College. That one word brings such a range of emotions, depending on its context. It used to mean parties, cramming, and the freedom to experience new things without parental supervision. Now, as the parent, I have a totally different perspective on the subject.
College typically makes a major intrusion into your life during your child's junior year in high school. Oh sure, it can hover in the background before this time. But, if you have a typical student, who is not a star athlete, your awareness of colleges is significantly heightened in the junior year.
Where should your child go? How do you narrow down all these potential institutions of higher learning? Does your child have any indication of what they want to do for the rest of their life? How can a teenager, with no experience, even make such a decision! All of this can be quite overwhelming.
The best way to get through the college selection process is to break it down into manageable chunks, so that you can alleviate some of the pressure during this stressful time. What's the easiest way to start narrowing down college choices? Start by selecting a geographic location to focus on.
Some kids want to go away as far as possible. Although this may be what they say at this moment, make sure you have at least one school within a reasonable distance, in case your child gets cold feet when reality hits. My friend's daughter was positive that she wanted to go to the University of Hawaii. Her parents live in New Jersey. But, when the time came to think about how often she would be able to come home for visits, she settled for a school in Washing, DC, about a four hour drive from home.
If you are one of the ones who have a child that knows what they would like to major in, the next step is to make a list of schools in your geographic area that offer that field of study. If your child is not ready to declare a major, don't worry, many have no idea of what they would like to study, just skip this step.
Now it's time to decide on certain characteristics that your child would prefer in a school. The primary traits to consider are:
- Location - urban, suburban, or rural
- Size - large, medium, or small
Location will dictate the culture of the school. Rural schools tend to be very school-focused, meaning that football games, homecoming week, and other such activities are a big thing. The surrounding community is more likely to thrive because of the college campus. Therefore, going to a rural school may be like living in a self-contained village. Urban schools, although also have school and spirit events, tend to encourage students to experience what the surrounding city has to offer and are less all-encompassing. I am not saying that one is better than the other. It is where your child would feel more comfortable. If not sure, a suburban school, with a large campus but within easy commuting distance to a city, may be a good place to consider.
School size is important. However, more important is the size of the department where your child will be studying. For example, a Premed major may be taking a general chemistry class, containing hundreds of students, taught by teacher's aide. However, a Chemistry major in the same school may attend a separate, much smaller class, taught by a Chemistry professor. This is well illustrated by my friend, who was a Journalism major at a huge school. The school, in general, had a reputation for being very cold and impersonal, but her department was small enough that everyone knew each other and she had easy access to all of her professors.
Although these considerations are important in the selection of a college, they are definitely not all inclusive. However, I hope that I have provided at least some thoughts about how you can approach this stressful process. Other suggestions will follow soon.
