Narrowing the Field in a College Search

By Mohammed Jamali

There are all sorts of guides and recommended criteria that aim to help students and their families pick a college or university. Quite often, however, there ends up being several schools that easily meet all of the criteria and a student may have to further narrow the field and eliminate some colleges or universities from their list. This is a time that requires very specific information for a successful college search, and there are a few easy resources for locating such facts.

Examine the Degree Requirements: To begin narrowing the field, take all of the selected schools and do a thorough examination of the degree of study or major intending to be followed. Will the school require an established background of participation, volunteerism or study in the field of choice? For example, if a student is seeking a degree in some sort of social work, will they need to have all ready participated in social work activities or organizations? If this is a requirement, there is no method of working around it and a student who is lacking this experience must eliminate the school from their list.

Visit College and University Web Sites: Go the school's web site and find out what percentage of the student population is enrolled in the degree or major of choice.

Why is this important? For several reasons, first it gives a good idea of what the student to teacher ratio becomes for the specialized course work. Second, it will allow a student to see how many school resources are available for this degree focus. For example, if a student would like to focus on astronomy or physics and the school has a planetarium and several related clubs, then it might be a good idea to visit the school and get a stronger picture of how it fits the need of the student.

Find Out About Student Statistics: Many schools will also list some statistics about each incoming freshman class, with information such as certain test score averages, overall GPA for a "standard" member of the class, geographic backgrounds and other relevant facts. A student who analyzes this information is more likely to get a better understanding of the school as well as a stronger gauge as to whether or not the school is a good "fit" for their needs.

Visit As Many As Possible: Before deciding to eliminate many of the colleges and universities from a list of consideration it is a good idea to visit as many as possible. This could be a weekend marathon with one or two campuses each day, or it could be an ongoing project over the course of a few months.

What is critical to each visit is to make a written record of the "pluses" and the "minuses" of each experience. Many students will begin to see a pattern that they may not have even been aware of prior to visiting the schools. Some students believing they want a city college or university may realize that a large green campus with many natural areas is appealing to them. This can change or shift the criteria for the list of schools completely.

For more visit our college search resource center for the most comprehensive article database we can provide, whether you're searching for the perfect college or university, doing a scholarship search or a career search. College is one of the most important decisions you will make in your life and it's important that you make an educated one.