Welcome to Acing College Admissions. Your Guide to Great Essay Writing, Effective Interviewing and Other Helpful Advice for Getting Accepted to the College of Your Choice
Choosing between the huge state university your father played football for and the small private college your mother graduated from can be tricky. (By the way, if you haven’t yet noticed, a university is generally considered a collection of colleges including graduate and undergraduate institutions. Colleges tend primarily to serve undergraduates. Universities are usually bigger…a lot bigger.)
Big schools can be exciting. Football stadiums that seat 100,000; Basketball teams that reach the NCAA finals; a dazzling array of majors; huge libraries; famous professors; enormous campuses with outstanding facilities; and, of course, lots of students.
They can also be daunting. Campuses that take forever to walk across; crowded courses that you can’t get into; crowds of strangers to get lost in; lecture halls with 500 students; sold out sports events; and classes taught by Teaching Assistants, not that world-famous faculty.
Small schools can be wonderful. Small classes; professors who know your name; accessible courses; sports teams you actually have a chance to play for; an intimate and friendly setting; familiar faces in the dining hall and the dorm. They can also be limiting. Fewer courses to choose from; football teams that never end up on television; and smaller libraries.
The best of both recognize and deal with their limitations. Large universities offer small “colleges” that focus on individual topics or even multi-disciplinary studies. Small colleges allow students to build their own courses. Spread-out Midwestern campuses have shuttle buses. Small colleges encourage using Inter-library loans.
Nevertheless, four years in a school with 25,000 students can be very different from the same time spent with 2,000 students.
A big school may offer the chance to meet someone whose academic interests match your own. Devoted to pre-Chaucerian literature? At the large university you are more likely to find faculty and fellow students who share your interests as well as a greater variety of relevant courses.
Ironically, the small school may offer more “diversity”. A large university includes so many students from every background that it is possible to spend four years with people just like the ones you went to high school with. In a small school you are “forced” to meet, interact with and learn from people of all backgrounds. The range and strength of friendships you develop could surprise you.
Interested in participating in sports? Powerhouse schools such as Ohio State and the University of Florida offer national exposure and world-class coaches. They also make it nearly impossible for any but the most visible and talented high school athletes to participate in varsity sports. Despite the school’s outstanding programs in over 35 sports, less than two percent of Ohio State University’s nearly 65,000 students will play on a varsity team. Tiny Williams College, with barely 2,000 students had teams from ten different sports finish in the top ten nationally in their division and has won the Director’s Cup for fourteen out of the last fifteen years. Thirty-six percent of Williams students play on a varsity team. Will they go on to major league careers? Probably not, but they will have had four years of challenging and rewarding sports participation.
Colleges and universities, like shoes, are never “one size fits all”. The size that was perfect for your parents, sibling or college counselor may not fit you. The best way to decide? Just like shoes…try ‘em on. Visit! If possible, spend the night in a dorm and go to a couple of classes. Many schools have organized programs in which student ambassadors welcome visitors, putting prospective applicants up in the dorm and guiding them around campus. Give yourself a chance to feel the difference, and if the shoe fits, wear it!
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You’re going to spend four years or more living on a college campus. It only makes sense to visit before you commit. There are many options for visits, each with advantages and costs. We talk about the most common types below.
College visits tend to fall into three groups: the “let’s check out seventeen schools in a week” trip, the “I want to see what it would be like to be a student there” trip, and the “gee, I’ve been accepted, but can’t make up my mind” trip.
The first is best scheduled early in the college search process. This trip can give you a general feel for the campus and the community. Some people pile into the car and drive ‘round California or New England or the mid-South together, combining campus visits with a family vacation. These often happen over the summer or during spring vacation. Other applicants may take off with one parent on a marathon tour. These can be great for getting a first cut at what type of school you want. Don’t expect to find out what it is really like to live there, because you are likely to be there when school is out and with your younger brother in tow – things that change the personality a bunch. On the other hand, my daughters found that they really were happier in a college town than in a big city. They also got a feel for the difference between a big university (15,000+ students) and a small college (2,000 students). Both factors strongly influenced their final choice of schools.
If you are looking at schools that are similar in location and size, an overnight or weekend stay in a dorm, often with an older friend or family member, can be terrific. Such a trip may even include a formal program put on by the school. Although often expensive and time consuming, this provides the best input on whether an applicant will be happy at the school. Given the cost of an education these days, this trip can be a worthwhile investment.
The third type of trip happens once you’ve gotten into a couple of schools on your dream list. This visit should happen while school is in session so the prospective student can visit classes and see everyday campus life in action. If you’ve put together an appropriate list of schools that fit your budget and your educational goals, it’s pretty hard to make a mistake at this point. Being there, experiencing even a short bit of campus life, is often enough to show you which school you will fall in love with for four years. Check with your schools to see if they offer “admitted students” days. These may be hard sell, but will give you a look at the people you would be spending four years with.
Finally, there are virtual tours. These are fantastic for the very earliest part of your search. Some companies, such as YouniversityTV, produce original videos with comments by students as well as background on the school, its goals and the application process. Others guide prospective students to the school’s website. They can be a great way to get a quick look at a campus. Not all sites cover all schools so you will have to do some web surfing to find tours of all your target schools. The producers of these sites may have their own biases, nevertheless, there’s some great information out there if you look.
Each applicant has his or her own questions and interests. I know one student, a very politically aware and active college junior, who based her choice of colleges on which newspapers were available on campus. Virtual tours can provide the quickest down-and-dirty look at schools. The rush trip through a list of schools can provide more guidance, especially on bigger questions such as school size and location. The dorm stay is the best way to get a personal “feel” for campus life. Don’t forget the academics. By asking the right questions you can get a clearer view of the educational experience as well as student life. Whatever you choose, remember, the decision is not about ranking and prestige, but about choosing an environment in which you can happily learn and grow for four years.
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