The Journey to College: Part 1

This is going to be one of our regular "series" posts. 

'The Journey to College' series is focused on documenting our (long and hard) College Admissions Process. (dun-dun-dunnnnn)

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Part I: Deciding Where to Apply

If you want to go to college, the very first step you have to take is deciding where you want to go. (duh)

Applying to college can be a super complicated and strategic process; you need to pick colleges that would pick you. (When you have straight F's, it's not going to be easy to get into Harvard…)

There are many aspects that people take into consideration when researching schools they would like to apply to, such as:

• ·        Academics: What kinds of programs are offered there? Are they well-known for the program I want to study? How are the professors?
• ·        Environment/location: Where is the city located? Is it located in a rural area where a SuperTarget is 30 miles away? Is it far away from home? Are there any other universities nearby?
• ·        Diversity/Social Scene: Does it encompass a diverse group of students? Would I fit into the social scene there?
• ·        Greek life: Is greek life offered? If so, what is its vibe like?
• ·        Etc!

After I scrutinized all of the schools and decided the ones I liked and didn’t like, I made a list. The list contained three categories: reach, target, and safety. (Reach schools are the schools that are hard for you to get into, but still have a slight chance. Target schools are the ones you have a pretty good chance at getting in, but you still aren’t sure. Finally, safety schools are those you most likely will get into.) Then, I went through each school, looked through all of their admissions stats, and placed the schools in each category. When looking at admissions stats, the key is to look for schools that match your test scores/GPA. If your scores or grades are similar to ones of their other applicants, it means that you fit right into the applicant pool.

It is truly your call as to many school you apply to, it can be as many as you want, but keep in mind that there is an admission fee for many schools and applying to like 24838234234 schools could get costly. 

Although there is no perfectly pre-made formula to find out which schools you should apply for and not apply for, there are resources that can help you get a general idea:

• College matchmaker:  You fill out a quick survey and they recommend all of the colleges that fit your criteria.
• College Prowler: find out the deets on all of the schools! The reviews are written by students who actually attend the school, so it’s more accurate than ever! Not only does the site give you specifics about the school, you can also create a “list” to organize the schools you want to apply to!
• Cappax My Chances: it calculates your chances of getting into certain schools! You sign up, put in your stats (grades, scores, etc) and it estimates the chance you have at the school.
• Another article from one of my favorite blogs, collegefashion is also super helpful! 

The big thing about deciding where to apply is research. The more research you do and the more you know about your schools, more confident you will be about the schools you apply to! And always remember not to stress yourself out too much! Best of luck :)
-Julia