How do you choose a college that’s right for you? What a daunting question!
The good news: there are more than 4,500 colleges and universities in the US. Even better news: most schools accept most students, with the national average at 66.7% in 2017 (source). But which of the 4,500 should you apply to?
High school counselors, as well as private counselors such as our team at EPC, can be a wonderful support during the college application process. EPC counselors even have knowledge of specialized programs that can help you in choosing the best college. If you have yet to schedule a meeting with your high school counselor, this blog post will offer a few steps for how to develop a great college list.
Here are the steps for choosing a college:
- Get to know your interests and preferences. At EPC we offer a major/career-interest assessment to help you narrow in on your options.
- Discover what specific qualities you want in a college (i.e. green campus, city, school-spirited, etc.)
- Create an initial list of colleges that match this criteria – make this list as big as possible. Don’t limit your options. EPC counselors are here to offer suggestions and make your list manageable.
- Research your chances of getting into each of these colleges and organize your school list by “Reach,” “Target,” and “Likely.”
- Narrow down your results into your final list of colleges.
- Apply away!