Choosing which college you want to go to has never been easy for anyone. Even for those who got into their dream school, the months before were filled with sleepless nights and anxiety ridden days. Like searching for a job, applying for colleges is a full time job that forces you to judge your merits from an outside perspective, leading to self doubt and, in the worst cases, self-loathing. People spend months of their lives losing hair over which colleges they are qualified for.
The secret though: the difficult part is not finding a college that you are qualified for. It is obviously challenging to get into any college, so getting into a really good one is going to ramp up the difficulty. But the real challenge comes in figuring out what school you will actually like going to. So many college students end up dropping out or transferring after their freshman year. Many do it even later in their college education. This is because it is so difficult to determine whether you like going to a college without actually… going there. It seems obvious, but the process is not designed to accommodate this notion.
You choose colleges based on a bunch of criteria that will never be real to you again. What do students say about the school? What is its reputation? Is the campus pretty? You can give up on the idea that a college campus is worth taking a risk on and just go to GW online. But there are other options.
The only thing that could actually give you an idea of what a college will be like is a campus visit. You will get a lot of information that won’t matter: people hired by the school will tell you stuff about the school to make you want to go to the school. But if you ask the right questions, you may be able to get enough out of your college visit to determine whether you want to go there. Here are some to consider.
What Type of Career Outreach Services do You Offer Students?
At the end of the day, the reason you are going to college is not to have fun, make friends, or even learn, really. You are going to college to get a degree so you will be qualified for a job. But jobs are more difficult to find for recent college graduates than ever. So you will need help from your college, both in finding internships while in school, and making connections after school.
Is there Free Tutoring on Campus?
College is challenging for even the best of students, so if you fall behind and start to struggle, there is no shame and getting some tutoring. There is even less shame in getting that tutoring for free.
What are Your Graduate Job Placement Statistics?
Again, this is what really matters for your college. Whether or not they can get you a job. So find out how the rest of their recent graduates fare in finding work.