Choosing the Right College

FULLY 60% of the students who enter a college as freshmen do not graduate from that school. Most leave early because they realize they simply chose the wrong college. It is easy to make that mistake but it is also easy to avoid it. Your decisions about what college to attend will determine where you spend several years and many thousands of dollars. The best way to select is to visit several schools, meet with faculty members, students and administrators and make your own evaluations of some key points. For example:

Do the students share your talents and interests? To gauge the caliber of the competition you will face, compare your high school grade point average with the average for this year's freshmen. College admissions officers will give you the data. If your scores are higher than the average for the entering class, you may find yourself under challenged.

Consider the school's program in your planned major. If you intend to concentrate in science, for example, ask when the laboratories were last re equipped. Find out where students who take your major go after graduation. It is a good sign if many get into prestigious graduate schools or win scholarships.

Take note of class sizes. At small colleges, the ratio of students to faculty members is a sound indicator of how much personal attention you will get. A ratio of 10 students per teacher is excellent. Ask an admissions officer to estimate the class sizes for courses in your major.

Find out about any special academic programs. You might be interested in completing your bachelor's degree in three years instead of four; more than 1,000 schools will let you do this. Or you might be interested in spending your junior year abroad say, studying art in Italy. Many schools can accommodate you.

Determine what the total expenses are for the colleges you are considering, and decide whether you and your family can afford the price. You will not spend money just on tuition, room and board. You also will make at least one round trip and probably more between your home and campus each year. And you will have to pay for books, entertainment and perhaps a personal computer.

If you think you will require financial aid, ask college officials how your needs will be met. See whether the college offers most of its assistance in the form of grants, loans or job opportunities. A school that can afford to give out most of its aid as grants is more financially attractive than one that cannot.

Ask yourself if graduating from a certain college will enhance your career. You can expect a precise answer if you have a specific goal. An aspiring engineer, for example, can find out the percentage of recent graduates in his or her field who received job offers and how much those offers were for.

Try to get a feel for how loyal the college's alumni are. Ask college officials for evidence of old boy and old girl networks. This can help you get a job when you graduate.

Finally, find out about the school's financial condition. A school that must survive mostly on tuition because of its tiny endowment may well have crowded classes, run down dormitories and outdated labs. To compare colleges fairly, divide endowment by the number of undergraduates, and determine which has the largest endowment per student.