There are two parts to the process of finding the right college for any student. The first part involves the student investigating what they want from a college.  Do you want a large or small college? Something near where you live or far away? What sort of academic atmosphere are you looking for?

Some students know the answer to these types of questions but many don’t. What do you do if you don’t know what you want from college? Visit several different types of colleges.  The more colleges you visit the more likely it is that you will discover what you want from a college. At this point you are not visiting colleges trying to decide where to attend but rather what you want in a college.

This first part of figuring out what you want can start any time and 9th and 10th grade are not too early. Ideally, you will be finishing this process in junior year.

The second step in looking for a college is taking all of the information you have learned about what you want from a college and finding a college that meets your criteria. I typically work with students on this part of the process in the summer after junior year. At this time, the student knows their high school grades, test scores and extracurricular activities. With that sort of information, combined with the student’s interests, we can find options for the best college for that student.

So, when do you start looking for a college? The earlier you start the first part of finding what you want, the better options you will have when you actually decide where to apply.

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When Do You Start Looking for a College?

This is a question that I hear all the time. And you know what? Very few high school students really know what they want to do when they grow up.

When I was growing up computers were something we had heard about but had never seen. My first experience with a computer was in high school. We had a teletype machine (look it up) and created strips of paper with holes punches in them using BASIC language. We would send that strip of paper over a phone line to a computer 200 miles away and it would create our program and send it back to us several days later.

There were virtually no jobs in the computer industry back then. Now, there are millions.

In the world economy we now live in, new fields are being create on an almost daily basis. Millions of jobs will exist 20 years from now that we can not even imagine at this time.

How do you prepare for that world of employment? Learn to think. Learn to communicate. Learn to learn.

So, what college do you go to? Find one that fits you. Find one that is going to teach you to think, to communicate and be a life long learning. If you have these skills you will be prepared for whatever the future may create.

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I Don’t Know What to do With the Rest of My Life

They also provide the loan data for each state and for most public and private colleges in a state.  And the loan rate can vary dramatically from college to college. For instance, in Minnesota, where I live, we have the University of Minnesota and three branch campuses.  The average debt at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities is $27,578 while the debt at the campus in Duluth is $30,098 and the branch at Morris only $22,952.

Similarly the loan debt at private colleges varies considerably. Carleton College, the most expensive college in the state, has a student loan debt of $19,436, the lowest in the state, while Concordia College Moorhead costs $18,000 less but has an average student debt of $32,271.

As I have said many times before, don’t worry about the stated cost of a college. Your only concern is what the college will cost you. Take a look at this website to see what sort of debt the colleges you are considering have for their students.

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Average Student Debt Increases 5%

There are three types of fit that a student needs to consider when searching for the best colleges for their needs. The first fit is to determine what you want in a college. Here are some of the issues you might consider to find what you want in a college. However, knowing what you want is not the only fit to consider.

You must also consider whether the college is an academic fit based on the college’s criteria. For instance, if you are applying to a highly competitive college with a 3.0 GPA, you are probably not going to be a good academic fit even if every thing else about the college is perfect for you.

The final fit you must consider is the financial fit. Can you afford to attend the college that meets the first two fit criteria?  If you can’t, then fit according to the first two categories does you no good since you can’t afford to attend that perfect school. To determine your financial fit you must understand how college financial aid works.

To be successful in the college search, make sure you consider all three types of fit.

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Finding the College that Fits You

A new report out from California State University Sacramento, entitled “Consequences of Neglect“, details the decline in the strength of public colleges in California. Among the findings in the report:

• California is average among the states for affordability of its public colleges but recent budget cuts and increases in tuition and fees are making public colleges much less affordable for the average California resident.
• Although many California residents start college, graduation rates are often poor.
• California ranks last in the country in total funding for students.

I understand that many states public colleges are struggling with the budget cuts that they have been forced to undergo in the past 10 years. But this problem seems to be particularly severe in California.

Does this mean that you shouldn’t consider a California public college if you are a resident of California? No. But keep an open mind on what your options are because there may be better options available to you if you look outside the state.

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The Decline of California Public Colleges

Did I screw up?  Yes and no.

The list I provided for the student included those colleges that were a fit for the student academically and provided the best option of getting to medical school. Unfortunately, the student’s state did not have many options that were both appropriate academically and that did well at medical school placement.

However, I knew that the student had a desire to stay in state if possible. In putting together the student’s list I should have included several colleges that were in state colleges even if they were not the best options for getting to medical school.  At the very least, I should have explained why the list did not include any in state colleges.

I did respond and provide several in state colleges that were a fit academically and while not the best for medical school placement, still did better than the national average.

The lesson here for me is to listen more carefully to the needs of the students. The lesson for you is to make sure your college counselor really understands your priorities in choosing an appropriate college.

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What is Important to You?

Remember that I said that all liberal arts colleges will have basic science majors like chemistry, biology and physics.  Many also have more specialized majors like biochemistry and environmental biology.

Of the top 50 colleges attended by students that produce science and engineering PhD’s, 4 of the top 10 are liberal arts colleges and 27 of the 50 are liberal arts colleges. These colleges are very well known to graduate science programs and they regularly admit such students.

Still not convinced. Read what Thomas Cech, the Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry in 1989 has to say about science majors from liberal arts colleges.

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Are Liberal Arts Colleges Good for Science?

Liberal arts colleges are small, generally about 3,000 or fewer undergraduate students.  They typically have no graduate students so the teaching is focused on the undergraduates.

Liberal arts colleges have a focus on providing students an education that is not limited to one area. This is referred to as a liberal arts education. Typically, students in a liberal arts college will take courses in the first two years of college in many fields.

These might include humanities subjects like history, philosophy and art. They may also take classes in the social sciences like economics, political science and psychology.  And yes, they will include science and math classes.

The goal during these first two years is to help students learn to think in ways they may not have considered before and to learn to communicate both orally and in writing. For those of you who believe students should learn a trade in college, this may not sound very important.

But, if you can not communicate adequately in any job, you will not succeed.  If you can not think outside your own little world, when challenged with the changing society we live in, you may crash and burn.

After the first two years, students decide what they are most interested in and choose a major. During the last two years in college, the students focuses their education on classes in their major although they will typically still take a few classes outside their major.

All liberal arts colleges will have the basic majors like history, economics, math and, a surprise to many, chemistry, biology and physics.  Yes, the sciences are not only available at liberal arts colleges, they are often among the strongest science programs offered at any type of college.

The other distinguishing factor of the liberal arts colleges is that they only teach undergraduate students.  Most also don’t have business majors or engineering majors. The few that do treat these majors like any other major which you enter after getting the broad based education the first two years.

Most universities that teach undergraduates at a general college do so by providing a liberal arts education. Any one hear of Harvard College?  Yup, the basis of the education at Harvard is a liberal arts education.

When you are considering which colleges to apply to, if you are looking for a smaller college that will provide a great education, consider a liberal arts college.

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What is a Liberal Arts College?

When you subtract legacy students, athletic recruits, and underrepresented populations, the actual admission rate for ordinary students is much lower than commonly stated.  The actual rate isn’t known because colleges don’t want to disclose this kind of information but students applying to highly selective colleges need to be aware of this.

Does this mean you shouldn’t apply?  Of course not. But when applying to a highly selective college make sure that you also have some less selective colleges you are applying to.

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True Admission Rates at Highly Selective Colleges

The first time I read about these types of programs I burst out laughing. Why?

According to the US Department of Education just over 50% of students who enter a 4 year college graduate in 6 years. That’s right. Half of students don’t graduate after 6 years. And colleges are concerned about allowing students to graduate in 3 years?

I have to wonder why colleges think that students will be able to graduate in 3 years when they can’t get half of their students to graduate in 6 years. Will some students get through in 3 years? Sure. But I am much more concerned about the 50% of students who don’t graduate after 6 years. Why don’t these colleges focus on getting those students graduated?

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College in 3 Years