When Choosing a College, What Really Matters?

A good read on considering the important (and not-so-important) aspects of choosing a "good match school".  Brought to you by one of my favorites:  WSJ On Campus (from The Wall Street Journal)

By Abby McCartney

When it came time to choose a college, I had researched and researched and visited and visited and thought long and hard about what I wanted—and focused on all the wrong things.

The process of matching yourself to a school is different for everyone, and I’m no expert. But I’ve been through it a few times now, with myself, my friends, my sister, and her friends, and we all made a lot of the same mistakes. So, whether you’re compiling an initial list or making a final choice, here are some tips from someone who’s been there before.

Three things that do not matter as much as I once thought:

Departments, majors and course offerings: OK, yes, if you want to major in business, you should go to a school with a business major. But I spent way too much time obsessing about the details of these programs—the requirements for different majors, the interdisciplinary offerings, the list of courses taught in each department. The reality is that, unless your interests are incredibly specific, nearly every school has some kind of major that will work for you. Every school has good classes and bad ones, and you only need four or five classes at a time, so there isn’t much of a difference between departments that offer 10 and those that offer hundreds.

Big-name professors: Here’s a dirty little secret: The more of a big deal a professor is, the less time he has for his students. I go to a school with more than its share of Important Scholars, and without exception, my favorite professors are the ones you will never hear of. Anyway, there’s no guarantee that the professor won’t retire or move on by the time you get there. I once had a beautiful dream of taking a class with Toni Morrison at Princeton, but she retired my freshman year (which made me feel much better about not getting in!).

Size: This one matters a little. There is a real difference between the atmosphere at a huge state school and the vibe of a small, liberal-arts college. But the more important question is how the school deals with its size. If it’s big, do students break down into smaller communities based on dorms, majors or activities? Do deans and professors go out of their way to get to know students? If it’s small, does it share resources with neighboring schools? How hard is it to find a class or activity that the school doesn’t offer?

Great, you say. All my research, out the window! So if classes and professors and size don’t matter, what does?

In a word, people. The social atmosphere at a school is what will really determine how happy you are. The best question I ever asked on a college visit was, “What’s a typical weekend like?” The answers were surprisingly different at the schools I visited, and that was pretty much the reason for my decision.

But just for good measure, here are a few things you might not have considered that really do have an impact on your quality of life:

The schedule: Do you start or end at the same time as other schools? Are your breaks extra-short or super-long? These can be important for summer programs or family vacations. Perhaps most importantly, when are the exams? Finals after Christmas could ruin a perfectly good break.

Freshman housing: Of the handful of my high school classmates who had truly bad freshman-year experiences, to the point of transferring, nearly all of them had bad freshman housing. You don’t want to be away from other freshmen or isolated from the rest of campus. Roommates and hall-mates are the primary way most people make friends when they first arrive.

Weather: I totally dismissed this one. I thought temperature was a dumb reason to make an important life choice. Needless to say, I regret that decision every time I have to walk to class with tiny chunks of ice blowing into my face. Cold, rainy days really do affect my mood. I don’t think weather alone would have changed my decision, but it’s definitely worth considering.

There are plenty more things to consider when you’re picking a college, of course, including family traditions, distance from home and cost. And there’s no magic formula that can precisely determine the right school for you. When it’s finally time to choose a school, just make sure you’re choosing it for the right reasons—that is, the reasons that matter most to you.

source: wsj.unigo.com

March 2009