FEATURE CHOOSING SCHOOLS
WORDS BY HAL MORRIS & DARCEL ROCKETT
EENIE MEENIE MINEY MOE…
College is complicated enough: making friends, handling course loads and creating a foundation for your future. So, choosing the right school is a process that takes a methodical approach.
Andy Conway is trying to prepare himself for college life. He admits that he was too easily distracted during high school, and often found himself watching TV when he should have been studying. The entering freshman at Langston University will have to create new study habits when he leaves Matteson, a southern suburb of Chicago, and heads to Oklahoma City this month. “I’m looking forward to being whatever I want,” he says. And by choosing a university that he feels offers just the right programs and environment to get him to his goals was the essential first step.
Conway’s scenario is one shared by thousands of other young adults—one that starts at the beginning of senior year. As the summer vacation winds to an end, it’s a time for high school seniors and their parents to start planning on finding a university that will maximize their academic potential.
The choice is an important one because choosing the wrong school could turn out to be detrimental to future success. The first year of college tends to be the time when students quickly realize whether or not they made the right choice. Classrooms and dorms always become slightly less crowded as the year progresses, with students leaving for a variety of reasons—they chose a school too far from (or too close to) their families, too expensive for their budgets, too scholastic, too decadent. Choosing the right school is essential, after all… the campus will be your home for the next four years.
Steven Antonoff’s book, College Match: A Blueprint for Choosing the Best School for You! recommends that you start the process of choosing a school by asking yourself a few key questions: Am I looking for a stimulating intellectual experience? Am I more inclined to spend late nights partying? How independent am I, really? Am I psyched up by pressure or not? And, what is my learning style? The answers will help you pick a school based on what you want to do, not on who you wish you were.
Once you have some idea of the kind of college student you will be, peruse schools’ literature (those informational books and brochures that schools send to prospective students), college websites and talk with your high school guidance counselors. Digest facts on student body composition, support services (i.e. the availability of computers around campus), transportation, total costs (including room/board and books), number of students who return after the first year and student-to-faculty ratios. Check out a school’s accreditation as well—it’s a type of quality indicator that is bestowed on a college by a national and/or state agency. The US Department of Education maintains a list of such agencies at www.ope.ed.gov/accrediation.
Katherine Cohen, founder and CEO of IvyWise, a New York-based educational consulting company, said with over 3500 schools across the country to choose from, research is somewhat of a scavenger hunt that entails a student imagining a day in the life at a particular school their freshman year.
“I tell my students to learn about professors, read something of theirs, find out what organizations or clubs they would join, so they get a sense of what it’s really like to be there and what role they will play to make an impact on campus,” she says. She also recommends getting a real look at the schools through campus visits.
Steffany Bane, co-author alongside her mother of Doors Open from Both Sides, a book of tips and viewpoints from parents and their college-bound students, believes the campus visit is pivotal in decision-making.
“A lot of decisions are made by just stepping on campus,” she said. “You need to see what can be offered not just academically, but socially, because it’s the place where you’ll be living life, and you need to know if you can fit in. I wanted to be close to a city, but not in it, and when I found out the University of Miami has a closed campus (no city streets running through) and discovered the huge melting pot of different cultures there, I decided the school met every qualification for going.”
The best time to visit a campus is on a weekday in the fall semester, not too close to the beginning of the semester and not during finals week. That way, you’ll see students and teachers going about their regular routines. To schedule a campus visit, call the admissions office in advance for dates and times of campus tours, information sessions (Q&As with an admissions rep) and open houses (a day of events aimed at prospective students, scheduled once or twice a semester). An admission officer can recommend classes to observe, help schedule individual meetings with faculty and send out information about your stay (a campus map, parking permit and nearby lodging).
Once on campus, walk around with a notebook and camera. Take notes and pictures of the things that define the everyday experience of life at the school—the dorms, cafeteria food (be sure to taste it, too!), classes and students you meet. Be sure to talk to current students away from admissions representatives, and have a list of questions prepared. Also pick up a campus newspaper, sort through information posted on bulletin boards (fliers give a useful glimpse of the social scene) and visit the library. Check out nearby communities for other interesting avenues of intellectual stimulation.
Then, put together a list of colleges that have most of the characteristics you want. Bane weighed all the features of the university, including the mid-size feel of the school, having come from a high school with only 64 in her graduating class. She liked the collegiate sports teams and the academics—specifically the fact that U of M had a school of communications and not just a communications department like other schools.
Eighteen-year-old Conway looked at a number of colleges. A long-time trumpet player, he applied to Grambling State University in hopes of joining their marching band. As an aspiring thespian, he also applied to Columbia College for their performing arts program. Langston was agreed upon when the institution offered him a scholarship to attend.
“The more research you do, the better you’ll be at narrowing down your choices, even if you don’t know what you want to major in yet,” Bane said.
Parents should do some paring down of their own during the selection procedure. If there are financial restrictions that limit the range of colleges your child can consider, discuss the limitations with them at the beginning of the college search. Then your child won’t waste time and energy researching colleges that he/she won’t be able to attend. But keep in mind, while educational costs are something to be conscious of, they are not the sole thing to contemplate. Services such as The College Board (www.collegeboard.com) can assist in locating scholarships, internships, grants and loans for students in order to reduce the price tag of education.
With the footwork done, now it’s time to start applying. Cohen suggests submitting applications to six to eight schools that run the gamut between safety schools to reach schools dream schools. This provides the impending college freshman a cross-section of schools from which to choose from.
“I’ve seen hundreds of students and I don’t believe in any one golden school; there are many great matches,” Cohen says.
When the decision letters start coming in with the financial aid letters, list pros and cons for each of the schools. Talk to your family for additional insight and choose which one will provide the best college experience for you—socially and intellectually. Parents are encouraged to listen and offer advice without making the college choice for their child, Cohen said.
Conway may not have solid study habits, but he did have parental support.
“They know I’m looking forward to being my own man, so they didn’t baby me. They let me make my own decisions,” he said. “But they were still there if I had any questions or problems.”
For information about getting into college, pick up Cohen’s book, The Truth About Getting In: If You’re Getting Ready for the Admissions Process, For more on selecting, applying and paying for school, visit the US Department of Education Website, www.ed.gov.