TourGuide446

Sorry, that woud be Whoareyou.

katie05

I think it is strength in your major.

A2Wolves6

I can't believe that price wasn't mentioned. Nearly every college decision comes down to price unless you are upper-class.

sweetdaises2000

How good of a program there is, money,money money.. I plan on attending medical school so to me I would rather have an undergraduate education that could reasonably put me at the top of my graduating class without exessive amounts of stress. Of course I want to be challenged but I want to know that there is a possibility of being in top 5 %. I'm not so sure I'd be able to accomplish that without taking drastic measures and large amounts of extra credit as an ivy league. I'm currently an incoming senior and the more research I do, the more bleak Ivy Leagues sound as an undergrad..no money..doesnt matter till grad school..hard to be at the top of graduating class...I consider those factors pretty important.

bball87

dude---i was at an ivy league my first year, and my GPA puts me within the top 5-10 percent at it.

It's really not as competitive as everyone thinks. You work hard, and you will do fine.

Educator

You will first have to answer what your greatest need is or what (you think) is most important to you at this time in your life.

If you have a driving passion for a specific occupation, you may be off to a good start. While many students change majors several times, if you know what you want to major in, research employment opportunities within your major and the types or specific companies you would like to work for. Many companies have preferred lists of colleges/universities/majors they target. Many also have higher starting salaries based upon the school/major/level of education and your GPA. Most prefer graduates with internship experience and it looks favorable on your resume if you have been involved with organizations and have held leadership positions. If you go to grad. school you can often times pass the testing requirements but be at a disadvantage because your undergraduate school didn't have a rigorous enough program for the foundation you need. I'm thinking here of competeing and being successful at Iowa State in Physics at the Grad. and Phd levels.

Many complete, say an engineering undergrad, from a top engineering school and get their grad. at a good business school. Unless you're going into research, most hi-tech companies look for this combination because they know how necessary the combination is for grooming future leaders.

Your financial situation may be the driving force. If money is a problem research scholarships, grants and loans which are specific to occupation, race, gender, critical skills needed for the global workforce. If you can't afford the college of your choice at first, this could change after you have a successful academic track record.

Legacy and friends? Depends, is it more important to you to uphold a family tradition or be with your friends than to search for what is important to you? College is generally a time for self discovery as well as academic discovery, your group of friends may very well change as your pursuit other interests and learn more about yourself. College friends have a way of staying with you for life. Prestigous colleges can be important if you're going into a career where influential contacts are important, ie politics.

Athletics may be the best for those going on athletic scholarships. They also provide a source of community and bonding.

If your desire is to move into an executive position at a Forture 500 company, an academically sound educational institution with a good reputation will be important, if you can apply your learning. If you can't afford an institution with a coveted name, you can still be successful to the degree you can add value, network, and focus on continuous learning.

Once in the workforce, the average individual will change CAREERS appx. 3 times. Sometimes this will depend on the workforce, sometimes it will be because your situation changes, and sometimes because you, your values, your concerns change. Sometimes its because your getting older and your realize there are so many things to do and you become aware of something you don't want to look back at and wish you would have tried.

Take everyone's input, it's good, and will most likely spark ideas/concerns you haven't thought of. Ultimately look at what's important to you and make the best decision you can with the best information available to you. If you change your mind, you change your mind. Make good grades, learn as much as you can, be flexible and open, and have fun. Your first time at College is a once in a lifetime opportunity, not all can have, even in 2006. Some of the best educational opportunities in college, don't take place in the classroom. You may discover what you want in a career by talking with friends or participating in clubs, organizations, and volunteer programs.

JessicaHope

I am the youngest in my family of three kids and I am sorry to say that my brother and sister both went to private colleges (Colby and Tufts) and now my parents are saying that I should be looking into less expensive schools because they are saving for retirement and had some financial setbacks. I'm actully not that mad because I know they feel terrible but I still have to wonder if everyone on this board is an only child or the oldest. Do you plan on huge loans? Are you so loaded it doesn't matter?

I have a friend whose parents are divorced and her mother is in the middle of taking her dad to court to make him pay for an expensive college instead our state school. Money is a bigger deal to me than getting in in the first place.

sakky

I'm afraid I find the whole premise of this argument to be flawed. For med-school, you don't need to be at the top of your class. You just need to have good grades. These two phenomena are not completely congruent, mostly because of the Ivy grade inflation. At most Ivies, you can be nowhere near the top of your class, and STILL have excellent grades. The average GPA at the Ivies is around a 3.4.

Contrast that with other schools, such as MIT and Caltech, where even the best students often times have relatively low grades, simply because many classes simply give out very few good grades. Molliebatmit, for example, is one of the best graduates that MIT has ever produced. She only graduated with a 3.4/4 GPA, and she herself has freely admitted that she would probably have never gotten into any of the top med-schools with grades like that. Med-schools don't know and don't care that she was a superstar at MIT. They only see that she had a 3.4, which is the same as an average student at an Ivy.

This leads to another corollary, which is that, for the purposes of professional school admission ,like med-school admission, grade inflation works. It shouldn't work. In a perfect world, it wouldn't work. But we don't live in a perfect world, and in the world we live in, it does work. Hence, ceteris parabus, it is advantangeous grade inflated school like the Ivies if you want to become a doctor. Sad but true.

Gator Bait 23

Good vibes...felt at home.
Location...it's where I want to be!

avcastner

Learning does not take place in the classroom alone. You are not only spending 15 hours a week in classes, but you are living in the community 168 hours per week. You need to be in a place where you are comfortable, feel at home away from home, and where you can mature not just intellectualy, but socially, spiritually, and athletically. You can't just ignore these needs because a college has a great reputation.

Unless you're going to be an engineer, doctor, or lawyer, most people don't really care where you get your bachelor's degree, as long as the school is accredited. Your choice of a grad school is much more important to the average student than the undergrad school.

Go where you will be happy and be able to learn on all different levels.

By the way, a good reason to choose a state school over Stanford or another LAC--if you want to go into teaching, the state schools usually have higher-ranked education programs that lead directly into the credential and masters of education. (I'm biased--I'm a teacher.)

liz117

I would love to say that my decision was based on my school's overall vibe and quality of majors, etc., but money was the deciding factor. In fact, it was the only factor. My mom and I had pretty much decided that I would go to whichever school offered me the most financial aid (luckily it was one of my favorites) I filled out my reply card as soon as I read my financial aid award. Yale is amazing and I'm so thankful I have the opportunity to be here, but it would have been nice to be in the position to consider my options a bit more. If you have that opportunity, then I think the overall fit should definitely be your deciding factor.

MorbidDork

If they have the majors I want and the acceptance of the GLBT community.

All the schools I'm looking at have that. =]

freddy89

You poor soul...how could your mom put you through having to attend Yale? You are so courageous to be carrying on with such strength.

lostincode

yep. gotta give her props for that.

bartleby

"I guess the notion of a classical liberal arts education is fading, what with so many people choosing strength in academic area."

The world, and specifically the job market, is a cutthroat place today. When America's economic hegemony is being threatened by nation's like China and India, you really don't have the option to spend four years studying philosophy, history, classic literature, mathematics, and the sciences without picking a specific field to excel in as a basis for a career in that sector. (That was a gross overgeneralization, I realise, but it's 3 in the morning and you can see what I mean, I hope.)