It’s college application season, also known as the most stressful time of the year for most seniors and transfer students. Students can be seen knocking down teacher’s doors for letters of recommendations, studying for their second or third try on their college entrance exam or writing pages of essays just to into a school. In an effort to save yourself time and money, you should minimize the amount of schools to apply for. In accordance with applying to many schools, quality over quantity may become an issue, which is a very important factor in the application process. Whether you are looking for a new school to continue your undergraduate education or are applying to obtain your graduate degree, here are some factors to take into consideration.
According to College Board, five to eight applications is usually enough to ensure you are accepted into a suitable institution. However, I have known people who apply to fifteen or more colleges, with the majority of the school’s chosen just as safety schools as opposed to probable schools, due to their parent’s wishes or because they did not know how to balance between safety, reach and probable schools.
Making a list of pros and cons can help to filter out at least 50 percent of the school’s you were thinking of applying to, trust me. First thing I did when searching for schools was to see if they had a reputable program for my major. As I did this, instantly many other schools were weeded out, either because they didn’t have a strong foundation for my major or they were missing complimentary majors to my specific major such as fashion design to fashion merchandising. I remember how I so bummed out about not getting into another school, but I am so glad I didn’t now because I wouldn’t have gone to Kent, which has a much better fashion merchandising than the other school I was thinking of attending. If you plan on going in undecided, make sure the schools you are applying to have an array of strong programs or quality academics, so that you have a selection to choose from when you decide on what to study.
Other factors to take into consideration is distance from home, cost of attendance, school’s history, location, and environment. If you are a really family-oriented person or someone who gets homesick easily I would recommend staying in state or attending a college in a state close to home. If you are that person and you attend a college far away from home, chances are your college experience might suck because of constant fomo, the fear of missing out. Another factor in applying to a college far from home is the cost factor of traveling from college to home and back which is where cost of attendance comes into play.
Cost of attendance is another huge factor that comes into play during and for many years after college. Student loans is just as real as student debt, so it would be wise to look out for the cost of colleges you are applying to. If you get awarded scholarships by a university (aka Kent State), I would seriously consider looking into that school. Your future self will thank you for saving yourself some cash. If you haven’t been awarded a scholarship by that university and are still adamant on attending, I would recommend filling out as many scholarship applications as you can.
School’s history is an important factor when it comes to your personal ethics. Choosing a school based on whether they closely align with your beliefs or morals can be the make or break factor. Some schools may have a repetitive negative history with morals you cannot see yourself being a part of no matter how well they match up with other factors. Each school has a defining moment in history that has changed it for the better. Kent State students are always advocating for the best, standing up for what they believe in.
While location is not as important as the other factors, it still plays a big role. Here at Kent State, the Cleveland area has a bus system so cars are not really needed unless you are traveling or going on a big shopping trip. But other schools may not have a bus system around their town outside of campus, so having a car may be vital. Also do you want to go to school in an rural, urban or suburban area? Kent State is located in relatively quiet suburban area with a small downtown shopping center. How safe the location of the school should be taken into account as well. If you go to school in Florida, keep in mind the hurricanes. The same goes for if you go to school in California, earthquakes are real there. Climate in the north versus the south is also very distinct from each other.
The deciding factor in my case when choosing where to finally attend college was the environment. I knew I wanted an actual college experience, so apply to an arts school so out of the question for now. When I first came to visit Kent State, I’ll admit I just wanted to take a college trip to get out of school and my home state for a few days. But I was taken back by the environment as soon as I got there, in a good way. The people here were so friendly and encouraging in comparison to the other schools I’ve visited. The way they talked about how amazing Kent State made me wish Kent State would be my home for the next four years. And the campus was amazing. Pictures on the internet did not do the campus justice at all. Honestly, Kent State in the spring and summer time is just so beautiful and should be appreciated more. Before my visit was over, I paid my enrollment fee and became a Kent State Golden Flash. I know visiting five to eight colleges can be bit pricey, especially with how high tickets to fly domestically are right now, but there are other ways to see what type of environment your choices have. YouVisit.com is a virtual tour site that allows you to virtually visit your college. Another way to get a taste of the atmosphere a college has to offer is to sign up for email alerts from that college to see when representatives are coming to your town or school. Looking at videos on the Internet from the school, talking to people who have or are currently attending in the school, are also great ways to get a sense of the environment present at the school.
I hope by the end of this feature you have taken into account these factors and narrowed down your list to at least five to eight schools or even fewer. Finding your best fit college doesn’t have to be hard when you spend time paying attention to quality rather than quantity.