<p>It's a pretty general question, but how do I choose what college I want to go to. I don't know specifically what I want to major in, but it's definately going to be science. I go to CollegeBoard college searches and I get hundreds of colleges that fit the major I want and the price I can afford. But how do I narrow down 200+ colleges? What should I be looking for?</p>
<p>The first thing you should do, in my opinion, is decide if you want small, mid-size or large school. (2000, 7500, or 15,000+ students.) Then decide WHERE. East coast, south, west coast, mid-west, etc. That's a good way to start.</p>
<p>I wouldn't worry about the size of the school unless that really does bother you (being with too many people or with next to no one). You should definitely focus on the area; are you going to stay in-state or does it not matter to you and family where in the country you go? Price is also a concern but you have that so even if you choose 10 states, you'll still get schools under the amount you said.</p>
<p>Ok, I'll do those, thanks.</p>
<p>Another question, for school size. I know I don't want anything large because I want more individual attention. And I don't want any classes smaller than 40-50 kids. 7500 is good?</p>
<p>My parents want be in-state, but if I can get a large scholorship for an out of state school, I can go out of state.</p>
<p>EDIT-I thought about 2000 students and that's too small for me. That's smaller than my high school :eek: So it's 2000-15,000 for me :)</p>
<p>Wait... you want personal attention but no classes smaller than 40 or 50 people?</p>
<p>Other questions to consider: Do you want completely co-ed or do you want to go to a mostly single-sex school? Or does that not matter? How are your grades and test scores (if you've taken them)? Are you looking more at a state-school or state University or prestigious LACs or Ivies? Are you interested in joining clubs? Are intercollegiate sports important to you? Are you going to go Greek?</p>
<p>can you see yourself in a big city? or maybe you would like a smaller town that is focused on the college? or maybe a rural campus where you can easily do any sort of outdoorsy activity?</p>
<p>want to go to a school where the entire campus practically shuts down to go to football games on saturdays? or maybe a school where you can be involved in theater or the newspaper or music? </p>
<p>does diversity matter to you? not necessarily just race, but religion, place of origin, socioeconomic background, etc</p>
<p>Well, in some of my classes now, there's 30-40 kids and I get enough personal attention but the class is too small sometimes.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the replies. I narrowed down the searches alot :)</p>
<p>The first thing you should do is speak with your guidance counselor. He/She should be able to help you to narrow things down. Also, recognize that you have to just automatically eliminate 80% of the colleges that appear on the College Board list that you have. Remember, you'll only going to end up applying to a handful of colleges, so there really isn't any point in starting with a list of 200.</p>
<p>Try the Princeton review page, here is the link. I think it can be as narrow or as wide as you want based on your inputs:</p>
<p>Ok, thanks for the response and the link. Helps a bunch :)</p>
<p>Another question, I want to get into the best school I can for my budget and one that is popular for my field (science). Where can I get this information? Because there's tons of schools that offer Biomedical Engineering, but are they quality classes? How do I find this info?</p>
<p>You feel overwhelmed at this point, and rightly so, because there are over 2000 4-year colleges in the US and you have no way to choose between them. I suggest you start start by reading a book about college admissions to get an overview of the whole process and detailed info on the steps involved. One book I highly recommend is "Admission Matters" by Franck and Springer. Another good book to read after that one is "Colleges That Change Lives" by Pope, which makes the case for smaller LACs. You don't have to agree with the book, but it does raise some interesting issues to think about. </p>
<p>Selecting a college means finding one of the size you want, located in a setting (urban, rural, etc) you'd enjoy, enrolling the type of kids you want to be around, with the class size you're looking for, the advising system in place that you're comfortable with, a career center offering the services you're looking for, lots of kids participating in free-time activities you'd enjoy, at a cost you can afford, and so on. A book such as the one above will explain the differences between various types of schools and give you an approach to choosing between them.</p>
<p>The best advice I can give you is to leave the board for now, until you've read a book or two on admissions. Otherwise you're going to get lots of post where people push one school or another. That school may be perfect for them, but they aren't you. And until you've built the foundation of understanding what's available and how to choose, you aren't going to be able to make good choices.</p>