How do you choose the college that is right for you?

Figure out a few things that are most important to you in your selection. Do you want a large school, or a smaller one? Do successful sports and athletics matter to you? Do you want to go somewhere that's highly prestigious for their academics? Is cost a factor? Those are just a few of the things to ask yourself. Personally, I made a list of what I wanted in a school and went from there. I also made pros and cons lists for each school after visiting and sat down with my parents to talk about it.

Go on college visits, hit up the school's junior day or senior day and walk around the campus to get a feel for things. I would highly recommending doing at least some sort of visit to the college before deciding on it. You're going to spend the next period of your life there, make sure you like the campus and city it's in before deciding!

Good luck!

<span style="background-color: transparent;">Collegeboard.org is a great resource for this! I poured through the pages of universities all over the U.S. when I was a senior in high school. Collegeboard was my go-to site! They put all of the information in one place and it is very easy to use. They even have various filters you can apply to see only colleges that have programs you are interested. To determine academic rigor, look at the admissions requirements, G.P.A. of past admitted applicants, SAT/ACT scores, class rank etc. This will give you an idea of what scores and grades you need to be accepted. However, don't be discouraged your application will be reviewed based on the full picture! College-board will help you get an idea of what is most important to the specific school you are applying to.</span>

This professional recommends the following next steps:

• <span style="background-color: transparent;">Chat with your Guidance Counselor</span>
• <span style="background-color: transparent;">Create a Collegeboard.org account</span>
• <span style="background-color: transparent;">Start using CollegeBoard as a resource to look up schools.</span>

Hi,
There are some key things that one should see while choosing a college:

Quality of the course
ROI: Is this course worth the fees?
Affordability and Financial Aid: Can I afford this course? Do they provide scholarship? Can I get a loan?
Job readiness
Faculty to Student Ratio
Campus Infrastructure
Accreditation
Does it provide hands on opportunities?
Student life

Most importantly check how exposed the college is in your city
Want are the majors the college gives you
How much practical knowledge the college helps with
Best placement options

Visiting college and getting feel for the atmosphere is very important. Also, if you know what field you want to get into you need to do your research and find out the highest ranked colleges for your field. I would find several ones that are highly ranked and visit all of them and then pick the one that you feel most comfortable at once you find one that has great reputation for your line of work.

It's important that you identify what's most important to you and what you are interested in doing after you graduate. Once you've figured all of that out you can do research on the schools to see which one fits your career interests best.