Which college?

With more than 3,500 institutes for students to choose from, universities are working harder than ever to woo applicants. Skiing after sociology, anyone?

It’s an annual rite each spring: the migration of scores of parents and their teenagers across the country, visiting campus after campus trying to find the right one. As the number of high-school graduates exceeds two million, families search through more than 3,500 colleges and universities in the US to meet the ever-changing teenage selection criteria. Along with the venerable learning institutions that live up to their reputations, students and their families have all kinds of collegiate options—large and small, public and private, urban and rural—that are working harder than ever to differentiate themselves in a crowded academic marketplace.

Students are shown residential facilities, dining options, recreation centers, libraries, labs and theaters—all the impressive addons the campus can offer. Young people visiting Boston’s acclaimed Berklee College of Music stand in awe at the thought of performing at the Berklee Performance Center, or attending a workshop by noted alumni such as Quincy Jones or John Scofield. In the heart of Boston, the campus offers the dynamic city as part of the enrollment package. In Florida, students can meet University of Miami President Donna Shalala, who used to be the US Secretary of Health and Human Services. Essential resources include the Princeton Review’s The Best 361 Colleges 2006, which offers a variety of categories for a wide range of options. For example, under the heading “most beautiful campus,” you can select from the top five, including Pepperdine University in Malibu, California, and Agnes Scott College—one of the nation’s leading universities for women—in Decatur, Georgia.

The best campus food, according to the Princeton Review, is at Maine’s Bowdoin College; Stanford, Rice and St. Olaf College boast some of the best “quality of life” on campus, while Loyola in Maryland and Scripps in California offer some of the finest on-campus housing.

The 2006 Kaplan College Guide is another superb resource for identifying and differentiating colleges and universities. George Washington University in DC gets a gold star from Kaplan for political junkies: “With a campus next door to the World Bank and down the street from the White House, GW is a poli-sci major’s dream. Professors often consult for the government, which gives their classroom perspective a practical edge. The school also encourages internships at government agencies, think tanks and advocacy organizations.”

Likewise, the Boston/Cambridge area claims rights to the best college library at Harvard, and the best campus capital construction and architecture plan at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Across the country, campuses are pushing all kinds of strengths to woo students. On the East Coast, one of the hot schools is the University of Vermont (UVM) in Burlington. With fewer than 9,000 students, UVM sits on the shores of Lake Champlain and is a short jaunt from the area’s top ski resorts. Add a medical school, an environmentally friendly campus and nationally ranked ice hockey and you’ve got a winning combination.

On the West Coast, it’s hard to beat the breathtaking setting of the University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB). But UCSB also has Nobel Prize winners on its faculty, leading research in science and technology and an extensive study-abroad program. And in the mountain states, the University of Colorado has developed a world-class honors program that challenges students from all 50 states and around the globe.

In Georgia, one of the greatest recruiting tools is the HOPE Scholarship Program. Launched over a decade ago by then-governor Zell Miller, this lottery-funded program allows all high school graduates in Georgia (public or private) earning a B or better average to enroll at any state university and have their tuition and fees paid by the HOPE program, as long as the B average is maintained. This brilliant initiative has kept many of the best and brightest in state education.

With so many alternatives, the choice is tough, but plenty of analysis can be done online. The College Board offers excellent search tools for students and parents (www.collegeboard.com/splash). Campus visits are also essential. Ask lots of questions, attend a class or two and talk to enrolled students. The choices are great, the options plenty. It’s a fantastic time to be graduating from high school.