Things to Think About When Choosing a College:

For many the first two on the list are the most important, but don’t underestimate these other factors.

• Location
• Cost of tuition
• Cost of room/board (if living away from home)
• Programs/courses offered
• Teachers/Faculty (a lot more important than you may think)
• Social atmosphere of the campus

After taking cost and location into account, it’s very important to do your own research and really get informed about the colleges you are thinking about attending (or thinking about sending your kids too). Even if you are looking at community colleges or universities in your immediate area, the decision should not be taken lightly.

• Always visit the campus before deciding to attend a college.
• Use the internet to read about the colleges you are looking at attending (but take their message with a grain of salt…go see the place and meet the people yourself. Remember the website is designed to make you want to go there.)
• Talk to students that attend the school.
• When you go for your scheduled campus tour, take the opportunity to meet professors working in the department that you’re most interested in.
• And/Or contact “potential, future” professors by phone/email and let them know you’re interested in their program. It’s very important to find out about your instructors ahead of time, to find out about their classes, and their perspective on the subjects they teach, and their teaching philosophy.
• Read department newsletters and school newspapers to find out what kind of cultural events are held at the school. (plays, exhibitions, guest speakers, ) While this may not seem important, it is because it can tell you a lot about the school’s political leaning and agenda.
• Also, when finding out about the college, you should find about about work study programs and inquire about student organization and the overall campus environment.
• Prospective students should also consider attending a class or two to find out what the classroom environment is like. (or you can sign up to audit a class for a semester)

Why This is Important to Me

It may seem kind of silly that I devoted an entire post to “deciding where to go to college,” and really in some cases it’s just a no brainer that you would find out about a college before you go there. On the other hand, I know that a lot of people (myself included) attend a college because it’s affordable and nearby. But I wanted to write this post as a word of caution to some.

And here’s why: My husband and I went to college together, and he’s currently in graduate school. My husband has loved the subject of literature for his entire life. He is very passionate about it! Before he began attending grad school, he looked over the website of the college he currently attends, and it sounded like it would be a good fit for him. Unfortunately for him, he was never more wrong. He’s taking the last of his classes right now, and all he has left is to write his thesis, but his love for the subject….his fire and flair, has fizzled out dramatically.

He began with thirst for knowledge, and he’s leaving with a bad taste in his mouth. This college, like many, is filled with teachers that bring their political beliefs in to the classroom, and they are very indifferent and even hostile to students who believe differently. And aside from that, they’ve taken a subject that my husband loves and changed it completely, focusing not on works of literature themselves, but on what’s missing in the works and focusing more what critics say about the works, and they completely lack objectivity.

I could go on longer, but for the sake of trying to keep this post as short as possible, I’ll just leave it there. But if you have any questions or would like to know more about this, you can contact me and I’ll be glad to answer your questions.

As part of the goal of Simply Sweet Home, I like to give out information not just on recipes and housekeeping but on other topics that are relevant to families. Several years ago I was starting college. Neither my parents nor my brother went to college, so it was a new thing for my family. And even though we had other relatives to get advice from, for the most part we were just feeling our way through it and really had no clue about what was going on. And if I had known what I know now, I would have done things differently and had a much better/different college experience. (Not that my experience was bad, but you know what I mean.)

So I decided to do this series on college issues, mainly to help those who have no experience themselves with college. Whether you’re sending kids to college, or you, yourself, are going to college, there’s a lot of stuff to know in terms of planning to get started and handling things once you get there, which can help to save you money and help you in your overall college experience and career.

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My husband suggested that to begin, I should focus on the importance of planning. Planning is a key that cannot be stressed enough. Other than choosing a spouse and a career, choosing a college is one of the most important things you can do in your life, and after starting at the college, ultimately the major you choose and the courses (and teachers) you choose will impact you in one way or another. And for this reason you should really think on this a while before making any decisions. (more on that in a later post)

But also, a lack of planning means that you will spend more money in the long run. Whether you’re deciding where to go, registering for classes, looking at financial aid options, deciding where to live while in school, or even purchasing text books, a lack of planning will cost you.

Even if your kids are young, it is never to early to start thinking about college. When I was younger, my dad looked in to doing a pre-paid college program, but my mom didn’t want to do it, and this cost us. Aside from financial planning, it is a good idea to start planning and preparing kids for college by making sure that they enroll in high school courses which will help them in their college career. Even if you’re child is going to a community college or a college without strict admissions requirements, taking courses like advanced math & science and honors English & history, will help them when they get to college and have to take these difficult courses.

Also, starting in the 9th grade, your child should go and visit the guidance counselor every semester so that they can be sure and stay on track, in terms of researching colleges, preparing to register for the courses in high school that will best help them later on, registering for ACT and other college placement exams, and sending off college admissions forms and scholarship forms. It’s also not a bad idea to get the phone number of the guidance counselor and talk to them yourself, or schedule a meeting with them each semester to make sure that you’re doing everything to get your child ready. The guidance counselor is there to help you…it’s their job! (and they should also be more than happy to help, because when they are up for a raise or looking for another job in the future, they take credit for all the scholarships and etc. that they “help” people to get.)

You should also carefully plan your class schedules. Usually colleges post a tentative schedule for the next few semesters for planning purposes. If future schedules are not posted then you can speak with professors to find out when certain classes will be offered. This is very important because some classes are offered every semester, while others are only offered once a year (or less than that). It’s very important to know when classes will be offered in the future to make sure that you don’t miss out on a class, which would cost you more time and money in the long run. Schedule planning is especially important if you plan to transfer to another college.

Planning can save you a lot of time and money and it will keep you from backing yourself into a corner and being trapped in a college or a program that you aren’t happy with. And if do decide to change colleges or majors it will be much easier for you to come up with a new plan for yourself