Class of 2023 - How to Make a Final Decision on College

Seniors,

Once you’ve heard back from all your colleges, it may be crystal clear to you which college you want to attend. If it’s not, here are some ideas to help you figure it out:

Visit. The universal deadline for making up your mind is May 1—probably! (The rules have been relaxed a bit, so some colleges extend the deadline to June 1 or a similar date.) You may want to visit (or revisit) a couple of colleges to make sure your impressions thus far are borne out. Many colleges offer an optional Admitted Students’ Day (or weekend) during the month of April to help you make up your mind. If you visit then, you can attend student and faculty panels and meet current students, as well as other admitted students. It’s usually a lively, rah-rah experience—fun, though not a very typical day on campus. If you prefer, you can make a trip on your own to see the campus on a more typical day. 

Make a decision matrix: Draw a grid. Across the top, list the colleges you want to compare. Down the left side, list college characteristics that are important to you, such as size, weather, reputation, strength of a particular major, supportive atmosphere, size of classes, distance from home, and cost. Assign each of those characteristics a weight between 1 and 10, depending on how important it is to you. Then give each characteristic a score for each individual college, multiplying it by the weight. When you are done, add up the points in each column and write the total at the bottom. You’ll easily see which college has earned the most points. Now ask yourself how you feel about the results. Are you glad to see which college earned the most points? Or were you secretly wishing another college would win? You may need to be realistic and choose the college you can afford, or you may want to go with your gut preference. 

Further research on online: If you haven’t already, obtain a copy of the student newspaper online. Read about current issues on campus. Look at the list of student clubs and organizations. Are these students interested in things that interest you? Find Facebook pages or other social media for the college’s student organizations, for admitted students, for current students, or for specific academic departments. Read all you can and ask yourself whether these are people you’d like to spend four years with. No college is perfect, but you can get a good idea of the pros and cons. Pick a place where you think you’ll thrive!