You will want to be a savvy researcher and consumer of information in order to choose the right college. You will want to keep track of majors, costs, application timelines and requirements, and so much more. As mentioned, a college research tracker can support this process (or use this as a guide to create your own!).
Consider who your trusted resources of information are and how you can find out more. Generally, in-person college visits are highly informative, so read more about How To Get the Most Out of Your College Visit and check out this list of 60+ Examples of Questions to Ask on a College Tour.
When colleges keep track of who visits, reads emails, clicks on links, attends information sessions, and more, this is called tracking potential applicants’ demonstrated interest. Many colleges favor applicants who demonstrate their interest, and this Inside Higher Ed study shares more about this practice.
If you can’t visit schools in person, fear not! Start your research by hearing student voices at unigo.com, continue your research at www.collegexpress.com to check out fun lists and collections, and then check out virtual tours at CampusReel.org.
You can learn even more by reading this incredible post about How to Research Colleges (Without Visiting A Campus).
After you’ve spent a lot of time understanding yourself and doing research, you are ready to craft a list that is going to create opportunities for you. Think big! Cast a wide net. The best place to start is by reading CEG’s 3 Step guide on how to choose a college. If you love data, we find that a great place to start is at the aptly named site collegedata.com.
Above all, please take the time to consider why we consistently beg you to avoid relying on rankings to shape your college list.
There is a huge body of evidence that shows that how engaged you are in your college experience matters more than how selective/famous/elite/prestigious the college you attend is.
So, what does that mean exactly? Students who seek out internships and other hands-on learning experiences that allow them to apply their learning in real-life settings, who work with mentors who know them well and encourage them, and students who truly make the most of their college environment and opportunities will thrive after college.
There is absolutely no guarantee that students who attend a “highly ranked” college will thrive after college. In fact, this study found “no significant relationship between a school’s selectivity and student learning, future job satisfaction, or well-being.”
Frank Bruni, who wrote a book called Where You Go Is Not Who You’ll Be recently wrote an op-ed in the New York Times proposing a new way of thinking about rankings, complete with a new tool that allows you to build your own system of rankings that reflects what you value in your college experience.
Want more? Read more about this endlessly fascinating topic and how the rankings and marketing games have bamboozled a generation here, here, here, here, or watch here and here.
