How Do You Choose A College? In choosing a college or university, consider the following factors:
Does the college you are considering offer the college major you are interested in?
How much will it cost to attend the college? Knowing your education budget is important.
Is the college located in a place that you will enjoy (climate, number of students, size of city, etc.)
Will the college provide the level of support you desire - large universities are less likely to provide personalized attention.
What is the average GPA of entering freshman and how do you compare to that GPA?
What is the average SAT/ACT scores of entering freshman and how do you compare in those scores?
What other factors does the college consider when reviewing applications (found on the College Board website Big Future - see below)?
What is the social life like at the college you are considering?
Visit the college, does the campus feel comfortable to you?
Are there extracurricular or sports activities that you want to participate in?
It is highly recommended that you apply to more than one college or university. Apply to one school to which you know that you will be accepted (from researching the average GPA, SAT scores and acceptance criteria of the school). Apply to one school that may be a "reach" college for you. A "reach" school is a college/university in which the the average GPA, SAT scores and acceptance criteria of the school are just a littlebit higher than your scores, but one that you would like to attend. You may also want to apply to one college in which your scores are higher than the average applicant. You may be eligible for scholarships at a school in which you have better scores than the average applicant.
Big Future - by the College Board A great site to use in researching colleges is the "Big Future" portion of the College Board website: https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org On this site you can search for colleges, determine their admissions requirements, and build a custom list of colleges.