If you are a graduating high school senior, college-bound – hopefully you have a number of choices and options available to you.   You might already have decided – and that’s great.   But if you are weighing choices between schools – here are a few areas where you can focus on: 

Finances

What is your projected total cost of attendance (COA) for the schools you’re considering?   Are the schools cost within your family budget?    If the school is offering you financial aid, will that be affordable for you and your family?   It is possible to ask or appeal to the school’s financial aid office for additional funds, but it is not a guarantee.  

Suppose you are considering professional or graduate school in the future. In that case, you should budget accordingly and go to an undergraduate program which will require no or less debt – because that can be expensive, particularly for medical school.  

Field of Study

Particularly if you are considering a highly competitive program such as computer science, nursing, or business, is the school offering you direct entry into it?   Alternatively, if you are admitted to a general studies area (such as College of Arts and Sciences) – and want to consider being able to matriculate or embark on the very competitive programs – ask if that is even possible – some programs only admit by direct entry, or have very few spaces for later matriculants. 

On the other hand, if you’re undecided and want to explore different fields, find out if the college encourages or allows that.  Some due to capacity issues, make it very difficult to do so (e.g. Cal Ploy San Luis Obispo).  

Student Support 

You may also want to look into the level of support – such as tutoring, assistance.  Particularly if you have a disability, contact the office responsible for this to determine the scope of their assistance – it can be under Office of Disability Services, Access and Disability Services, Office of Accessible Education.  Find out if and when you can obtain accommodations in courses (may have to directly contact the instructor).  

Activities/Student Life 

Do the school (s) offer the activities and pastimes you want to do?  If you want to do marching band, do they have a marching band, for example?  Do you want Greek life, or alternatively, don’t want a campus where social life is dominated by fraternities or sororities?  Are certain clubs very selective and tough to enter?  This can be an issue. 

Vibe/Environment/Culture

These are the intangibles – if you were able to visit the campus (es) – how did you feel about the campus environment?  Did you feel at home there?  Were there enough students who look like you?   Do you like an urban environment (which might draw away on campus life)?  

Final Thoughts:  

A good way is to weigh out all the tangible details – such as cost, availability of programs, student life, culture/environments – and make the tipping decision with your heart.  

Remember, college is just the beginning – it is not a goal in itself, even though 6 months ago, it may have felt that way.  Your future success and happiness on NOT so much where you go, but 

  • Making the most of your opportunities once you get there
  • What you do when you graduate

Good luck to your future!