Taking the Next Academic Step: How to Choose a College

My son has done really well throughout his academic career thus far, but as high school graduation looms closer and closer, he still has no idea how to choose a college that would be best for his future. In fact, he's still not even sure where his academic or career interests lie, making a final decision nearly impossible to contemplate. He clearly needs help learning how to choose a college, so I'm going to step in and offer my advice.

For starters, I told him that a great way to learn how to choose a college was by finding out the different ways other people have approached the problem. Fortunately, there are plenty of good websites on the Internet that contain valuable insight from students and counselors alike. These sites can help prospective students set out preliminary criteria and develop a plan of action to find good schools. By simply spending an afternoon reading about how to choose a college online, my son now has a wealth of information at his fingertips and can begin evaluating his situation more intelligently.

In doing so, he soon realized that selecting a major was not necessarily the best first step in how to choose a college. That was good news, considering the fact that he did not have the slightest idea which studies he wanted to pursue. Instead, he focused on finding a university in a location that he would enjoy and that had a decent student-teacher ratio. After those two considerations, he looked at things like study abroad opportunities, quality of student life, extracurricular activities on campus, and graduation rates.

By researching how to choose a college online, my son also learned that it would be a good idea to apply to at least a couple of "safety schools" in addition to the more prestigious universities that he might want to attend. This would allow him to cover his bases while still reaching out for his dream school, and give him some peace of mind during the application process.

Now that my son has a more solid understanding of how to choose a college, I'm sure he's going to be very busy researching different schools in the coming months. He's perfectly willing to put in all that extra time, of course, because selecting a university is a huge step in his life and can have a far-reaching impact on everything from his academic success to his career -- and perhaps even his future spouse! In other words, this is not a decision to make lightly.

If you are currently struggling with how to choose a college, there are plenty of resources available to help get you pointed in the right direction. Be sure to take advantage of them, and don't be afraid to ask your parents, teachers, or guidance counselors for help. After all, that's what they're there for!