{"id":419,"date":"2022-09-13T16:43:58","date_gmt":"2022-09-13T16:43:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/collegeaidpro.com\/?p=419"},"modified":"2022-09-19T21:15:22","modified_gmt":"2022-09-19T21:15:22","slug":"the-final-college-choice-12-important-things-to-consider","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/collegeaidpro.com\/the-final-college-choice-12-important-things-to-consider\/","title":{"rendered":"The Final College Choice \u2013 12 Important Things to Consider"},"content":{"rendered":"

As we get close to May 1, National College Decision Day, the final college choice can be a very stressful decision. Of my 3 girls, we only had to face the stress of making this choice with the oldest. By mid-March of her Senior year, my daughter managed to narrow down to two final options, which I\u2019ll call School A and School B.<\/p>\n

It was looking like an easy choice to go with School A, based on the bottom-line out-of-pocket cost, until she had a conversation with her admission counselor at school B. I was amazed at the flexibility School B showed.<\/p>\n

Given that the two schools were going to be fairly comparable in cost, my daughter went ahead with an admitted student visit at School B. She came back liking the two schools equally.\u00a0 When asked whether she set herself a timeline for making the final decision, she said \u201cNo\u201d with an attitude.\u00a0I could tell by her mood that this was going to be a tough decision for her (and her parents)!<\/p>\n

How do you make the final college choice between two schools?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

MyCAP can help you make the final decision. It\u2019s free to sign up and plug in your student\u2019s top 2 or 3 schools. This will help you understand whether your student\u2019s award letters are on target with our projections of what the schools should offer based on your Expected Family Contribution and your student\u2019s GPA and ACT\/SAT score. You can also compare the average salary for graduates in your student\u2019s area of study to see if one school might offer a better return on investment.<\/p>\n

Assuming that the student has been to overnight visits at both colleges and has had all the basic questions answered, the following areas may be things to look at to determine the final college choice.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Academic Reputation<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Does one school have a better academic reputation than the other?\u00a0How do you determine this?\u00a0 If you want to see ratings from actual students on academics and other areas, you can go to\u00a0Niche<\/a>.\u00a0Another good tool is the\u00a0Princeton Review<\/a>\u00a0website. They give schools an Academic Rating on a scale from 60-99 to judge how hard students work and how much they get back for their efforts.\u00a0The information is gathered from student surveys and statistical information reported by college administrators.<\/li>\n
  2. Total Cost<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 In my opinion, this has to be at or near the top of the list. If your student is leaning towards a higher-cost school, there needs to be something of value to make it worth spending more. Make sure you are evaluating the full cost picture including the following:\n
      \n
    1. Travel costs \u2013 is one school closer to home?<\/li>\n
    2. Extra terms or study abroad programs that carry extra tuition<\/li>\n
    3. Off-campus housing vs on-campus housing<\/li>\n
    4. Renewable merit scholarships \u2013 are both schools offering merit aid that automatically renews?<\/li>\n
    5. Need-Based awards \u2013 if the school is providing all or mostly need-based awards, keep in mind that your family\u2019s financial picture will be reevaluated each year and the award will be recalculated.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
    6. Programs Offered \u2013\u00a0<\/strong>In my daughter\u2019s case, one school was ranked higher academically overall. The other school offered a terrific Honors College with specific requirements and opportunities to engage at a deeper level. It\u2019s important to compare each school\u2019s academic opportunities to find the best match for your student\u2019s personal goals and interests.<\/li>\n
    7. Student Body\u00a0<\/strong>\u2013 This comes into play when one school is closer to home. Does the student want a campus filled mostly with students from his\/her home state or does he\/she want to meet students from other states and around the globe?<\/li>\n
    8. Fit<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 This is very subjective for each student.\u00a0Did they feel like one school was a better overall \u201cfit\u201d \u2013 a place to feel comfortable and belong?<\/li>\n
    9. Size<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Was the size of one school more appealing than the other or were they about the same? Would your student be more comfortable with smaller and more personal or larger with more opportunities?<\/li>\n
    10. Location \u2013 Is there a difference in the type of location (rural, suburban, urban) or weather? If so, which school is better suited to your student\u2019s comfort level?<\/li>\n
    11. Activities<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Is there a difference in activities offered that would make one school more appealing than the other?\u00a0For example, with my daughter\u2019s two options, one was Division 1 for athletics, the other was Division 3.\u00a0She ran cross country in high school but was not a fast enough runner to be sought out for college teams.\u00a0She needed to determine whether she could get on both schools\u2019 cross country teams or whether the D3 school would be her only option for competing.<\/li>\n
    12. Housing Options<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Is there a difference in the type of housing available to freshmen?\u00a0How many years does each school require students to live on campus? I mentioned this above when evaluating the total cost. Living off campus can save a lot of money.<\/li>\n
    13. Course Requirements & Options<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Look at the general education requirements at both schools \u2013 are they the same?\u00a0Does one school take a more well-rounded approach than the other?\u00a0Find the course catalog online and look at the options.\u00a0Does one school seem to offer better course topics or special content areas that the student finds interesting?<\/li>\n
    14. Job, Research and\/or Internship Opportunities<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Is there a difference in on-campus or off-campus job opportunities while the student is at school?\u00a0If your student wants to do research, does one school offer more opportunities than the other? Does one school offer a better internship program?<\/li>\n
    15. Outcomes\/Salaries<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 What about prospects for the first job after college?\u00a0Look at the statistics for students finding jobs within the first 6 months after graduation. What is the school\u2019s reported average salary for graduates with your student\u2019s major? Ask about employers that recruit on campus. What does each school offer to help students prepare for the job search?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      In our case, my daughter took her decision right down to the wire, but when she announced it to us, we knew she made a well-thought-out final college choice.<\/p>\n

      Good luck to your student on making the final college choice! It\u2019s important to think through all the aspects. We invite you to take advantage of MyCAP for comparing offers and we are here to help if you need us!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      As we get close to May 1, National College Decision Day, the final college choice can be a very stressful decision. Of my 3 girls, we […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":53,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[8,98],"tags":[32,37,143,144,145],"acf":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/collegeaidpro.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/blog-img-4-600x400.png","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/collegeaidpro.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/blog-img-4-600x480.png","author_info":{"display_name":"Bill Rabbitt","author_link":"https:\/\/collegeaidpro.com\/author\/rabbs\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/collegeaidpro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/collegeaidpro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/collegeaidpro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collegeaidpro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collegeaidpro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=419"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/collegeaidpro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collegeaidpro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/collegeaidpro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collegeaidpro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collegeaidpro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}