Searching for the right college is stressful—finding one that has your desired major, a well-established program and a lively campus is a challenge. Not to mention, completely funding your post-graduation education is becoming harder and harder as tuition rates rise and financial aid falls. While the search itself may be difficult, that doesn’t mean that good things can’t come out of it. From my experiences, the college search can be an extremely exciting process.
With so many colleges out there, it seems next to impossible to choose the correct one. Those dream schools like NYU, USC or Harvard may be on the list, but just remember that CSU and CU definitely aren’t bad back up plans (or first-choice schools!).
The thing with college is this: don’t get too attached to one school before applying and think divergently. Sending out one or two applications to your dream schools isn’t enough; you need to send out more than that—upwards of five in total—to dream schools, average schools and schools that you will definitely get in to. For example, at NYU, only 35 percent of students who apply get accepted. Don’t be that kid who doesn’t go to college because he or she didn’t look for backup schools.
Think divergently. Just because you want to major in psychology doesn’t mean that you can’t go anywhere other than your first choice to do so. Look in every nook and cranny to find the coolest, most hands-on programs, regardless of where they lie. If you end up going to school in-state, then that’s awesome. If you end up going to school out of state, then that’s awesome too. If you end up going to school across the ocean, more power to you. The best programs aren’t necessary the ones on the list for the top colleges in America. They completely rely on your major of choice.
The college search isn’t something that only seniors need to be looking into. You need to start planning and thinking about what you want to do with your life during your freshman year. Don’t wait to figure everything out during the few months that you’re a senior. That is just going to add a lot of unnecessary stress and, possibly, not allow you to go to the school that you want since you didn’t plan out your search.
And, despite popular belief, GPA isn’t the only thing that schools look at. On the west coast, they want to see a good ACT score. On the east coast, they want to see a good SAT score. Regardless of where you go, they want to see a lot of extracurricular activities. Especially if you are planning on going overseas or choosing a creative major, they want to see that you have committed time and effort outside of class into extra projects. From my experience, GPA is important, but it won’t hold you down if you have a detailed and relevant resume.
Be smart, let yourself get stressed out and apply to more schools than you think you should. I always tell people on the journalism staff that it’s better to have too much information than too little. In terms of the college search, I can’t think of any better way to say it.
Ethan Dayton
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
*Editor’s Notes are published the first and third Friday of every month, as well as the Friday that an issue is released.
