Prepping for college isn’t the most exciting or easiest thing to do but hopefully with these three tips students can dodge the last-minute stressing and pick the right campus for them with ease.
1Environment
When picking a college it’s crucial that an applicant chooses a place that’s comfortable.
“It’s important that you know what type of environment you’re looking for,” counselor Kristi Dixon said.
To do that, students should develop their own set of criteria for what they want in a college. Whether a student is trying to decide what points to add to that personal checklist or searching for a campus that meets those criteria, they should schedule some visits. For example, if a student doesn’t know whether or not they’d rather attend a large or small school, then visiting both types could give them an answer.
Dixon suggests visiting campuses on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays when colleges are in full swing. That way potential applicants would be able to witness the daily life at that university. Senior Alex Durand knows what he looks for in a college environment after doing some research on a few colleges in Minnesota.
“You don’t want to get homesick and you want to like what you’re doing,” Durand said. “I’m going into business and I want a place that can help me with that.”
Counselor Kevin Halfmann describes the right campus as “the kind of place where you feel you can be connected- connected to the people, the activities.”
Dixon also encourages visitors to ask themselves questions like:
How does this make you feel emotionally?
How does your gut feel?
Are you comfortable?
These answers can help an individual determine if the campus is right for them or not.
2 Finances
It isn’t logical to apply to a college that can’t be afforded. Teenagers should sit down with their parents and get a clear idea of what their budget for college is. But if a student absolutely has his or her heart set on a campus that can’t be squeezed into the budget, there is another option. Student loans offer a different, though potentially risky route.
“A lot of students rely on student loans to make college possible, but not everybody is comfortable with the debt,” Dixon said. “For me there was no option; I had to get one if I wanted to go to college.”
But Halfmann warns that it’s very easy to accumulate debt.
“A loan is an investment and you want that investment to pay off,” Halfmann said.
Unfortunately, it’s something a lot of students aren’t taught about, which makes the chances of owing a lot of money even higher.
“I feel like I don’t know anything about them [student loans] or how they work,” senior Lydia Pine said.
So before taking a loan like Durand plans to, it would be wise for an individual to first do their research, then only apply for an amount they’re confident they could pay back. Being cautious can help students stay safe and still go to the college of their dreams.
3 Be realistic
Students should know what different colleges expect from their applicants. Doing some research in this area before applying would be very beneficial. This can include finding out the average SAT scores and GPAs of the students accepted into the college that a student is interested in. If an individual fits into that range, then it becomes a lot easier for them to be confident about his or her chances of acceptance. Unfortunately, the opposite is what many students fear.
“I’m worried because if you don’t do good then you get rejected,” Pine said.
This fear of rejection is an understandable concern, but Dixon encourages students not to worry.
“A test score is a snapshot of how you performed on that day; it doesn’t necessarily reflect what you can accomplish,” Dixon said.
Test scores alone do not have the ability to reflect the character of a person, which is what colleges really want to know. So, while reality should be kept in mind while browsing for potential colleges, applicants should remember that they’re more than just a set of numbers.