Deciding Between Colleges: 7 Things to Think About First

My friends and I like to joke about how the food in our college’s dining halls just happens to taste better on the days when prospective students come to see the school. Except it’s not really a joke. The food is remarkably better.

What gives?

After spending most of your senior year doing everything you can to prove to various colleges that you’re worthy of being there, sometimes it’s easy to forget that colleges are businesses – and they want you to buy in. So it makes sense that when you go to visit campus as a potential student the dining hall food tastes fantastic. That’s why it also makes sense that you’ll undoubtedly see the brand new buildings and the most up to date dorm rooms.

It can be easy to focus on the things that colleges want you to see. And sure, maybe the food quality doesn’t decline dramatically once the school year starts, and maybe you end up in the best dorm on campus, but there’s more to a college decision than the “big things” like food, dorms, academics. These are important factors in any college decision. I also know that location, price, scholarships, and overall prestige of the school play a huge part in a student’s choice.

I want to offer a few other considerations that might be helpful in making a college decision. Admittedly, they’re not quite as crucial as some other factors, but they’re worth thinking over and might be helpful if you’re stuck deciding between colleges when you have several options.

1. Will you be able to major in what you want to?

I went into my freshman year not knowing what I wanted to study. It took some time to figure out which areas piqued my interest and fit my skill sets. While there’s nothing wrong with not knowing what you want to study, I ended up having to apply to both the majors I’m interested in. As I’m writing this I’m still waiting to hear back, and I can promise you it’s not a great feeling to know there’s no guarantee I’ll end up in either.

If you’re like me and don’t know what you want to study yet, I’d suggest doing at least a little research. What majors does your school offer? Do you have to apply? If so, how many students are accepted and what’s the acceptance rate?

2. How invested are your school’s professors in actually teaching?

It may seem counterintuitive, (after all, what else could those old professors do but teach?) but this is important to look into. At my school, a lot of professors are focused on their own research. Many have work or books published, or are working on writing such things. I’ve actually had professors cancel class because they get called away to speak at conferences. While I love that my professors are passionate about their fields and invested in their work, sometimes it’s very obvious that teaching class isn’t their top priority. When you’re paying thousands of dollars to be sitting in that seat in class, you should expect the staff to put a certain amount of effort and attention to their class and students.

click here for more www.grownandflown.com