Why choose a school?

<p>I am doing a report on colleges, and what the most important aspects are that attract someone to a particular school. If you could just list the top few things (in order or importance) that you consider when applying for schools, that would be a huge help! Thanks.</p>

<p>Location
The "feel"
Rigor/academic standards
Special programs (honors program, double major, early graduation, combined Bachelor's and Master's, etc)
Prestige
Strong department in my field
Public/private (publics out of my state are useless)
Religious affiliation</p>

<p>There are definitely a lot more. Could you provide options for people to rank?</p>

<p>For me, I based it on:</p>

<ol>
<li>Prestige and overall reputation</li>
<li>Programs it offerred</li>
<li>Campus and atmosphere</li>
<li>Financial Aid</li>
<li>Strength of my particular major</li>
</ol>

<ol>
<li>strength in particular major (engineering and physics)</li>
<li>overall ranking, reputation, prestige (Ivy)</li>
<li>location (close to home, not in a city)</li>
<li>beautiful campus</li>
<li>size (not too small to have good resources for engineering)</li>
<li>financial aid (grant money...this would have been ranked higher because affordability is a prerequisite, but all schools try to make themselves affordable.)</li>
<li>good extracurricular opportunities (music and theater)</li>
<li>legacy</li>
</ol>

<p>There is a poll at the beginning of this discussion board about the most important factors for choosing a college...check it out.</p>

<p>In somewhat of a hierarchy....</p>

<ol>
<li>Location (don't want to have to fly back and forth)</li>
<li>Quality of the education</li>
<li>Aesthetic appeal to of the school</li>
<li>Atmosphere of the campus</li>
<li>Program strength (assuming they're all liberal arts colleges)</li>
<li>The quality of the food and maintanance of buildings, especially dorms!</li>
</ol>

<p>Hope that helps!</p>

<ol>
<li>Location (warm weather, near city)</li>
<li>Size of school</li>
<li>Match to my stats (not too high, not too low)</li>
<li>Financial Aid</li>
<li>Major strength</li>
</ol>

<ol>
<li>Quality of Education </li>
<li>Reputation (Not necessarily, "HAHVAHD?!") </li>
<li>Major Strength </li>
<li>Location / Atmosphere </li>
<li>Size of School</li>
<li>Financial Aid</li>
</ol>

<p>According to a poll of 263,000 college freshmen last fall, the top reasons noted as very important in selecting the college attended:
reason, total, men, women
college has a very good academic reputation 57.9% 53.5% 61.5%
graduates get good jobs 51.2% 47.4% 54.3%
a visit to the campus 42.2% 35.9% 47.3%
wanted a college about the size of this one 38.6% 31.1% 44.6%
was offered financial assistance 35.4% 31.2% 38.9%</p>

<p>source: UCLA national CIRP (Cooperative Institutional Research Project)survey</p>

<p>For me (In order from most important to least important):
1. Price/ Financial Aid
2. Strength in Major
3. Reputation
4. Atmosphere/ Friendliness of Students
5. Availability of Research Opportunities
6. Location
7. Size of school
8. Sports</p>

<p>MAjor(Communications/Journalism not easy b/c of horrible first year)
Reputation( Does it have a good comm school or if it has other qualities)
LOCAY(not to rural-yick!! Suburbia is enough for me i live on Long Island so its either in a city or close to one)
size(i would liek a smaller school but most J-schools are in large schools)
Class size(omg ADHD-i have a mild ADHd...but concentration is key...i will definetly need to go to a college thats known for its smaller class sizes)
Internships/CO-OP(im looking at colleges with co-op programs...northeastern being # 1)</p>

<p>Did you notice the poll that is at the top of this forum?</p>

<p>thank you. i didn't notice that.</p>

<p>would you necessarily have to visit a school in order to decide if you wanted to go there, or are college books/ratings/opinions enough?</p>

<p>1) campus life
2) the people
3) prestige
4) price
5) the majors available
7) athletics
8) how large or small the security of a high-paying job after graduating</p>

<p>1.Prestige
2.match to my stat..
3.Atmosphere
4.price.
5.location
6.Quality of the education(cause i still believe Prestige of school can make program i take sounds better..)</p>

<p>1) Opportunities available (usually goes hand in hand with prestige)
2) Location</p>

<p>Hmm..that was my criteria...lol</p>