While some students go into the college admissions process with their sights set on one school, other students might be juggling a few options. Maybe one college has summer internship opportunities abroad that you’re excited about but larger class sizes, whereas another school has the basketball culture you love but is a flight away from home. How do you know which is the better fit?
This exercise will help you determine which school best meets your goals for your college experience. It can be completed after you’ve received acceptances or after campus visits but before applying Early Decision.
1. Take a sheet of paper. Down the left-hand side, make a list of all the things that are important to you in a school.
Below are some sample categories and questions to consider. Include as few or as many as you’d like:
Size: Is it a large/medium/small school?
Location: Is it close to home? Urban, suburban, or rural?
Courses: Do they have my major? Offer recitations for lectures? Have seminars?
Tuition/Financial Aid: Do they offer grants? Work study opportunities?
Social Life: Is there Greek Life? Are there museums/restaurants/theatres nearby?
Clubs/Activities: Are there multiple clubs I want to join? What’s the process to join? Do they have campus traditions?
Athletics: Do they offer intramural/club sports? Is there good attendance at games?
Dorms: Are they good sizes? Have AC/heating? Clean bathrooms? Do they offer singles/doubles/suites? Is on-campus living mandatory?
Food: Are there a variety of options? Convenient locations across campus?
Accessibility: Is there good public transportation? Can I bike? Do I need a car?
Safety: Do they have a blue light system? Security guard presence?
Internships/Careers: Are there networking opportunities? Is their Career Services Center responsive?
Study Abroad: Do they offer summer, semester, and year-long programs? Do they help with international internships?
Research: Do they offer undergraduate funding? Are professors receptive to mentees?
2. Write the schools you’re comparing across the top. You can draw lines to make a grid if that’d help.
3. Score each school based on how well they meet your vision using the following breakdown:
I'd recommend the following:
- 1 – Okay
- 2 – Good
- 3 – Great
For example, if School #1 has new, large dorm rooms and the layouts you want (singles AND doubles AND suites) but it requires you to live on campus for four years when you only want to live on campus for two, you might give it a 2 for “Dorms.”
I recommend evaluating one school at a time. This way, you won’t be able to compare schools prematurely. In fact, you may want to have someone else record your scores so your ratings are as objective as possible.
Bonus Step: Assign each category a weight. If where your school is geographically matters more to you than its athletics programs, give the “Location” score more importance by multiplying it by two. Use this sparingly; there’s no point in multiplying every category by two.
This step might look something like this:
4. Repeat Step 3 for each school you’re comparing.
5. Add up each school’s individual category scores to get an overall score. In theory, the school with the highest score is the best fit for you.
This table allows you to compare not only the schools’ total scores but also their scores across categories. And remember, the scores are most likely going to be close since the schools are your top choices for a reason (plus, the scale is small).
6. Interpret the results.
If you feel at peace with the outcome of the exercise, congratulations! You know which school will best meet your ideal college experience. If you’re disappointed in the outcome and had hoped another school would come out on top, then that's good too! It indicates that, deep down, you have a preference. There is nothing wrong with listening to your gut; it can be just as valuable as listening to your brain or your heart.
In the end, liking multiple schools is a good problem to have. Knowing that you can find happiness at more than one college is a surefire way to end up somewhere you’re excited about and to minimize stress during the application process.
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