Hi, I’m a soon to be junior in high school. Everyone is pressuring me to choose colleges and start applying to them. Only, I’m not sure what I even want in a college or how to even figure that out. I have my interest pinpointed: film/cinema studies, psychology, creative writing, screenwritinf/playwriting. Other than that I have no clue where to start. What should I be looking for ?
It might be helpful to visit a few colleges - big/small, more urban/more rural - to see what appeals to you, unless you already know that. Look for programs that are good in your areas of academic interest. Consider your grades and test scores to determine a good mixed based on selectivity. If you can give more details here regarding my points above, folks might be able to suggest some schools you can look into more closely.
Do you want to go to college?
Do you think you could pursue those activities via a path other than college?
Certainly a college with a film school would be your first bet. What would you want to get out of college - to learn or to make connections?
Look up some of your favorite actors or writers and see where they went…
Also, if you have geographic preferences, that will help you to start narrowing things down a bit. Get a good college guide book (I’ve always liked Fiske the best) and read through and see what schools strike your interest.
Your interests scream Wesleyan, Vassar and Sarah Lawrence to me.
Start visiting some colleges trust me. It will show you what you prefer when you get a feel of the campus. I visited two schools so far, Lehigh and Bucknell and im in the same grade you are. Visiting Lehigh after Bucknell made me realize that Bucknell was too small and even Lehigh is a little too small but I loved Lehigh.
Don’t panic, but Junior year is time to get started. Now is the time to plan to take SAT/ACT, do some prep for it. Talk to parents about finances, maybe do FAFSA forecaster. No sense dreaming about NYU if you don’t have the funds. GPA and rigor of course schedule? Fiske or other college guide is fine, or use my favorite: Supermatch right here at CC. Good news is you have a good idea what interests you, keep in mind that none of those careers play well with large college debt loads.
For starters, you’re doing fine in terms of the timeline. Junior year is when you want to start looking at colleges, so the summer before is when you want to start compiling a list.
Here’s how we approached the process; my son is a rising Senior and my olds.
- First question: home or away? (If you're not sure yet, fine. Consider some of each.)
- If you're thinking away, do you have a ballpark radius? (My son's is about 200 miles, or 4 hours driving. That way, we're confident he'll be able to get home for Thanksgiving, for Homecoming at his high school, for the occasional weekend, in the event that something should happen to my 84 year old mom, and whenever.
Let’s talk climate. My son is a cold weather person-- he HATES the heat. So he’s NOT headed south!! (My niece, who is a year older, is the opposite. She’s going to school in South Carolina and loves it!)
- Ballpark finances? You can stretch the budget a bit at this point, since financial aid may come into play. But personally I see no point in visiting a school with a $60K pricetag if we're aiming for the mid 20's.
- Several of your areas of interest involve filmmaking. Do you need to be in a particular part of the country to get the internships you'll need? (LA?? NY??) Or are there schools in other parts of the country that offer competitive programs here? Internships will be a big part of your degree I imagine, so you'll want to spend some time on Google as a starting place. (Consider even emailing some of the people in those fields and asking for advice. You may be surprised to find that they're generous with their time and advice. We were.)
- Start with the collegematch function on this website and others. Google "colleges with film studies" and play with the wording there. Come up with a big list of schools that offer your major, that fit into your ballpark financial situation. Put them all into a Word table. You'll want columns for name, location, distance from home, price (including room & board), median SAT scores, pros and cons.
- If you've already taken the PSATs or SATs, great. (If not, I imagine you'll be taking the PSAT in October.) That may narrow down your search a bit.
- Choose a school that looks like a possible good fit, and arrange online for a visit TAKE NOTES; you'll be amazed at how much they'll start to blend in your mind after you see a few.
- Come home and consider whether you could imagine yourself there. What did you like/dislike? How was the size of the student body? The location: urban/suburban/rural-- was it within your comfort zone? How were the dorms? Were there enough that you could dorm on campus for 4 years if you chose? How was the neighborhood-- is there anything to do off campus if you chose? Each of these questions, and others like them, will eliminate a number of schools from that long list as you determine what you're really looking for.
What is your home state?
What are your stats?
How much will your parents pay?