Do Your Homework

An Education on Choosing the Right College

By Jenn Diamond

FOR LINDA MARIE PEDRO, the decision to pursue a bachelor’s degree in animal science was easy. Days spent caring for cows and horses near her grandparents’ house in Portugal and watching deer at a family home in Pennsylvania inspired an early love of animals. Choosing the right college however, wasn’t quite so simple. Linda Marie, who graduated third in her class from Colonia High School in New Jersey, was offered admission by her top two choices. She chose Rutgers University because, as she explains, going to school four hours away was too much of a change. “Rutgers offers me a high-quality pre-veterinarian program with the convenience and comfort of being so close to my family and home. My heart is, and always really has been, with Rutgers.”

Although Monmouth University wasn’t Samantha Young’s first choice, she’s grown to like the intimacy of the campus and the depth of the communications program.

“Once I got to Monmouth, I really began to enjoy it. It is a smaller school than I imagined but there is a large communication department and many opportunities to gain experience in the field of journalism. Now in my second year of college, I am fairly certain I made the right choice.”

Young originally wanted to attend Syracuse because of their journalism program. “Then, as I continued my research, University of Connecticut became an option. Because of financial constraints, both Syracuse and UCONN were unrealistic. Financial aid would only pay for me if I stayed in New Jersey.” Young looked into and was accepted into Rutgers University, however, she was told journalism was only a minor certificate program and that she would have to choose a major from a predetermined list. “I think it was an effort to create a more rounded student, but it wasn’t for me,” she says. She finally took a look at Monmouth University, where her brother had attended. “I was offered an irresistible financial aid package, as well as many grants and student loans. For a four year education at $30,000 a year, I will end up paying little more than the price of one semester.”

Choosing the right college can be a daunting task for students and parents alike. With about 100 colleges in New Jersey and more within a short driving distance, applicants have so much to consider when narrowing down their list if potential choices. In addition, the college pressure is starting sooner than ever before.

“Most colleges are now sharing information with high school sophomores because more and more high school sophomores are taking the PSAT than ever before,” says Sandra Lanman, director of media relations at Rutgers University. “There is no formal date; but by their junior year, most students have developed a list of potential college choices.”

To help navigate the sea of catalogs collecting on your desk, Lanman suggests asking yourself a few basic questions:

• Is my academic record competitive?
• Does the college have my major?
• Do I want to live close to home or far away?
• How will I pay for college?

Lauren Vento Cifelli, director of Undergraduate Admissions at Monmouth University says the main factors driving college choices “tend to be distance from home, size and location. Academic offerings are also a very important factor.” According to Cifelli,
Guidance Counselors can be one of the most important resources for any student pondering colleges. “[They] have excellent resources to help students narrow their search. Often, high schools [also] host college representatives to visit, which is a great,
convenient way for students to learn about different schools. Web sites are also a vital source of information for prospective students.”

These are only the tip of the iceberg, but will help to target your search to the most realistic options.

Once you’ve determined your answers to the questions above, there are other things to take into consideration, such as:

• What are your academic and career interests?
• Where do you want to live?
• How much can you afford?
• What type of college experience do you want — a large state university or an intimate private college or somewhere in between?
• Are there opportunities for co-curricular and volunteer activities as well as internships and jobs?

Taking the tour
Once you have a working list of feasible possibilities, it’s time to take some tours. “They should begin touring in either their sophomore or junior year,” Lanman says. “The campus visit is one of the most useful aspects of the information-gathering process.
Students can see the facilities, meet with professors in their disciplines of interest and talk with enrolled students. They get to “try” the campus for a day. Based upon the information and impressions they acquire during their visit, most students know whether
or not a particular college is right for them.”

Cifelli, who has worked in Undergraduate Admissions at Monmouth for the past six years agrees. Though she says students should start working with their guidance counselor early in their junior year of high school to determine characteristics of the
type of school they would like to attend, they will not be able to truly determine where to apply until after they have visited. “Touring a campus is the most important part of the college decision making process. It is important for families to visits all types of schools to determine which environment their son or daughter would prefer. However, much of the college decision-making process is emotional. Students often know instantly which schools they would attend, if accepted. They get a good sense of the academic environment, campus life, student population, and facilities.”

Keep a journal
To keep your pre-college experiences straight, Cifelli recommends keeping a journal documenting your campus tours. “How did you feel in the classroom? Walking around campus? Could you see yourself living in the residence halls? Participating in activities? Does the school offer the academic program of your interest? Deciding which college to
attend is a very personal decision, and there are no right or wrong answers.”

Once you’ve done your homework and visited multiple campuses, you should be ready to fill out your applications. “Between research and your campus visit, you should be able to limit the number of applications you submit,” Cifelli says. “Apply only to schools you would actually attend. It will help you make your decision in the long run, and make the application process less burdensome.”

Having your applications signed, sealed and delivered, however, does not signal the end of the stress. Once you get accepted into a school, you’ll have to figure out how you’re going to pay for it. Like Samantha, the Monmouth sophomore, sometimes money is the deciding factor. The estimated cost of a year at a private college or university in 2005-2006 was $21,000 versus approximately $5,000 for public institutions – and these costs continue to rise.

According to recently released reports from the College Board, most students and their families can expect to pay, on average, from $112 to $1,190 more than last year for this year’s tuition and fees, depending on the type of college.

Luckily, there are a variety of scholarships, financial aid packages and grants available to incoming freshmen. Here are a few of the places you can explore:

• College financial aid office
• Federal government
• Parents’ employers
• State of NJ
• Student employers (McDonalds, etc.)
• Fraternal organizations
• Private scholarship organizations

The College Board also offers an online Scholarship Search tool on its Web site, www.collegeboard.com, to help students locate scholarships, internships, grants, and loans. After completion of a brief questionnaire, Scholarship Search will match students with potential opportunities from a database of more than 2,300 sources of college funding, totaling nearly $3 billion in available aid, transforming the dream of college to a reality most everyone can attain.

Despite the massive amounts of research and effort students and their parents must put forth in making this momentous decision — and financing it — the college decision process can be one of the most exciting moments in any young person’s life. Looking toward the future, they dream of the endless possibilities available to them as they take this next, important step.

Once the tests are taken, the tours are done, applications are mailed and the decision is made, all that’s left to do is pack their bags.

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