It's summer time which means college shopping is in full swing. Before you get sold on the lines about average SAT scores, admission rates and other various rankings, take some time to think about what you really want in a college. Don't get me wrong, these factors deserve some degree of weight, but not at the expense of the following factors.
1) The Surrounding Area
Personally, I think there is nothing more important than a lively college town. Particularly one with great late night eats, coffee shops, cultural sites and alternative weekend entertainment (READ: Ann Arbor, Michigan), but for some people the best surrounding area could be acres of forest or miles of city jungle.
It is absolutely miserable to be in the middle of no where, or in the middle of a suburb, with nothing to do but drink away your weekends (read: for some, Notre Dame or any college in rural Maine) or in a suburb too expensive for students (Stanford is a great school, but Palo Alto is expensive). The off-campus environment can also be integral to the functioning of the campus, ex. NYU and its theatre connections, USC and its television proximity, Ann Arbor and it’s quirky, football loving townies.
TIP: When you go to visit a college campus, ask someone for a good spot to eat off campus, or a nice place to get some ice cream new bar (insert fun activity here). See if you can get a sense of what surrounds you and if you ever get a chance to go leave.
2) School Pride.
People get excited about their colleges for different reasons. For most Big Ten, SEC, ACC, etc. division schools it may be sports, for Ivy League schools it may be prestige, and for Yale it may be accapella groups.
Even if your school does not bucket into one of these categories, and though it is not a rule, it is certainly true that a sense of pride or of tradition can help you feel excited about where you are, and remember feel a real connection for having gone there.
TIP: Even if the school you like is not a big time Division I school or the most prestigious, going to a school where people are proud of the institution means it’s likely you will be for years to come.
3) Smiling People
Lack of either smiles or people means trouble. The former is a really good indication of whether or not people are happy, and whether or not you will be happy going there.
The latter is also extremely important, it is an indication of whether there is life on campus.
TIP: Try to minimize your summer campus visits. Campuses are drastically different in the summer, and often it is not a good representation of the atmosphere you will experience should you attend.
4) ‘That Feeling’ You Get
You know how people talk about finding “the one” they want to marry? This can also happen with touring college campuses. Maybe it is not so extreme, but it is still certainly important. College is somewhere you will probably be for at least 4 years of your life, so you want to make sure you are going to be happy there.
If you are on a campus where you feel comfortable, safe and generally happy, there is a good chance that you will think that when you arrive on campus. I have heard so many people idealize schools until they finally tour them, and realize, ‘hm, maybe this isn’t what I thought it was,’ but a lot of your college experience is about attitude, so if you have a good feeling about where you are, it’s important not to ignore it!
BONUS NOTE: Ask the right questions. This is also an important step that should not be overlooked when chosing a school. That means not just asking about a tour guide's SAT scores or the campus food, but questions about actual life on campus. If your tour guide is anything worth his salt, he will love answering this question.
Picking the right campus can be scary, but do it right and you are in for the ride of your life.
