How do you pick a college? What should you know before you go?
A lot of the following seems so simple or obvious but as a lonely, anxious freshman who had to do everything college-related by herself, these aren’t as easy or apparent as they may seem. There are a lot of things to consider, but in general, these are the big ones that I can remember from my freshman year of college.
Pros and Cons
Determine what the pros and cons are for each university you’re considering and assign importance to them. If you have to, create separate lists, one with logical decisions and one with emotional decisions (sometimes they blend). Financial aid, cost of the school, AP credits, available majors/schools within the university, the rigor of classes and so much more can all be based on logical decisions: what the facts are. Emotional decisions are more like if your friends will be there, how you felt about the campus, student life, school reputation, distance from home and so on — anything that influences how you feel about the university.
Major or area of study
Pick the right major for you and not what other people want you to study. If you don’t like something or find all the classes to be uninteresting or unmanageable, don’t do it. Maybe it looks good on paper, but is it really what you want to do? Is it really what you want to invest your time, energy and money into?
Financial aid
Fill out the FAFSA and any financial aid documents or scholarships as soon as you can. Deadlines come fast.
Tour the campus
It is really beneficial to see the people’s attitudes and personas on campus as well as the physical environment. You may not know if you like more secluded universities or campuses in the center of a city until you go there and actually experience it. Online tours don’t count either. They’re helpful to see the layout, but it’s good to see the student life too. I recommend tours during the school year.
Don’t judge the current students, but assess the student population
I’ll be honest, if you see me walking around campus, I’m not very talkative and I don’t think I look very welcoming, but actually I’m quite the opposite once you really get to know me. A perfect example of the cliche “don’t judge a book by its cover.”
I don’t recommend a tour around finals because it’s very stressful and typically involves a lot of studying and not a lot of sleeping, so don’t judge the student population by their finals week mood.
You should see how the students interact with each other and the faculty if you can. Analyze the common personality of the students. Basically stereotyping the school but not in a negative way. It’s okay to notice if the students are mainly party or academic-focused, what the most common majors are and how much you identify with the other students.
Join clubs as soon as you can
Look at a list of university organizations that you would be interested in before you go, that way you have an idea about when club meetings are and how often you can attend. You might have to take classes late (I had one at 7:00 pm) so if the club you want to join meets at the time of a scheduled class, you can change your schedule to allow for you to attend the meetings. You can also look at the social media pages for the clubs which can help give you an idea of what they do at events and fundraising activities.
Find your classes or use university transportation before the first day
If you’re nervous about the first day, look for your classes and if the buses are running (if the university has them and you plan to use them), get familiar with the routes. There is an app for the buses that shows the times and routes and I still got on the wrong bus and ended up 15 minutes late to class on the first day when I left 40 minutes early. That was a bus trip that should have been 15-20 minutes if I had gotten on the right bus the first time.
Talk to people
People say this all the time, “just talk to people,” but trust me — people want to make new friends. The first few weeks are difficult trying to get acquainted with a new system and area so it’s really nice to have people to help you through.
Join Facebook groups
The groups I joined were created to help people find friends, housing, and information about the university. It’s also a way to communicate with current students for their thoughts about attending and things you should know.
Roommate and suitemates
I went in blind and I had a bad experience for both my suitemates and my roommate. I tried finding people through Facebook groups but I didn’t have an early enough start and then I had to pick a room, so I signed up alone. From my experience, I don’t recommend going in blind, but I know a lot of people who had success doing that and ended up finding their best friend.
Go to university organized activities, especially if it’s free.
It’s a great way to meet people and often there’s free food. I always wanted someone to go with me, especially for the movie night, but it’s normal and good to go alone if you want to. I almost prefer it now.
Get ahead in your classes and don’t fall behind
I made the mistake of focusing only on one class because I had exams before spring break, and I’m still a little behind in some of the others. It seems so obvious but it’s actually a lot harder to do than you might think.
If you don’t like dining alone, go at the least busy hour
Usually at the very beginning/end of the dining period or between lunch and dinner hours were less populated. From my experience, breakfast was always the least busy and dinner was packed. I liked to go between lunch and dinner because most students were either waiting for dinner to start or were in class. There were fewer options, but it wasn’t as busy. That is also something to keep in mind: special options for vegetarians or vegans were harder to find when it wasn’t the lunch or dinner hours.
Bike, bus or walk
A bike is easier and faster than walking or taking the bus sometimes, but it’s not necessary to have. It’s a good investment if your class is 40 minutes to the other side of campus, especially here, because the busses are usually packed and aren’t always on time. It depends on what transportation the university is offering and what you’re willing to do.
Prioritize mental and physical health
Think of it as a way to keep your body healthy, so you can keep your brain working and happy, so you can pass your classes. There are campus resources for healthcare and mental health which you should take full advantage of.
There are plenty of other things to consider but these were the ones that no one told me about or I didn’t realize were important or useful to think about before I went. Being a first-generation college student and the oldest of my siblings, I had to figure all this out on my own. There will be things specific to your college that I haven’t listed. Check the university website which will have more detailed information about the process and contact current students and alumni to talk about student life and experiences.