I truly don’t know. I mean like, private/public, big/small, liberal arts?
To get a feel for different types of schools you can try to visit a few different schools nearby to get a feel for what environment you would be most comfortable in. When you start to pick out schools for your list of where to apply to:
- Talk to your parents and see what you can afford and if there are any other constraints they have on where you apply (ex. withing a certain distance of home etc).
- Think about if you have a particular major in mind and look for schools with that major.
- Be honest with yourself about the schools you have a shot to get into given your stats.
- Read up on schools through the college website, guide books (ex. Fiske, Princeton Review, Insiders Guide…)
- Visit schools whenever possible.
Focus on finding a good selection of colleges to which to apply. When you go to college you can focus on which kinds of courses and subjects you enjoy working with. You’ll discover what you want to do, just like 99% of us. It might even be more than one thing, or as you mature what you want to do might morph into something else. Live your life. The rest will take care of itself.
Right off the bat, I would say “Big, Public” on the theory that there are lots of things to explore, and being a small fish in a big pond, you have the option to quit things without anyone really noticing.
^Funny, right off the bat I’d say “small liberal arts” because they tend to focus more on a well-rounded education in all fields, and intellectual growth as opposed to being more focused and immediately career-oriented. And they don’t really care what your stated major interest is as a freshman. Many, many, many of my D’s friends are undecided and that’s perfectly fine. But I am sure that there are big publics where you can achieve the same goal. Why don’t you start by exploring which environment you feel better in, and then -if it’s big university- find a school within that category that doesn’t ask you to choose a major and focus down right away.
Schools where the following are true to the greatest extent possible:
a. Your possible majors exist and have reasonably good breadth and depth of offerings.
b. Your possible majors do not have unreasonably high barriers to declaring the major (e.g. very high GPA requirements or highly competitive admission process).
Classes of schools like “big public” and “small LAC” are not reliable in terms of determining whether the above characteristics are true. You need to research each school individually, in the context of your possible majors.
Note that some majors have sequences of requirements that must be started in your first semester. If your possible majors include such majors, then you need to plan your frosh year course work carefully so that you will not be “behind” on any of your possible majors while you are undecided.