Rhiannon Schade
Director of College Counseling
Collegewise of Millburn
There is so much that goes into the process of determining which colleges you should apply to, and being thoughtful as you develop your college list will absolutely help you to be more successful in this process. As cliché as it may sound, the best way to start thinking about which colleges you should apply to is to start by determining who you are. It is less important that a college has excellent resources in the sciences, for example, than it is whether or not you would actually use those resources. If a college is in a bustling city and you hate being in urban areas, that may prove problematic. As you start to think about who you are, what kinds of things you like learning about, how you learn best, what you do in your free time, and more, you will start to develop a vision for yourself in college. By the end of your junior year, you should have anywhere from six to 10 or so colleges on your list—all of which should be exciting to you.
Dean Altstaetter
Coordinator of Outreach Recruitment and Enrollment Advisor
Ohio Northern University
Some families say that choosing a college is like shopping for a car, but the college experience is more than another set of wheels. It’s more like buying land that you learn to develop over time. Furthermore, your education should provide the learning environment to maximize your potential and your personal development while providing opportunities to practice leadership, make ethical decisions, and act responsibly as members of a global society. Remember this when choosing which colleges to apply to.
Robert G. Springall
Former Dean of Admissions
Bucknell University
The notion of college fit is the sum of your goals and attributes and how they mesh with what a school has to offer. Some goals and attributes carry more weight than others. For instance, you might be able to eliminate colleges that don’t offer your intended major, a certain sport, a preferred location, the right size, a religious affiliation, etc. Consider asking the colleges for help. They’re interested in helping students determine their great-fit institutions.
Fit can also be related to feel, which is how students sometimes explain what appeals to them about a campus: “It feels right. It feels like home.” That is absolutely a valid criterion when making your college application decisions, but you should still collect enough data to make these subtle, qualitative judgments. In other words, if you felt at home on the first campus you visited and then didn’t visit any others, I would argue you didn’t give yourself enough chances to see if one place feels better than another.
For the schools you are interested in applying to, you should also have a good idea of the typical admitted student’s profile (average GPA, test scores, etc.), often available on a college’s website. Some colleges may even have previous applicants from your high school, and your counselor may have some data that will help you further assess your academic fit.
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