which is near to their residence while some students select a college because of its popular student athletics program.

Make A Big College List

The second step is to start with your initial research and make a big-sized college list based on your preferences. It’s totally alright if your list is lengthy; you’ll be able to shorten this list once you collect relevant factual college data which allow you to choose the right ones.

Check College Ranking & Accreditation Status

Before you spend more time investigating a college, don’t forget to check its ranking and accreditation status. An accredited college is a fully licensed educational organization that is scrutinized and approved by official agencies for providing a standard quality curriculum for higher education.

Size Of The College Matters

By knowing its size, you can tell a lot about a college. Since prominent colleges have more resources, you will be able to enjoy campus facilities like accommodating, libraries, free computer and internet access, sport and health centres, and entertainment. Moreover, self-esteem building activities for university students are more common in prominent colleges.

Ask For Advice

Students should never feel afraid or shy about asking questions from experienced people. Connect with independent college counselors or inquire seniors about their experiences and how did they choose their colleges.

Narrow Down Your List

Finally, it’s time to narrow down your college list by digging deeper. This time, search about the academic quality of your targeted program, faculty, career opportunities and campus environment. Visit colleges, review their website and online education forums. Keep editing our list as you find essential information about the colleges in your list. As you get to know more, you’ll start to like some colleges over others.

Tuition Fee

While most of the factors may vary for different people, the overall cost of attending a college undermines all. There are countless education options require significant financial investments. You need to select an option that doesn’t put you in debt for years.

Graduation Rates

While researching about your preferred colleges, watch out their graduation rates. Low graduation rates, freshman retention rate, and low employment rates of graduates are a red flag. Moreover, the student-faculty ratio should be adequate. Some students like to have personalized attention. If this is the case with you, big sized classes aren’t for you.

Conclusion

Picking a college is an important decision. If you don’t give this process enough time, you will end up making the wrong decision. With this small guide, we hope that you’ll be creating a great college list for yourself.