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View Poll Results: What is the most impt factor in selecting a college? | |
Prestige, overall academic ranking or reputation.
|    | 1490 | 41.53% | |
Academic strength in my intended major.
|    | 1910 | 53.23% | |
Geography: close enough to home.
|    | 174 | 4.85% | |
Geography: far away enough from home.
|    | 208 | 5.80% | |
Climate.
|    | 249 | 6.94% | |
Tuition, potential scholarships and cost of living.
|    | 802 | 22.35% | |
Legacy status/family history at the school.
| | 34 | 0.95% | |
Girlfriend/boyfriend, other friends there.
| | 86 | 2.40% | |
Athletics.
| | 108 | 3.01% | |
Good vibes...felt at home.
| | 1285 | 35.81% | |
Location...it's where I want to be!
| | 782 | 21.79% |
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05-18-2007, 07:08 PM
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#226 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2007 Gender: Female
Threads: 166
Posts: 2,078
| beauty of campus should have been an option | 
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05-20-2007, 07:00 AM
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#227 | | New Member
Join Date: May 2007 Location: Ha Noi
Threads: 0
Posts: 1
| I think it is prestige, that's the most crucial factor i care. | |
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06-05-2007, 02:51 PM
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#228 | | Member
Join Date: Feb 2007
Threads: 28
Posts: 777
| How about the type of people that go there? | |
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06-09-2007, 06:11 PM
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#229 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Oregon / Providence
Threads: 55
Posts: 2,023
| i dunno, so many campuses are beautiful. i can't see how that would ever be the most important factor. a factor, yes, but deciding? no | |
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06-15-2007, 09:07 AM
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#230 | | Member
Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Michigan---->Macalester '12 Gender: Female
Threads: 58
Posts: 425
| Academic strength in my intended major and how much I like a specific school's program in IR is first. Second would be the overall feel/vibe.
It seems like the beauty of the campus would fit into the overall vibe, or at least I'd consider it to be part. | |
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06-17-2007, 12:36 PM
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#231 | | Junior Member
Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: CA
Threads: 9
Posts: 84
| I think that something that many people deciding what school to attend forget is that they're going to be living at that school for 4-5 years, possibly away from their family, and that no matter the prestige or that reputation of the place, you have to feel at home to make the years count. For me, that and the strength of my major were tied. | |
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06-18-2007, 01:52 PM
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#232 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: New York
Threads: 59
Posts: 1,304
| It's all connections - it's nice to be a Harvard Business Graduate but it means absolutely nothing unless you make the right friends at college. No person gets a good job by simply merit alone. Most people though who go to the Ivy League schools make strong connections which is why they are successful, even though most of them aren't that smart. | |
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06-18-2007, 02:04 PM
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#233 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Bay Area, CA Gender: Male
Threads: 18
Posts: 1,375
| "No person gets a good job by simply merit alone."
Do you want to hear a bazillion people say "I did."? I did. I knew nobody at my first great job, and no connection helped me get it. Connections can certainly help some people, especially those who cannot make it by merit alone; that point is valid. | |
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06-20-2007, 02:08 AM
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#234 | | Member
Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: The Dark Side Gender: Female
Threads: 112
Posts: 797
| Scholarships and merit aid. Good aid. I do not care about anything else.
However, I want an intellectual environment hopefully. The academics should be challenging.
Last edited by SkyGirl : 06-20-2007 at 02:13 AM.
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06-29-2007, 02:36 PM
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#235 | | Junior Member
Join Date: Mar 2007
Threads: 7
Posts: 122
| did I feel comfortable with the people whom go their,
followed by academic strength as the college overall because I might change my mind on majors as a lot of kids do. | |
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07-10-2007, 12:14 AM
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#236 | | Junior Member
Join Date: Jun 2007
Threads: 35
Posts: 273
| i'd say prestige. my cousin went to harvard and got some magna cum laude thing then he went to stanford and now he makes like 5 mil per year. | |
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07-17-2007, 02:52 PM
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#237 | | New Member
Join Date: Apr 2007
Threads: 0
Posts: 3
| prestige, major, location. i want to be in nyc.
i doubt many people would have checked this one even if it were on the list, but socioeconomic, racial, and geographical diversity. if there must be affirmative action, i might as well try to reap its benefits. | |
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07-22-2007, 10:06 AM
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#238 | | Member
Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: LA Gender: Unknown
Threads: 47
Posts: 970
| ha, i feel like a loser picking the most popular answer.. without knowing it... | |
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07-24-2007, 10:05 PM
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#239 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: New York
Threads: 59
Posts: 1,304
| Prestige and Connections - Those are the most important for later success in life, and all the other factors are so minor that its just what spoils you.
I think the fact we're even thinking about "selecting" colleges already makes us the upper crust of student society, because remember that the great majority of students have no real choice in their college. I dont think anyone likes going to Community College or a crappy school - they go there so they arent homeless on the street in 5 years. | |
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08-11-2007, 04:52 AM
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#240 | | Junior Member
Join Date: Oct 2004
Threads: 1
Posts: 72
| Location! (I guess "good vibes" works too, but that's kinda vague... plus it also goes along with location)
1) that's where you're going to be for four years! For instance, you can be in Los Angeles without being at UCLA, but you can't be at UCLA without being in Los Angeles. You can be in Hanover, NH without being at Dartmouth, but you can't be at Dartmouth without being in Hanover.
2) As more people realize this, certain places will draw a certain type of person by virtue of location. If you want to go somewhere, chances are you'll get along pretty well with others who want to go there for the same reason.
3) What they don't tell you is most jobs and companies won't take you seriously if you aren't local.
Everyone's saying that academic strength in intended major is most important, which is admirable, but I honestly don't believe that most people really know what they want to do when they turn 18. They say students, on average, change their major 5 times anyway, so I really believe that most people who say this are just saying it as a loophole so they won't have to say they're a prestige whore. :\ | |
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