Congratulations, class of 2013! You are now rising seniors, with all the perks of being the top of the hill in high school. But along with the perks come the responsibilities; in particular, it's time to start working on college applications. And summer, of course, is the perfect time to get to it.
First step, of course, is to develop your college list--that group of colleges that interest you enough to apply. And this should be harder than you think. There are many, many great colleges out there, and if you rely only on the ones you have heard of, you are severely limiting yourself. The problem is sifting through the numerous possibilities. What are you looking for in a school? What kind of school would you be happy at? Answering these questions requires you to look closely at yourself; what kind of person are you? Are you adventurous enough to go farther away to school or do you prefer to be able to fly back to the nest every weekend? Would you be comfortable in smaller classrooms where you would need to talk and interact with people constantly, or would you be more comfortable in a large lecture hall? Do you want to be involved in hands-on research? Is there a particular sport you would like to play; are you looking for a Division 1 school for your sport? What about majors--if you know your intended major, be careful not to focus exclusively on it, as over half of students who enter college with a declared major change (and often drastically) to another, so considering the other options available is important. How competitive of an atmosphere are you comfortable with? What are your grades and test scores? How distractable are you--would it be better to go to a place where there aren't quite so many options for avoiding studying? And, very important in the current economic climate, you need to sit down with your parents and discuss what is affordable. All these, and more, are things to think about when getting ready to narrow down your list.
So, now that you know what kind of school you are looking for, how do you determine which ones to apply to? Look at the college's website, but remember they are designed not just to give you information, but to sell the school to you. So you will need to check out other websites, such as collegeboard.com, http://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/, and other websites that can give you the statistics you need to evaluate a school. What are the 4 or 6 year graduation rates? What is percentage of students who are accepted that actually go there (yield)? What is the percentage of students who like it enough to come back for a second year (freshman retention)? The percentage of students who go on to graduate school? The percentage of students employed in their field within a year or two of graduation may be harder to find, but if you can, it is helpful.
By now you may be groaning about all this work. Remember, you will be paying a lot of money for your college education and you want to get your money's worth.
One helpful site I found recently is http://diycollegerankings.com/. It is written by a mother who created a way to evaluate various colleges. There is lots of free helpful information, and she also sells a spreadsheet that can allows you to quickly compare the standard information for colleges you are looking at, saving you a lot of time and web searching. I haven't used it myself, so I can't do more than say it's there, if you are interested.
