• Type of learning environment;
• Level of rigor;
• Majors offered;
• Structure of curriculum

Academic College Fit: Learning Environment

Some students are excellent independent learners and need little guidance from their instructors. They can take ideas gleaned from a lecture, and use those to fan the flames of their own intellectual curiosity. Students don’t need much hand holding in developing ideas into term papers or independent projects. They are not afraid to approach their peers or their professors with questions or further exploration of course material.

They have a good sense of what is important in a subject. They can marshal their own resources to ensure their own academic success. These students will likely be successful in any academic environment, even large universities with enormous lecture classes. These students are active in their own learning, so the mode of instruction is less important. The passive presentations of lectures and readings may be enough to activate the innate learning impulses of this sort of student.

Other students enjoy learning most when instructors are able to bring the material alive and help them tie abstractions to the practicalities of everyday life. These students may not yet have developed their own internal academic compass. They may not be as confident with their basic academic skills. Or they may simply enjoy the higher level of interaction that occurs in smaller classes that require a high degree of participation by both teacher and student.

Match the college learning environment with how best you learn

Thus it is critical to match a student’s learning habits and preferences with the sort of learning environments that exist at different colleges and universities. This is more difficult to extract from students in a short discussion. Most students have never really considered why they prefer one teacher to another, or why they are more successful in one class than in another. Most people never give much conscious thought to their own learning.

Some will thrill to the art of a well-crafted lecture by a distinguished professor and be able to convert that thrill into independent learning. Others, however, simply cannot develop a personal relationship with the material without a personal relationship with the human beings in the classroom. In order to make a recommendation about the appropriate learning environment then, it’s important to discuss with high school students why some classes are more successful and to uncover the reasons why others are less so.

Academic College Fit: Level of Rigor

High schools tend to offer various levels of a course (college prep, honors, AP) to provide various levels of academic challenge to different sorts of students. Some prefer to take courses that challenge them intellectually at the top of their game. Others prefer to coast a bit more. Some seek a cohort of students who are as academically driven (or not) as they are, while others prefer to hang with students who are smarter. Still, others prefer to be a big fish in a smaller pond and standout in a less challenging environment.

When you and your family visit colleges, try to get the general academic vibe on campus and rank your schools on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being over-the-top academic. Which schools appealed to you most? Hop on Tik Tok, Instagram and other online resources to confirm or reject your campus visit.

Academic College Fit: Program Offerings and Majors

It’s pretty obvious that finding the right major is important. But it’s important to go beyond the student’s first answer, no matter how confident they appear about their top choice of major. The fact is that the vast majority of students change their major at least once in college and many change two or three times. So as we help our students look for the programs that they want most we also try to be on the lookout for other programs that may interest them.

For example, a high school junior may tell us confidently that they want to be an architect. But they may also enjoy foreign language and literature. Thus it would not be enough to simply list the schools of architecture. We need to consider which schools also would make it possible to continue that interest in a second language.

A student may or may not change majors; but college is also a time in which students are introduced to academic disciplines they have never had any contact with in high school (aeronautics, psychology, philosophy, linguistics) that may end up becoming a passion. So while we start with programs and majors a student identifies as first choice, we also try to tease out what other academic interests the student has. These alternative interests may become a well-spring of electives, a potential minor, or an about-face major alternative down the academic road.

Academic College Fit: Curricular and Program Structure

Some students simply don’t like to be told what to study, while others feel more comfortable making choices within a more structured, controlled environment. Some have a very good sense of what they want to learn and why. Others are still exploring and are happy to have at least a bit of guidance to help them make sense of the smorgasbord that is a collegiate course catalog. Fortunately, there is a college to match this preference.

At one extreme are the colleges that make very few demands and impose few—if any—curricular requirements. The curriculum may be completely individualized and tailored to each student’s interests and passions. At the other extreme are the colleges that allow for virtually no choice in what courses students take. And then there is a broad spectrum of colleges and universities that fall somewhere in the middle of this continuum.

Here again, curriculum structure can be difficult to discuss with high school students for whom their entire academic experience has been laid out to them. Electives have been few and far between, especially compared with the options available in college. In order to make a recommendation, then, one has to measure a student’s academic maturity and ability to make good, future-oriented decisions.

While it’s completely fine not to declare a major until the end of the sophomore year, students still need to put a plan in place to ensure they can graduate on time. Students with less self-discipline may be better off in a more structured program or one that at least has a very strong and personalized system of academic advising.

Evaluating Academic College Fit: Conclusion

Academic fit is the single most important factor in choosing a college, in our view. While the environment, availability of extracurricular opportunities, and social climate are all also very important you must remember that families are not choosing a country club or vacation resort. The primary purpose in college is to get an education—one that suits them best and allows them to achieve their own intellectual and professional goals.

How to Find A Great College Fit

There are many other aspects of finding a great college fit. Please check out our other posts on this topic:

Evaluating social engagement on campus

Evaluating campus social life

Finally, here’s a video on how the team at Great College Advice can help you find a great college fit.

GreatCollegeAdvice.com

Since 2007, the expert team of college admissions consultants at Great College Advice has provided comprehensive guidance to thousands of students from across the United States and over 45 countries across the world. Great College Advice has offices in Colorado, New Jersey, Chicago, North Carolina and Massachusetts.  

In addition to our one-on-one counseling, Great College Advice extends its support through one of the most active and resource-rich Facebook Groups for college-bound students and their families: College Admissions Experts. With nearly 100,000 members—students, parents, and experienced counselors—this vibrant forum offers peer support and expert advice like no other. 

The post Find the Right Academic College Fit first appeared on College Admission Counseling.

What questions to ask a college admissions counselor

Talking to someone who knows the ins and outs of the college or university you’re interested in is a very good opportunity that you should not pass up. It’s important to come prepared and know what questions to ask the college admissions counselor, both so that you can impress the admissions counselor and so that you can get the most possible out of the conversation.

As you’re preparing to talk to college admissions counselors, it can be helpful to understand what role admissions counselors actually play in the admissions process. Admissions counselors play dual roles: they are “counseling” you about whether their school is a good fit. But ultimately they are also sales people: they are trying to give you a good impression of their school so that you’ll apply and possibly choose to attend. For that reason, admissions counselors tend to accentuate the positive and play down the negative. Therefore when asking questions, be sure to ask follow up questions that probe their statements further. Don’t be afraid to ask clarifying questions or ask for examples. Remember: you are trying to make a good impression on your admissions counselor, but ultimately, this conversation is for you. This is your education, after all. Make sure you use this conversation shrewdly to evaluate whether or not a particular school will be right for you.

Here are some interesting questions to ask college admissions officers:

• Who will be teaching my classes?
• What mental health resources are available for students?
• What academic support and advising services are available?
• What support systems are in place to build community?
• What characteristics and qualities lead to happy students at your school?

Who would be teaching my classes?

You know what environment suits your learning style, and it’s important to understand who will be teaching your classes in order to see if the learning environment at a given school is right for you. At some schools, professors teach all of the classes, while other schools rely on graduate students to do much of the teaching. Even at schools where professors do all or most of the teaching, it can still be helpful to understand who the professors are. Are they full professors who have been with that college or university for twenty years? Does the school have trouble retaining professors, instead rotating new people in every year or so? What percentage of instructors are full-time, tenured professors, and what percentage are part-time adjunct professors? Are individual faculty members in your major people whose interests align with yours

What health and mental health resources are available for students? Is it difficult for students to access these resources?

Your mental and physical health are super important! Colleges try their best to provide the mental and physical health resources that their students need, but schools aren’t always able to meet the needs of their students. Especially if you have a mental or physical health condition that you’ve dealt with in the past, you want to make sure that the school not only has the resources you need to stay healthy, but that they have enough of those resources that you’ll be able to access care when you need it.

What academic support and advising services are available for students? How available are these services?

College is hard! Before you even start your classes, it can be challenging to know which classes to sign up for. Most colleges offer some sort of academic advising, but the quality may vary. Will you have one academic advisor or more than one? Is your academic advisor someone you will be able to build a relationship with over the course of your four years? Is this going to be someone whose door is always open, or will you find yourself unable to access that support when you need it? In some places, it’s professors who advise, often in a department that coincides with your general interests. In other places, there are “professional” advisors who will help make sure you have the right amount of credits and fulfill all the requirements, but they may not help you probe your interests and to ensure that you’re on the best academic path for you.

The challenges certainly don’t end once you’ve chosen your classes. You want to make sure that the college or university will set you up for academic success. Many colleges offer tutoring, writing labs, math labs, and other academic supports. Find out how easy or difficult it is to access these services, and how robust the services are. If you have a learning difference, this is also a good opportunity for you to inquire whether they have additional academic support services for students with learning differences. In that case, you may even want the admissions counselor to make an introduction to the staff in that office so that you can learn more specifically about how that office can address your needs. 

What programs or structures are in place to help students who live on campus build community?

For many students, building campus community is an important reason to go to college in the first place, and the friends you make while you’re in college can help you be happier and more successful, both during and after school. Making friends is not always easy, but some colleges and universities have structures and programs to help you do just that. These might include formal, fairly intensive programs such as Living Learning Communities; less intensive programs like study breaks for your floor organized by your RA; or simple but intentional design elements such as ensuring that each floor in the residence halls has a shared lounge and study space. Try to ascertain to what extent the college is going to help you build community and whether or not the structures they offer are things you would be interested in.

To what extent are students who live off-campus involved in the campus community? What percentage of students live off-campus, and how far away from campus do they live?

Regardless of whether or not you plan to live off-campus at any point during your time as an undergraduate, if community is important to you, you want to understand the involvement from students who live off-campus. In some schools, kids who live off-campus might be living with other students in a house just across the street from the school. In other cases, off-campus living might mean sharing an apartment twenty or thirty minutes away with people not involved in the school at all. As you can imagine, those differing circumstances will have an effect on the community feel of the school, especially if you are one of the students living off-campus.

What characteristics and qualities help students succeed at this college or university?

This question will help you get your admissions counselor to articulate what they might be looking for in a student. You can use this information in two ways. First, you can consider whether or not the successful student they are describing sounds like you, in order to help determine for yourself whether or not this school would be a good fit for you. Second, if you do decide that you want to apply to this school, you can use your application to highlight the qualities the admissions officer listed, in order to better persuade admissions officers that you would be successful at this school.

What are the top three values that guide this college or universities?

Before you talk to your admissions counselor, read the school’s mission statement. (You can generally find this by Googling “[X College] Mission Statement” or simply by poking around the website.) Here is an example. Colleges and universities are mission-driven, meaning they exist for a purpose other than to make money. If a college or university is run well, it will use its values to guide every decision it makes. Understanding what those values are is super important! For one thing, it can help you assess whether or not your values are aligned with those of the institution in order to understand whether this is a good place for you: you will most likely be much happier and more successful at a school that champions your values. Secondly, once you understand the guiding principles of an institution, you can better understand how to demonstrate to the school that you as an applicant will help them achieve those principals. For example, if this is an institution that strongly values innovation, showing the ways that you have been innovative throughout high school can be very powerful. Finally, asking your admissions counselor about the values after you’ve read the mission statement can give you a glimpse into how seriously the institution takes its stated values. 

What percentage of students who don’t qualify for need-based financial aid receive merit-based financial aid? What’s the average dollar amount of merit-based financial aid offered?

Financial fit is a very important aspect of choosing a college, and it is not talked about enough! If you don’t qualify for a lot of need-based financial aid but still need help affording college, it is tempting to assume that you’ll just get a big merit scholarship or that your family will “just make it work.” It is a mistake to make these assumptions. Schools vary widely in the amount of merit-based financial aid they give out. Some schools will offer merit-based financial aid to almost every applicant, while other schools do not offer merit-based financial aid at all. Even for schools that do offer merit-based aid, the awards might not be that robust. Some schools will offer only a small amount of aid to each person, or the aid they offer might be for only one year or might be in the form of work-study or loans, which is money you have to earn and pay back later. Other schools might be in the habit of offering larger grants (money you don’t have to pay back) that are renewable for four years. If you will need merit-based financial aid to pay for college, it is very important to ask early on and understand how realistic it might be for you to be offered that aid.

How hard is it to change majors within and across different schools or colleges?

Some colleges, particularly smaller liberal arts colleges, have all of the majors housed in one college. Other institutions will have multiple schools or colleges, such as the college of liberal arts, the college of business, the college of performing arts, and the college of engineering. Depending on the structure and policies of the school, it may be difficult to transfer from one major to another, especially if those majors are housed in different colleges within the university. Especially if you are not as sure of your major choice, it is important to understand how easy or hard it is at that particular institution to change your mind and switch majors down the road.

What are the three weakest departments at your school?

Ask this question before you tell your admissions officer what your academic interests are! You don’t necessarily have to go to a school that is especially well-known for your particular major in order to get a good education. However, if you have particular academic interests, you will want to make sure that the schools you’re considering have the resources you’ll need to pursue your academic focus. 

How easy or difficult is it to do mentored research or another mentored project with a professor? What percentage of graduating seniors do some sort of mentored project?

It doesn’t matter if your school is publishing the most cutting-edge, prestigious research in the world if you don’t get to participate in the research process! You are going to college to learn, and one of the very best ways to do that is by pursuing some sort of project under the close guidance of faculty members. Don’t be satisfied with a vague, glossy promise that faculty are “very involved” or that a school is classified as having “high research activity.” Instead, probe and try to determine whether or not you personally will be able to benefit from these opportunities.

What questions not to ask College Admissions Officers

Now that we’ve looked at which questions you should ask, which questions should you avoid?

Questions to which you can easily find the answers

• Is your school public or private?

• What’s the average class size of your school?

• What’s the acceptance rate at your school?

• What’s this school’s retention rate/graduation rate/job placement rate?

The answers to the questions above can all be helpful in deciding whether or not a school is right for you. That being said, these are all questions whose answers are readily found on the internet, in guidebooks, and in physical brochures or other materials the school might publish. You want to show your college admissions counselor that you have taken the time to do a basic amount of research on your own and that you are respectful of their time. Asking these questions will show just the opposite.

Do you think this is the right school for me?

Unless your admissions officer is your aunt or uncle, chances are they don’t know the answer to this question, because they don’t know you! The college admissions counselor is a school representative, so let them do just that: represent the school. They are happy to give you information about the school and get to know you a bit, but at the end of the day, it’s your job to decide whether or not you and this institution are a good fit for each other. Assuming the answer is yes, it is your responsibility to convince the admissions counselor that you are the right choice for them (and vice versa) on your college application.

Talking to a college admissions counselor one-on-one is an invaluable opportunity to gather information about a college and deciding whether or not it is the right fit for you. It is important to know what questions you should ask a college admissions officer in order to make the most of this helpful opportunity.

Need help in deciding what questions to ask a college admissions counselor?

Need more help on your college application? We have helped hundreds of kids just like you find the school of their dreams and stay sane while doing it! Fill out this form to schedule a free consultation with us.

The post Top Questions to Ask a College Admissions Counselor first appeared on College Admission Counseling.

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:

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.

The post How to Choose a College After Being Accepted first appeared on College Admission Counseling.

The student and his family

Kevin was in the 10^th grade when his family approached Mark for advice. He attended a second-tier international school in Hong Kong that focuses on the arts, including music, drama, and film. Kevin played the saxophone and had been taking lessons for years, and he was an avid fan of jazz. However, he planned to major in something other than music—probably the social sciences, though he was completely undecided as he began to work with Mark.  

Kevin’s grades in the International Baccalaureate program were good, but not stellar (mostly 5s and 6s). His SAT score was 1250 after two attempts; his math score was 710, and his verbal score was 540. He had spent only limited time in the US as a tourist on a family trip to the West Coast when he was younger, so he had limited familiarity with American culture and geography. His family owned their own businesses: they were both quite busy and quite unfamiliar with the US educational system but were eager for their only son to study in the US. But how could they choose the right college?

The pain point

Kevin’s family wants to choose the right college for their son. However, with their limited knowledge of the US educational system, Kevin and his family needed help finding the right fit. They were eager to attend the highest-ranking school in the country, yet they understood that Kevin might not be competitive for the upper echelons. They also wanted to be sure the school would launch him toward a successful future and gainful employment.

Great College Advice

Kevin and his mother originally hired two consultants when he was in the 10^th grade. One consultant was based in Hong Kong, and Mark is based in the US. While Kevin’s mom felt that working with a US-based consultant would give them better information, she also worried that communication across time zones might be difficult. Kevin and his mother elected a comprehensive Premium Package of Great College Advice. Within 4 months, they let the Hong Kong consultant go; they were surprised at how easy it was to work with Mark via videoconferencing technology.

The recommendations

Based on his love of jazz and his proficiency with the saxophone, and at Mark’s recommendation, Kevin auditioned for and was accepted to jazz program at Interlochen Arts Camp in the summer before his 11^th grade. After that trip, his family toured three universities on the east coast: University of Maryland at College Park, American University in Washington, DC, and Goucher College in Baltimore.

The aim was for Kevin and his parents to get a strong understanding of the range of educational possibilities: a large public university, a medium-sized private university, and a small, liberal arts college. Despite their initial skepticism, the entire family was surprised by the intensity, personal attention, and range of opportunities offered by Goucher. So Kevin resolved to pursue a liberal arts college. 

Kevin was able to choose the right college

Kevin chose to apply to liberal arts colleges with strong music programs. He soon became enamored with St. Olaf College, but he applied to several others, as well. St. Olaf is a strong liberal arts college in Minnesota with an outstanding music conservatory. Thus, Kevin would have the possibility of joining the saxophone studio and participating in the jazz band—as long as he made musical progress. And he could major in any number of other areas in the social sciences, including economics and political science.

Accepted to St. Olaf and most of the others, he decided to attend St. Olaf—even though he had never visited prior to making this huge commitment. As he explained, he knew what he wanted educationally, he was confident that St. Olaf could deliver on those desires, and since he knew little about most places in the US, he didn’t really fear going someplace completely new. 

Kevin thoroughly enjoyed his experience as an “Ole,” and played saxophone all four years. He majored in economics, and also challenged himself by taking the “Great Conversations” program that steeped him in the intellectual history of the Western tradition (he called Mark half-way through expressing his skepticism that he would survive the heavy reading load, but today talks about Great Conversations as seminal in his personal and intellectual development).

Kevin now has a great job in an international company based in Hong Kong, continues to play the saxophone, and he and Mark meet for lunch whenever Mark is in town. Mark also worked with Kevin’s two cousins, both of whom attended another outstanding liberal arts college in Ohio. 

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The post Choose The Right College – A Student’s Story first appeared on College Admission Counseling.

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If you liked this post, you might want to look at others in this series, including articles from folks who went to Harvard, Dartmouth, University of Pennsylvania, University of Rochester, University of Portland, Cornell College, and New York University.

The post Emerson College–One Woman’s Story first appeared on College Admission Counseling.