Narrowing Down Your College Options
Congratulations, your college acceptance letters have arrived! Now how do you make the big decision? To those of you who got the nod from your dream school, the next step is easy; but for the rest of you, this important decision can be overwhelming. This process reminds me of my year-end task of selecting a medical insurance policy. Not only do I have several plans to choose from, I also have a long list of benefits to consider, not to mention the fact that I really have no idea what my medical needs will be in the coming year.
How do I sort through it all? Call Dad, of course. As a retired engineer, he’s good at crunching numbers and evaluating these kinds of things. Last year, he suggested I employ an old Air Force method whereby I would score each plan’s list of benefits. I had narrowed down to two plans, so I cleared off the dining table and laid the lists—which went on for pages—side by side. I then went down the columns and assigned a score to each benefit, either a 0 or a 1, 1 going to the plan with the superior identical or similar benefit. If a specific benefit had equal value in both plans, each plan scored a 0. I also gave more weight to the more important benefits by using a score of 1*. In the end, I tallied up the score and the plan with the most points and weight won.
What Do You Want from Your College Experience?
Try this scoring method to select your college. First, create a list of what you want from your undergraduate experience. Your factors might include major, minor, specialized academic programs, internship opportunities, location, certain professors, research being conducted at the university, weather, size, cost, scholarship, housing, transportation costs to/from school, family or friends nearby, Division I football, fraternities and sororities, marching band, ski team—whatever is of importance to you.
If you’re a pre-med student, does the college have an affiliation with a local hospital or research institution? If you’re a computer science major, does the school have an internship program at a nearby technology company? A school might have a dual-major program of interest to you like engineering and economics or education and music. If you want to live and work in a certain city after college, then location might be a weighted factor for you in that you can start to establish yourself in that city.
Create a Spreadsheet
Whatever your parameters, create a spreadsheet with your schools in the top row and your factors in the first column. Then start scoring. Give more weight to items that are of more importance to you. If you are deciding between two schools, the 0/1/1* system will work (you could also use 2 for the weighted score, but I liked seeing the total the number of weighted benefits when I was evaluating medical plans). If you have more schools, you might need to expand your scale. With three schools, try using 0/1/2/2*. Expand your scale further if necessary. Once you isolate your final two schools, start over with the 0/1/1* for a true head-to-head comparison.
Do your parents want you to go to one college and you want to go elsewhere? Sharing your score sheet with mom and dad can help you demonstrate to them why your pick is the best choice for you.
When I employed this method to choose my medical insurance policy, there was a hands-down winner. So clear through the confusion with this simple method. Once you choose your school, don’t look back. Look forward. The truth is, what becomes of your four years in college has more to do with your attitude than anything. I grew up in Los Angeles and always wanted to go away for college. But one of the best schools in the country for what I wanted to study was right in my backyard. Though only six miles away, UCLA was a whole new world. I lived on campus and took advantage of all the school had to offer. No regrets. So, pick your school for the right reasons and commit to it. When you arrive on campus, don’t just go to class, explore and get involved. Make your college the experience you seek.
Congratulations, your college acceptance letters have arrived! Now how do you make the big decision? To those of you who got the nod from your dream school, the next step is easy; but for the rest of you, this important decision can be overwhelming. This process reminds me of my year-end task of selecting a medical insurance policy. Not only do I have several plans to choose from, I also have a long list of benefits to consider, not to mention the fact that I really have no idea what my medical needs will be in the coming year.
How do I sort through it all? Call Dad, of course. As a retired engineer, he’s good at crunching numbers and evaluating these kinds of things. Last year, he suggested I employ an old Air Force method whereby I would score each plan’s list of benefits. I had narrowed down to two plans, so I cleared off the dining table and laid the lists—which went on for pages—side by side. I then went down the columns and assigned a score to each benefit, either a 0 or a 1, 1 going to the plan with the superior identical or similar benefit. If a specific benefit had equal value in both plans, each plan scored a 0. I also gave more weight to the more important benefits by using a score of 1*. In the end, I tallied up the score and the plan with the most points and weight won.
What Do You Want from Your College Experience?
Try this scoring method to select your college. First, create a list of what you want from your undergraduate experience. Your factors might include major, minor, specialized academic programs, internship opportunities, location, certain professors, research being conducted at the university, weather, size, cost, scholarship, housing, transportation costs to/from school, family or friends nearby, Division I football, fraternities and sororities, marching band, ski team—whatever is of importance to you.
If you’re a pre-med student, does the college have an affiliation with a local hospital or research institution? If you’re a computer science major, does the school have an internship program at a nearby technology company? A school might have a dual-major program of interest to you like engineering and economics or education and music. If you want to live and work in a certain city after college, then location might be a weighted factor for you in that you can start to establish yourself in that city.
Create a Spreadsheet
Whatever your parameters, create a spreadsheet with your schools in the top row and your factors in the first column. Then start scoring. Give more weight to items that are of more importance to you. If you are deciding between two schools, the 0/1/1* system will work (you could also use 2 for the weighted score, but I liked seeing the total the number of weighted benefits when I was evaluating medical plans). If you have more schools, you might need to expand your scale. With three schools, try using 0/1/2/2*. Expand your scale further if necessary. Once you isolate your final two schools, start over with the 0/1/1* for a true head-to-head comparison.
Do your parents want you to go to one college and you want to go elsewhere? Sharing your score sheet with mom and dad can help you demonstrate to them why your pick is the best choice for you.
When I employed this method to choose my medical insurance policy, there was a hands-down winner. So clear through the confusion with this simple method. Once you choose your school, don’t look back. Look forward. The truth is, what becomes of your four years in college has more to do with your attitude than anything. I grew up in Los Angeles and always wanted to go away for college. But one of the best schools in the country for what I wanted to study was right in my backyard. Though only six miles away, UCLA was a whole new world. I lived on campus and took advantage of all the school had to offer. No regrets. So, pick your school for the right reasons and commit to it. When you arrive on campus, don’t just go to class, explore and get involved. Make your college the experience you seek.
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