How Do You Know Where To Begin?

Self-Knowledge

For your own benefit, you will be well-advised to make a thorough self-examination before attempting to select a particular college. Some of the questions you should be able to answer include:

• What are your career goals, and how sure are you that these are proper for you?
• Do you want ethnic and cultural diversity? Do you have a liberal or conservative philosophy?
• How much intellectual challenge do you want? Are you more comfortable feeling smarter than those around you, or being in the company of people you perceive as more intelligent than you, or in a situation where you are about in the middle?
• What sort of a social situation suits you better? A close-knit community with a lot of sharing, or a more impersonal setting where you can be more private and "anonymous" if you choose?
• What are your most important values? For example, will you function well with an honor code, or with strictly imposed rules in a religiously oriented setting?
• How important is family contact? Will you be comfortable with long periods of separation from your family, or will you need to get home very often?
• Do you need a wide range of available cultural activities to find things you like to do, or will you be content with campus activities and an occasional touring group or troupe?
• Do you thrive in the hustle and bustle of a large city, or do you prefer a more rural setting, or do you want a setting like the suburban one you now have?
• Would you consider a same-sex college where there are greater leadership opportunities?
• Do you wish an entirely academic setting, or would the practicality of a college with work-oriented programs such as co-operative education or internship suit you better? Co-operative education often extends the total time in college due to periods of time working in a field related to your major. Job placement can be in thousands of locations in the U.S. as well as overseas. Practical experience is gained and many students are eventually offered positions by companies they worked for as students. Internship is usually less extensive, both in time and location, but also offers practical experience and usually carries course credit, thus fitting into a regular 4-year program.

Careful consideration of these questions and your answers to them will help your self-knowledge and greatly assist you in choosing some of the specifications for the colleges you will apply to. As you go through this process, you may well find that your answers change. You may be changing yourself, and you may be getting to know yourself better.

Myths and Realities about College

In considering your post-secondary plans, it may be prudent to examine some prevailing ideas about a college education, not necessarily to change your mind about going, but to give greater reality to your expectations.

"Going to college will make you richer." Before World War II, generally only the wealthy sent their children to college, so this idea is firmly embedded in our culture. In addition, statistics indicate that the average college graduate makes a great deal more during a lifetime than a non-college graduate (without saying that it was the education that brought this about). But if making money is your primary goal, you may be interested in some of the following:

"A college education will help you get a better job." Of course, this depends on your concept of what a better job is. A college education is required for entry into only a comparatively small number of jobs, mostly in the professions such as law, medicine, engineering or teaching. In most other careers, your college education may help you win out in the competition for an entry-level job. Promotion to the career you seek will most likely be based then on your performance and your ability to relate with fellow workers, hardly the main part of a college curriculum. Certain highly paid careers such as the skilled trades require only a specialized high school education followed by on-the-job training.

"Colleges are easy to rate--the more they cost and the more selective they are, the better they are." College cost is determined by the budgetary needs and philosophy of the institution. There is little or no relation to the quality of education received beyond a rough "what the traffic will bear" relationship. For example, some of the most prestigious universities in the country, like the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Michigan cost far less than private schools of comparable quality. And when looking at quality among schools with similar levels of selectivity, wide variations can be found in specific programs and sometimes in the overall rating of the college.

What Does College Do For You?

Obviously, college is a very desirable choice for a large segment of the population. Some of the reasons for attending college are:

• The depth and breadth of learning that will come from college is usually impossible to foresee while in high school. You will study disciplines you may not yet have heard of. Going on in a "familiar" subject will bring the realization that, no matter how good your high school courses were, you only "scratched the surface" here.
• College provides a transitional separation from the family, to the extend you and your family wish, during which you will be largely on your own without having to take on the responsibility of supporting yourself or really taking an adult role in your community. In our society it is the principal growing-up time for large segments of our population.
• Contacts with people who are influential in your life, both professionally and socially, are frequently made in college. Many people meet their future spouses in college, as well as future business partners, or relatives of future employers.

These are only some of the ways college can change your life. After graduation from college, you will definitely be quite different from the way you are today.