This article won an honorable mention in the 2023 Michigan Interscholastic Press Association spring awards ceremony.
Enrolling into a university is an extremely important step in one’s life. It is a process that requires a lot of thinking and decision making.
Here is a compiled list of tips to follow in the process of choosing where to attend.
The location of your preferred college is key to your comfort for the following years, and can be one of the biggest deciding factors. People who easily become homesick may not do as well at an out of state university, due to the struggle of being so far from home.
On the flip side, some people genuinely thrive on getting a new start hours away from home. New beginnings and new cities can be interesting to some and a necessity to make their college experience. It is essential to know yourself and what you can handle when considering the location of the school.
After choosing where you’d like to go to college, figure out why. Focus on finding schools that have your major and minor and excel in that field of study. Colleges take pride in their strongest programs, so be on the lookout for a school that has a high post degree employment rate with your major. Explore what you love and make it happen.
An additional part of the process is figuring out if you prefer a big campus or a small one. This refers to the actual size of the campus, and also the amount of people attending the institution. Consider how far it would take you to walk to and from your classes in the cool fall, bitter winters and spring showers.
Typically, colleges range from having less than two thousand students total to around seventy thousand. A higher number of students means more opportunities to meet new people and try new things. Large institutions often offer a larger selection of extracurricular activities, presenting more occasions to meet friends.
In contrast, less people allows for closer connections to classmates and professors, creating tightly bonded and important relationships. Though there are less options to keep you busy, there is always something to do with the people you meet.
*Once you find a school that meets or exceeds your expectations, that is when you should take a look at cost. College is expensive regardless of where you go, however, you would be surprised at how much money can be taken off of your balance due. There are merit scholarships from almost every school that give you thousands of dollars just for your grade point average. High or low, money will be awarded to those that achieve academically and are highly involved in high school extracurricular activities.
After receiving any possible merit scholarship, looking into random ones that are provided by the school or just found online can be extremely helpful when it comes to paying for college. There are serious scholarships where one will write about their life story but there are also simple ones where you answer a prompt about Minecraft. The range of opportunities that are available and definitely worth a few minutes of your time to get a few hundred or thousand dollars off of your studies.
Another cheaper route for life’s next step is community college, and there is one in just about every major city. Many people take advantage of this opportunity to pursue their education for a more affordable price.
Guidance counselor at the high school, Michael Kapustka, witnesses a lot of the college selecting process right in his office. As such, he has an abundance of advice for the major decision.
¨I would say [with] planning, take your time and be thorough,” Kapustka said. ¨Get as much done as you can junior year, and then [start] applications the start of the senior year.¨
Regardless of what you finally decide to choose, make sure it is something you will love. Think about the four plus years you will be spending there, and don’t hesitate to talk to your counselor and parents to make the best decision with you! A stressful decision process with a great deal of consideration leads to a much happier learning experience in the end.
*This link has a list of many majors and minors available, and also includes what jobs are available with the degree.
