College Decisions Checklist

Happy February! If you’re a senior going to college after graduation, then you have just a little under three months to decide where you’re going (if you haven’t committed already). I still haven’t decided where I am going to school, and I’ve realized that the decision making process is more complicated than I initially thought when applying to schools. So, to help you organize your thoughts, I’ve created the below College Decisions Checklist that you can use when deciding where you’re going to spend the next four years. 

• Location: Distance From Home— Where you decide to go has a lot to do with where you want to be. The first step to deciding what college you want to go to has to do with how far the college is from home. Do you want to be far away or as close as possible? Or, do you want to be some distance in between? Either way, rank the colleges you’re choosing from based on how close they are to your target-distance from home to start the decision making process. 

• Location: Campus + Surroundings — Where you want to be has a lot to do with the surroundings of a particular college’s campus. If you’re been able to visit the college’s campus, you should be able to use your experiences to rank them. If not, the internet has a lot of resources (including virtual tours) to help you learn more about the surroundings of campus. Is the campus spread out or walkable? Does it look well-kept? Is it near natural attractions (i.e. mountains, the ocean, lakes, etc.)? Is it in a warm or cold climate? Does it rain a lot in that area? Decide which locational factors matter to you and rank your schools accordingly. 

• Housing — Some schools, especially larger ones, do not guarantee first year housing for students. On the other hand, some schools require you to live on-campus for three or even four years. Decide whether you want to live on-campus, then figure out how easy it is to get on or off campus housing at each school. Also, be sure to research specific living arrangements (single vs. double vs. quad styles, etc.) if this is something that is important to you so that you can accurately rank schools. 

• Academic Programs: Your Interests — If you’re someone who wants to study more than one discipline, or someone with a super niche intended major, you need to make sure that each school offers academic programs that tailor to your needs. For example, I’d like to double major in Political Science and Economics, but not every school allows me to do so, which will impact my school decision making. If you’re someone who is undecided, you can either skip this step, or, if you have some idea of what you may be interested in, you can rank schools based on whether or not they have the potential majors you’re interested in.

• Academic Programs: Quality — Some schools value hands-on learning, some value research, others value diverse learning. In general, it is a good idea to understand the quality of the education you would be receiving from each school. The degree you get will directly impact your ability to perform well in your future career, so it is important to at least consider educational quality at each school. 

• School Size — In America, college sizes range from several hundred to tens of thousands of undergraduate students. If you don’t know which one you’d prefer or genuinely have no preference, it is okay to skip this step. However, it’s important to note that smaller schools may have smaller class sizes and more intimate student-faculty relationships, while larger schools may have more access to resources. Consider how large of a school you’d like to attend, and rank your schools according to how close they are to your preferred size. 

• Price — College in America is expensive, and everyone is different in terms of the amount they are willing or able to pay or take out in student loans. Be sure to know exactly how much each school will cost, including tuition, fees, and living expenses. Also, it is a good idea to apply for scholarships at each school if they’re available, as they may allow you to make a choice you otherwise wouldn’t have been able to afford. 

I suggest using a ranking system for these categories(#1-the number of colleges you’re choosing from), giving #1 to the best college for each category. Then, you can add up the total number of points that each college got, and you can narrow your overall list down to the colleges with the lowest number of points (those that did the best in each category) to make your decision a little easier. College decisions can be overwhelming, but organizing your thoughts is the first step towards making a successful choice.