<p>I'm a junior, making my initial college list, with no clue on how to go about doing this. Any advice on how to decide what colleges to put on it, and how many to put on this list?
thanks</p>
<p>You have a year to decide this, so don’t limit how many you put on your list- if you can figure out what you’re looking for this year, you can devote next summer to narrowing down your list to the right number. I would recommend spending some time thinking about what you want to do with your life and where you want to be- obviously you don’t need to know this in much detail, but if you have any sense of what you want your future to be, that can be helpful in starting to search for colleges. For example, if you know you’re into numbers, start searching for schools with strong programs in math, science, engineering, econ, etc. If you know you want to work abroad, look for schools that have great language programs and offer majors that have an international focus. Also start thinking about what kind of college atmosphere you want- if you like smaller, more laid back settings, you’ll want to look into liberal arts colleges, and if you want a more busy atmosphere look into larger universities. You can borrow college guide books from the library or read stuff online to help you with the beginning process, and once you have an idea of what you’re looking for, use programs like this: [College</a> Search - College Confidential](<a href=“http://www.collegeconfidential.com/college_search/]College”>http://www.collegeconfidential.com/college_search/) to help pick out specific schools. Good luck in your search!! :)</p>
<p>Start with finding one or more safety schools. These are certain to admit you, are certain to be affordable (look for the “net price calculator” on each school’s web site to get a financial aid estimate), have the academics that you are interested, and are otherwise suitable for you.</p>
<p>Some people use community colleges as their safety schools, but it is best to think about and plan for that as your safety if you do so, rather than having to back into it because you got “shut out” in April.</p>
<p>Once you have your safety school(s), you can add any others you are interested in. But don’t bother applying to any schools which are certain to be unaffordable under any circumstances, or which you will not choose over your safety school(s) under any circumstances.</p>