How To Choose The Best School For Your Future

When you think of which school will be the best, your mind automatically goes to Ivy League universities such as Yale, Harvard, and Princeton. But it is not just about the school’s reputation or whose signature is on your diploma. It is so much more than that. There are a lot of things to consider before choosing which university will be best for you. What are these factors that you should consider? Which university should you go to? Choosing a school is one of the most important decisions you will make in your life. It takes a lot of research and thought before deciding on “the one.” There are a few things you are recommended to do before making that decision, and this will make it a lot easier. Let us know about How to Choose the Best School for Your Future.

How to Choose the Best School for Your Future

These things are namely, preparing a list of schools, visiting them, looking at the departments and the faculty members, comparing your grade to the average of incoming students to the universities, looking at the tuition fees and living arrangements, and talking to your sponsors (family), and talking to the alumni.  Of course, there are many other things you are recommended to do, and you will find all of these below. 

Look up schools

The title is quite explanatory in the first step. It is important to learn about all of your options. You can find schools that you haven’t even heard of before, and discover that they will be a great fit for you. To start, the first thing you should do is do wide research on schools. Most people just go for the schools everybody has heard of, and those schools are generally very good. But, do not rely on them. You never know what you will find after comprehensive research. Plus, you need safety schools on your list with the top-choice schools. Therefore, you need to know about every option you have. These are things you need to consider while doing that:

  • The location of the school
  • The commute you will have to make based on where you will live
  • The departments of the university
  • The tuition fees

Prepare a shortlist

The shortlist of schools means the schools that seem like the best options for you. In this part, these schools mustn’t be more expensive than what you can afford, you need to consider the location and where you will live, and you should look at the departments.

For example, if you are looking to study social sciences or literature, erase MIT from the list. Every school has different areas of expertise. Your decision should be mainly based on that. You should not apply to a school just because it has a reputation. You should apply to it because it will fulfill your expectations regarding the department and the faculty. 

Look at the departments

What you need to do is look at the universities’ official websites. There, you will find all the necessary information you need. After that, you should look at the departments which are usually listed from A to Z on the website. After finding the department you want to study, look at their websites.

The department website will tell you a lot. You can look at the faculty, you can look at the teachers’ background, their specialties, their publications, what kind of events are conducted in the department, and much more. Based on everything you see on the website; your decision-making process will become much easier.

Look up financial awards

There are a lot of options to get a tuition reduction at almost any school you choose in the United States. You can find a lot of financial aid. Therefore, looking at the tuition fee is necessary, of course, but don’t decide before looking at financial aid awards and scholarships. You can reduce the tuition a great deal thanks to these. But it is important to work hard and not be lazy in this process.

Scholarships will be very helpful throughout your studies. You have to consider you will be paying for accommodation, and other living wages, while you are studying. Therefore, applying for a scholarship or a financial reward does not hurt. You will surely be thankful that you spared time and applied for a scholarship afterward. 

Do NOT wait

Don’t waste any time. If you procrastinate, you might lose the opportunity to apply to these schools and the scholarships. It is important to start looking up schools early so that you will not miss any deadlines. Always be on alert. You should try your best to apply early to everything since it generally gives your application a priority. Plus, you might miss the chance of getting into your dream school. 

It is quite a competitive and difficult thing to apply to a university. It is risky to lose even a day. Especially if you are applying to a very prestigious university. Therefore, hurry up and send out your applications as soon as possible!

Visit the schools

After doing all of the steps stated above, you should visit the schools that have made it to your list. When you visit these schools, do not just look at the buildings and the campus, look at everything. 

Visit every building, the cafeteria, the library, and the dorms if you can, talk to anyone you find, go to the building of the department you are thinking of applying to, and look at the agenda which you can generally find in the hallways. Try to get into the life inside that campus. This will give you a really good idea about the university and the department. After that, you will surely reduce your list. 

Do not decide on anything before seeing the school. That is where you will be spending at least two years of your life, and the campus should fit your expectations. Otherwise, the adjustment process might be a very difficult transition. 

Look at the graduates of your high school

What have the graduates of your high school – and your district- done after graduation? Which schools did they go to? This will give you some idea about what schools are realistic targets and which may not be as much. If your school has graduates in schools you want to go to, you can find their contact information and meet them to ask how they got in, how they handle their living situation, and any other questions you might have. That will provide you with some guidance while applying. 

Look at job opportunities

Why do people go to university? So that they can get higher education on a subject they want to do professionally afterward. Therefore, the university you will go to should offer you good job connections. 

Each university has a career center you can check out. What connections do they have? Which companies can you get an internship in? Who can you meet? These are important questions and they should affect your decision. 

When it comes to making job connections, it is directly correlated with how prestigious the school is. Ivy League schools will surely give you job connections that are more solid than other schools. But then again, it depends on which department you will apply to. Therefore, do not assume, make sure before putting a school on the list. 

Clarify the living arrangements and the fees

After doing everything on the list, you can start to finalize your school preferences. At this point, you have looked at all of the tuition fees, and all of the scholarships. So, at this point, you should finalize your list and decide on a few top preferences and a few safety schools. 

Now, you should look at the accommodation options for each school, and how realistic they would be. Calculate the prices for everything, with and without the scholarship and financial aids, and make out a list of what the yearly fees will be for each school. Will you be staying in the dorms, or are you going to stay at home? It is helpful to look at what your life will be like in each school before applying to make sure your dreams are realistic. 

Of course, the fees ought to change a lot. Your plans may change once you get accepted. But you need to get an overall estimate of what your life will be like before starting it. So that there will not be any major surprises upon starting. 

Talk to your family

After looking at all of the necessary details on every school on your list, talk to your parents, or whoever will be supporting you throughout your studies. Since they will be covering your expenses and everything, it is important to get their blessing. Explain to them your plan and how everything might work out, and finalize your decision with their help. After determining your financial plan, you can start your applications.

Plus, your family might know people who will help you, as well. They can introduce you to people related to the schools you want to apply to. That will make the application process a lot easier for you since you will have a great source to learn everything. 

Talk to alumni

If you can, finding alumni of the schools you have included in your list who are willing to meet you will be very helpful. Generally, there are a lot of people who have graduated that love to meet people willing to apply to their alma mater. Especially, if you will be applying to an Ivy League university or a prestigious school, the graduates are generally quite fond of their schools and they have regular get-togethers.

You are likely to have no trouble meeting graduates. When you do, feel free to ask any questions you might have, and they will help you. Learning about the whole experience first-hand will be very helpful. 

It is always a tough decision, and reading about it online or going to the campus will not give you the whole experience. Therefore, talking to someone who has gone through the whole process is a great advantage to find out details about the school and the campus lifestyle. 

Time to apply 

You have done everything you have to do for your application. Now, gather all of your documents, your scores, your GPA, and your financial reports, and start your application. You will have to pay a small non-deposit application fee, but it will be worth it. Make sure you have safe options so that in case you get rejected, you still have viable options. Most schools will expect a letter of intent, and that is an important document to have. Make sure you look up example letters and write yours in the best way possible. 

Also, do not get discouraged by rejections! It is completely normal to receive rejection letters. That does not mean the rest of the letters will be disappointing as well. On the contrary, you should embrace the fact that you might get rejected, and apply to many schools with a lot of backups. 

You have done everything you need to do, and now you are ready to apply. Good luck!

Conclusion

In conclusion, there are many options for you when it comes to universities. You just need to look at their requirements, whether they meet your requirements or not, their tuition fees, and prepare a sensible plan for yourself. If you do everything listed above, you will find the best university for you. That is very important since it will be a life-changing decision. Do not forget to check if the universities on your list are good at what you want to do in your studies, and of course, decide what you want to do in your studies! If you go according to plan, talk to the necessary people, visit the schools of your choice, find appropriate scholarships, and prepare a solid application, there is almost nothing that can go wrong. Do not rely on two or three applications, though. The more you apply, the higher the chances!