College Tips

In the spirit of my finishing most of my college applications, I am going to give some tips in finding the best college for you. And I know you’ve probably seen several of these but I have some things that helped me and I thought I could share them.

1.       Make a Possibility List

When schools come to visit your school, ask questions on what you think you’d want in college.

I say ‘think’ because you may not know what you want until you see the school doesn’t have it. So ask questions like: Do you have _________ major? What is the student to teacher ratio? How big are the class sizes? Tuition and total costs? Scholarships? And the list continues. If you see that your questions are being answered to your liking, remember that school! Write it down if you have to, tell your parents, just remember it! I remembered my list of seven colleges by telling my parents about them.

2.       Visit (if Possible)

Once you have your list, try to visit them. Once you see the campus, you might be able to say that one college is better than the other. I am blessed with a mom who plans our summer trips to the States (every two years or so) in detail. This summer she added a full road trip going from North Carolina to Virginia to Tennessee to Missouri to Illinois to Michigan to Ohio to Pennsylvania to New York to Connecticut, and finally, to New Hampshire. Not every state on this list had a college that we looked at, it was just the way she planned it. The seven colleges were in NC, VA, TN, MI, PA, and NY. By visiting the colleges I could see if I would fit in while

walking around campus. I would ask myself if I saw myself walking these halls and living in these dorms. I was also able to feel the spiritual aspect of the school. I could see if the schools were strict Christian schools, loose Christian schools, or just schools who had the name ‘Christian’ plastered on the flyer. Through visiting I was able to narrow my options down to four.

3.       Which is Number One?

Now that you narrowed down your list, if you were able to do so, you need to decide which one is your favorite. You can talk to your parents, mentors, siblings, friends, and God about this. I mainly talked to God about my decision. I laid out my four college brochures and I felt myself leaning toward a certain college. This college was my favorite while visiting, it had my major and the campus was beautiful, it had a wonderful spiritual aspect as well. I felt God telling me that this college was the one. I was hesitant at choosing that as my top as I didn’t want to make a mistake in choosing. But I realized that I really loved this school and if I felt God leading me to it, then I shouldn’t be fighting it. What I did was establish that one as my number one and then I told myself to be prepared for it to change. It never did.

So, take your list and number them from the perspective of, “If I get accepted to all, I’d choose…” And go from there. So I have my colleges ranked from 1-4, with the best case scenario being me getting accepted to all.

4.       Is This the End?

When I had my list I was wondering if I should keep it like that and not add any more. But even if I had my list, my school would still have college visits looking for students to apply to their university. Since there were still schools coming to my school I decided to pay attention even if I had my list. While doing this I added a fifth school to my list. I kept my ears open just to see if there was anything else out there.I also talked with my dad about it and it was alright to apply to that newly-added-to-my-list college. I still have my number one, but you never know, maybe God had planned for me to go somewhere else than my number one but I didn’t see it yet?

5.       Apply

This is the final step, well before you have to actually say ‘yes’ to a certain institution. When you ask questions, in steps 1, 2, and 4, ask how to apply. Find out if you need to mail it, if it is online, or if it is on the Common Application. Once you figure this out, you start the application process. Make sure you have everything you need!

                This is the end of my tips for college searching or at least what was best for me when I was looking. Some of these things you may have seen in other lists or in other people’s stories. Some of the things you may never have thought of them. College planning is a crazy time. I mean, you’re figuring out what’s going to happen in your future. Looking into the future is sometimes scary. But nevertheless, it is a necessary process in life: to look into the future. Don’t take this “looking into the future” as a way to plan it out and get angry if things don’t come out the way you want them to. Right now I’m in the 6^th step and soon I’ll be playing the waiting game!

                Goodbye, until next time!