What is the most impt factor in selecting a college?

College Search & Selection
581

<p>Surprising that cost is (currently) only fourth (26.76% currently), below academic strength in intended major (56.04% currently), overall prestige and academic ranking (42.22% currently), and good vibes (36.06% currently), and only slightly more important than location (24.02% currently)</p>

<p>Perhaps that is why there are so many threads of students who realize in April that their application lists resulted in a lot of acceptances to unaffordable schools.</p>

<p>Also surprising that only slightly more than half list academic strength in intended major as being among the most important factors. Isn’t the purpose of going to college to do academic study in the subject of one’s choice (if undecided, academic offerings in all subjects that the student might major in would have to be considered)?</p>

582

<p>Greek Life</p>

583

<p>Where every you feel like home.</p>

584

<p>My important factor was what I felt like when I visited each school–for example, Swarthmore felt too small and liberal, while Penn gave a good feeling, if a bit urban for my tastes.</p>

585

<p>We thought about moving to Ithaca, and ended up in Syracuse. Let me tell you, Ithaca is a nice little college town but VERY isolated geographically in general and nearly unreachable in winter, our longest season, particularly for college students. And your closest city is Syracuse, which probably won’t satisfy your need for city life. It’s not much more happening than Ithaca, imho.</p>

586

<p>I picked major, because there’s obviously no point in going to a school that offers nothing that you’re interested in studying. But after that, I’d say general atmosphere (good vibes). A school could match all your other criteria (majors, cost, location, etc) and still make you miserable. For most students, college is the first time you’re going to be living away from home, so you should pick somewhere that makes you feel as comfortable as possible. Your grades will suffer if you’re too busy being unhappy and homesick.</p>

587

<p>Probably more about finances, since money is so tight</p>

588

<p>maybe quality also because Im sure if you work hard you can continue to pursue your goals</p>

589

<p>I feel like social life is not much of a big factor for me since Im more conserved and keep to myself</p>

590

<p>me either.</p>

591

<p>As colleges review applicants with holistic view, applicants should choose it after holistic consideration.</p>

592

<p>I chose academic strength for intended major but my 2nd choice would be location.</p>

<p>Academic prestige was a big thing to me at first, but now I know: </p>

<p>-Many people who went to Berkeley and Stanford and UCLA and are flat broke with no idea what to do because they spent 4-5 years obsessing over rankings and campus culture and neglected having a specific plan.</p>

<p>-Many people who went to an unremarkable XXXXXX State that had their major with a career clear plan and graduated straight into an upper middle-class salary.</p>

<p>So in hindsight, it’s all about majors. Too many people who think graduating from Princeton will score them a job in a barely-related field 15 states away when the guy hiring them doesn’t really care about Princeton.</p>

593

<p>Not to mention that after being exposed to lectures at “elite” schools, “good” schools and “average” schools, there wasn’t much of any difference.</p>

<p>“Bad” schools accepting droves of 2.60 GPA students have dramatically lower quality academics. In fact, some of them are downright scary and depressing, but that’s their purpose: Last-ditch safety net. Everything above that level is really rather similar.</p>

<p>Therefore, as long as we rule out “bad”/last resort schools, I would pay more attention to how much of their resources the school devotes to my specific major/department and very little to overall prestige.</p>

594

<p>Why do people go to college? TO LEARN!! So if all you look at in a college is “social life” then why don’t you just look for a social life without wasting thousands of dollars? Not that the vibe of the college is not important, it just not as important as the academics.</p>

595

<p>Glad to see some activity on this thread, and I like the thoughtfulness of the last couple of posts. </p>

<p>After finding that all the college websites looked the same, and that we couldn’t get a detailed description of what anyone means by “a rigorous education” (do we mean lots of homework? really difficult classes? highly selective student body, who, we hope, does not feel a sense of entitlement after being so rigorously selected), our family started asking “what’s the secret sauce”. </p>

<p>One of the stand-out answers, from a fellow parent on CC, was something like “the college is committed to its students, and the students are committed to learning”. </p>

<p>That could cover a number of issues. The professors are available in office hours, and want the student to succeed. The school makes a huge effort to see that the classes you need are available when you need them. There might be a quiet dorm, or dorms, for the students who really want to study. Greek life, if it’s there at all, does not end up on the front page of the newspapers. The school does not bow down before its D1 Football team. You can guess that I’m a bill paying parent by this list, but the college student in our house had a hand in writing it. </p>

<p>I like the focus on strength in the intended major - if you know what you want to major in, by all means, don’t compromise just to get a “better” (or more expensive) label. </p>

<p>If you don’t know what you want to major in yet, that’s a choice too - and there are schools that are more or less flexible for those who change their mind. </p>

<p>Finally, the post-college benefits - aka the alumni network. You may find that the alumni of a smaller, less well known college may be more open to helping a fellow alum than the alumni of a larger brand name college. No promises either way, but my own experience is that the alumni who feel that they are part of a team are going to be the ones who put themselves out to help. </p>

<p>Full disclosure - these are comments from the background of a humanities major - raised for flexibility. I have a couple of family members who were science majors - and their experience says that the brand matters - but the brand that matters for a science career isn’t always the Ivy league - so pick your brand carefully, if that’s the way you feel you should go.</p>

596

<p>1 = Size/# of libraries :)</p>

597

<p>Hey all, this is my first post on this site! I am currently in junior year of high school, but I’ve already got a list of schools that I want to apply to next year!</p>

<p>I honestly believe that the most important factors are academic strength for intended major, tuition, good vibes and location.</p>

<p>Obviously strength for major because it would be far better to go to NYU than Brown for medical school. Plus, some people, like me, want to create my own major, and that option isn’t available at a single Ivy.</p>

<p>Tuition because you don’t want to be in massive amounts of debt after college.</p>

<p>Good vibes. This is where social interactions come into play. You want to feel at home on campus…you want to feel welcomed and respected and happy. This is one of the reasons why I dislike the idea of going to an Ivy League school (and one of the reasons I cringe whenever my parents say they only want me to go to Harvard, Princeton, Columbia or Yale). You never want the school environment to be too stiff and too uptight about studying and school work. You want to have a lot of fun at college as well.</p>

<p>Location for me is massive as well. I live in NJ, and I am only considering schools as far as the Midwest. I refuse to go to the South or the West Coast. However, I also have zero interest in staying in my home state when I go to college; I want to be far enough to only see my parents during breaks, but not so far that I have to fly out to see them.</p>

<p>Anyways, I plan to transfer to a better ranked high school before midterms, so I can give myself a decent shot at getting into a university of my choice :)</p>

598

<p>hope you will get the desired college. i remember the time when i was in the same trauma whether to settle in other state or any nearby city.</p>

599

<p>make sure you like all the programs and area and the types of students who mostly attend</p>

600

<p>Price , Social Life, Prestige, and Academic Rigour</p>