College Selection With so many choices (over 4,000), how do high school students decide which college to go to? Many factors go into a student’s choice of college. Here are six of the most important college selection criterion :
With so many choices, how do students select a college?
Region
When choosing a college, location is an important factor for many students. Some students want to stay close to home — within a couple of hours drive. Others want to go farther away from
home, to experience what it’s like to live in a different climate or culture. For example, a student from Tuscon, Arizona, who selects a college in Rhode Island will experience a very different lifestyle. The U.S. Department of Education separates colleges into eight distinct regions : Far West, Southeast, Rocky Mountains, Great Lakes, Southwest, Mideast, Plains and New England. There are excellent colleges and universities in every region. (See the map of College Regions of the United States on page 31) Which region do you live in? Would you prefer a college far from your home region? Would you rather stay close to home, or is region not an important factor for you?
WA
ME
MT
ND
VT
MN
OR
NH
ID
MA
NY
WI
SD
MI
RI
WY
CT
PA
IA
NE
OH
NU
NV
IN
IL
DE
UT
WV
CO
MD
VA
CA
KS
MO
DC
KY
NC
TN
OK
AZ
SC
AR
NM
GA
AL
MS
AK
LA
TX
FL
HI
Location is an important selection factor for many students.
PREVIEW
Academics
There are colleges for students of all academic abilities — from the high achieving to the not-so-high achieving. There are even colleges with programs for students with learning disabilities. The level of academics offered at a college is an important factor to be considered by students when selecting a college. Some colleges are considered highly selective or highly academic . That means that they are geared toward the very high achieving student. A group of eight famous and highly selective schools is referred to as the Ivy League : They are Brown University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Harvard University, Princeton University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Yale University.
Princeton University is an Ivy League college
Regardless of region, academic or selectivity level, all colleges want students who have worked hard to maintain a strong high school Grade Point Average (GPA) . GPA is a conversion of a student’s letter grades (such as A,B,C) into a numerical equivalent such as 3.3 or 4.0. Whether highly selective, or only moderately selective,
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THE 21 ST CENTURY STUDENT’S GUIDE TO COLLEGE
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