As a spring semester senior, you’re probably wondering how to choose a college after being accepted. 

This can be super stressful! It’s a big decision, possibly the biggest single decision you’ve had to make up to this point in your life, and you want to be sure to get it right. So how do you choose a college after being accepted? We’ll go through some of the most important factors to consider so that you can take your next steps with confidence.

Remember what was important to you in choosing a college

When you were choosing which colleges to apply to, you may have made a list of which factors were most important to you. Is college price and affordability a top consideration? Is it important to you to have a college close to home? Do you want a college with Greek life or small classrooms? Revisit that list now to remind yourself which factors are most important to you. (If you never made a list like that, go ahead and do that now!) Then, you can look at your college options. Which of your options satisfies the most of your criteria? Is there a college that checks off your most important box but fails to fulfill your second and third most important criteria? Maybe one college satisfies all of your criteria somewhat, while another college satisfies some of your criteria very well and others not at all. You might create a rubric for yourself that looks something like this:

Across the top, list your most important criteria in order of most to least important. Then, try to give each college a grade out of five for each criteria.

Take a look at this example:

 

College Name	Price	Major: Underwater basket weaving	Big sports culture	Support for students with dyslexia
Fake State University	4	3	5	3
Happy Valley College	2	2	4	2
University of Big City	5	3	4	2

The student should drive this decision

It’s very important to make sure that you (the student) are the primary driver of this decision. You should be the one deciding what factors are the most important and doing research to give each college a grade in each area. However, this is a very big decision, and it has implications that will last well into your adult life. For that reason, it is also crucial to discuss these criteria in depth with your parents and/or other trusted adult figures. They’ll be able to give you insights into things like finances and careers that you may not have encountered yet. They may also be able to point out gaps or assumptions in your research or reasoning.

Now that we’ve gone over one basic method for assessing your college options, let’s take a look at some of the criteria or deciding factors that you might be weighing.

Finances: how to choose a college after being accepted based on the costs

It can actually be pretty tricky to figure out how much it will cost you to go to college. Luckily, if you’ve already been accepted to a school, you should also have been provided your financial aid award letter. There are a few parts of this letter that you’ll want to pay special attention to.

Cost of attendance

Remember that you’ll need to pay tuition and fees to the school. If you’re living on campus, you’ll also pay the school directly for your food and housing. These are your direct costs. But you’ll also need to pay for books, clothes, travel to and from campus, and a million other little expenses. These are your indirect costs. Your financial aid award letter should give you a breakdown of these estimated costs (while tuition is set for everyone, other costs, like travel to and from campus, will vary). Often colleges underestimate these costs: your cell phone alone might cost $400 per year. 

Make sure you are accounting for everything and leaving a cushion for those unexpected costs (like new tires on your car or a computer purchase if you have to hand in your high school tablet). These estimates might also underestimate costs when you are not actually in school–you will have about 20 weeks of holidays during the school year. How much money will you need to keep yourself alive during those times? So in thinking about the total costs of attendance, don’t just look at the tuition; you want to look at the part of the letter where they add up all those costs. This is the estimated cost of attendance: this is the actual cost for you to attend one year of college.

Discounts and scholarships from the school

Near where your financial aid award letter spells out your cost of attendance, it will also give you a breakdown of any financial aid the school is offering. Pay careful attention to the type of aid they’re offering. If they offer you a grant, that’s what we might also call a scholarship. That’s money you don’t have to pay back. Make sure to note if it’s renewable for four years or only good for one year. Other types of aid listed on this letter might include student loans. Be careful: while student loans can be a good and necessary way of financing your education, they are not really aid. That’s still your money; it’s just money you’ll have to pay back later (with interest).

Use your total estimated cost of attendance and your total financial aid to figure out what a school is actually going to be charging you every year.

Consider your sources of funding

Have you earned any outside scholarships? Does your family have some sort of college fund for you? Do you have personal savings? How much do your parents or other family members expect to be able to contribute to your education out of their income? This may not be a fun conversation to have, but it’s important to sit down with your parents or other family members and really understand what funding you have at your disposal. Remember that parents are emotional people. Sometimes they will offer to take out big loans to help you pay for college. Make sure you as a family really think twice about whether that’s the path you want to go down.

Understand how loans work

College in the United States is expensive, and most families have not saved up enough to pay for it. So many families will have to take out loans to finance a higher education. While debt can be a helpful way to finance an education, too much debt can be ruinous and can actually reduce future opportunities–even as a college education is supposed to expand those opportunities. So it’s important to really understand how loans work before you fill out those loan applications.  

How much money will you need to borrow, in total, for four years (don’t just think about your debt load for the first year–calculate it at least by four, and probably by five–because most students graduate in five years, not four)? What will your interest rate likely be? How does loan interest accrue? How much will your monthly payments probably be, and for how many years will you be paying this loan back? There are all sorts of loan calculators you can use to help you estimate what your monthly payments might look like down the road. 

Also remember that you have to pay off your loans before you’re able to pay rent on an apartment, buy a car (and put gas in it), buy Chinese take-out, or go on vacation. 

Talk to your parents about budgeting

So, have a conversation with your parents about budgeting. If you’ve never been responsible for household finances, you may be surprised to learn just how many bills adults have to pay every single month (rent/mortgage, phone, internet, electricity, car loan, health insurance, car insurance, just to name a few!). Once you have an understanding of how much it costs every month just to keep a roof over your head, your estimated monthly loan payment might start to mean something different to you.

Remember: you are not choosing a dream or a fantasy. You’re making a financial decision about your future, and it’s wise to crunch the numbers before moving ahead.

Academics: how to choose a college after being accepted based on academics

Again: you are choosing a school. It would be a mistake to move forward without seriously considering the academic experience you’ll get.

Your intended major or course of study

Does this school have the major(s) you’re interested in? Are these programs of study strong and well-funded at this school? If you’re not as confident of your major, does this school make it easy to explore majors and change your mind later? 

The general learning environment

Beyond the major that you’re interested in, you also want to evaluate the learning environment more generally. How big are the class sizes? Are professors generally known for being accessible? Does this school offer the type of support that you personally need (tutoring, support for students with learning disabilities, remedial math or study skills classes)?

Other academic opportunities

Does this school have robust opportunities outside of the classroom? These may include strong support for internships and study abroad; opportunities to conduct research or individualized projects; or specialized honors programs. Just as important as whether these programs exist is whether or not you personally will have the opportunity to participate in them. Let’s imagine that Big State University has one of the premier undergraduate research programs in the country. But every year 2500 kids apply to the program and it only accepts 100 of them. It doesn’t matter how perfect or amazing that research program is: if you’re not going to be able to participate in it, don’t factor it into your college decision.

Social and environmental factors

You are going to be deeply involved in this community for at least four years, so you want to make sure that this is a community where you’ll feel comfortable. Some factors you might want to consider include:

• Does this school have an active population of whatever identity-based communities might be important to you? (This can include religious groups, ethnic groups, LGBT folks, etc)
• Does this school have the type of activities you like to get involved in? (For example, if sailing is a very important part of your life, you might not want to choose a college in a landlocked state!)
• Is sports culture something you want to be a part of? Or perhaps something you’re specifically hoping to avoid?
• Do you want to be part of Greek life? Do you want to be on a campus that does not have any Greek life?

Post-graduation: how to choose a college after being accepted based support for after you graduate

Remember: the goal of college is not just to learn a lot and have fun over the course of four to six years. It’s to help launch you into a successful adulthood. You want your college to support you before, during, and after your transition out of college. Some questions to ask:

• What sort of support is offered by the career center while you’re a student?
• Can you still access the career center after you’ve graduated? (and if so, for how long?)
• Does this school offer support programs for professional school applications (medical school, law school) or graduate school applications while you’re a student or after you’ve graduated?
• What is the success rate of alumni from this school getting into the type of graduate or professional school you might be interested in? 
• What kind of alumni network does this school have? How active is the alumni network? Does the school put on programming to support and grow the alumni network?

There are so many factors involved in how to choose a college after being accepted. Take your time. First, look within and try to figure out what’s most important to you. Then, use your resources (guidebooks, the internet, teachers, older friends who attend or graduated from a certain school, school visits) to try to figure out how well each of your options matches your criteria. This is a big decision, so take your time. But remember: a lot of your success and happiness in college depends less on where you go and more on what you do when you get there. So try to take a deep breath. No matter what you choose, ultimately, you get to be the one to make your college experience what you want it to be.

Need more advice on how to choose a college after being accepted, or on your college applications?

We can help you choose a college after being accepted. The team at Great College Advice has deep experience in guiding students along the road from high school college. We provide individually tailored, one-on-one advising to help young people achieve their educational ambitions. If you’d like more information about our services, contact us for a free consultation. Or just pick up the phone and call us at 720.279.7577.  We’d be happy to chat with you.