<p>Hello all. I'm going to be a senior in HS this fall. I'm having a little trouble with deciding what universities/colleges to apply to. What are some important criteria one must consider before applying? (I've tried supermatch.)</p>
<ul>
<li>location</li>
<li>price</li>
<li>size</li>
<li>selection of courses/majors you’re interested in</li>
</ul>
<p>–not necessarily in this order. Ask yourself: what can my family afford? do I have the stats for merit scholarship? Where do I want to go to school (geographically) and how big do I want the campus to be? Urban/suburban/country? Academically, what am I interested in? Does the school have xxx (fill in particular specialties you may want - sport/dance/theater etc.)? </p>
<p>– once you know the answers to these questions time to see how your stats stack up with a willowed down list of potential schools. </p>
<p>– remember to come up with a selection that includes safeties (where you’re almost certain to get in) matches and reaches (schools where the average gpa/sats are above yours but not exceedingly so.)</p>
<p>– finally: love your safety! Nothing feels better than knowing that if all else fails you will be happy at the school you’re sure to get in.</p>
<p>First, if you have a passion you have to make sure your choices offer it. Then I would say location, then selectivity. Size and type (preppy, liberal, etc.) might be next. Hopefully, your list will be pretty small by then and you can think about visiting. That’s the real test.</p>
<p>The criteria is obviously up to you. But if you don’t know what criteria is important to you (as was the case, basically, with my first kid going to college), visit schools in your area, a day trip if possible, and go on the tour. Things will start to emerge that you do not like, or things that are missing. That may help you narrow down other schools you want to visit or look into.</p>
<p>My D1 (first kid attending college) ended up attending the first school we visited (an hour away from our house). We visited it because it was close and its student profile was similar to his. We figured we would start there as a learning process. </p>
<p>He thought he didn’t want a small LA college. But after that first visit, he was open to that and ultimately chose it.</p>