Tips For Choosing the Best University For You

By Felix Chesterfield

Making the decision on which college to attend is often the most difficult and important decision that a person will make in the first eighteen years of their life. That is not to put too much pressure on any current students, but it is not an overstatement to say that your college years, affected by where you attend, will play a major in the rest of your life. It is important to note that there is no “best” college or “best” decision that fits everybody. Rather, the student will need to focus on finding the college that is best them. What is best for James may not be what is best for Carl or David. Every school is a great fit for somebody, the goal is to find the best fit for you.



A good way to start is to focus on programs rather the full university. The US News or Princeton Review college rankings are nice, but they do not really tell you anything beyond that one publication’s opinion. If you have an idea of what you intend to major in, you are already ahead of the curve and have a huge advantage over other students in choosing your school. In that case, focus on the school(s) that has a strong reputation for those majors. It may be a completely different list than the overall rankings. School A may be rated a top 10 university overall, but it may have a fledgling engineering department while school B is rated outside the top 100, but have a well-respected engineering major with a long track record of producing successful graduates.



Even if the student has no idea what they would like to major in, there are still plenty of ways to help differentiate some schools from others. The best way to do this is to visit the schools that you are interested in. Schools are happy to market themselves to any student. Go, tour the campuses, talk to the current students, schedule appointments with the faculty and admissions offices – it is the best way to learn about the various schools without actually having the experience of being there. You would be surprised how many students choose their colleges sites unseen. Most schools will even allow you to audit a class or two, which is the most authentic experience a non-student can garner. There is no reason not to take advantage of this opportunity.



One final piece of advice: College costs are skyrocketing. Students are building huge levels of debt and finishing with degrees that they cannot use. Again, not to put unneeded fear onto any student. But I would highly recommend against going to an expensive private school unless you have done the research and decided that was the absolute best school for you. Unless you have money to burn (and how many of us do?), you do not want to graduate with a mountain of debt unless you have good reason to believe that it will pay off for you in the long run.



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