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Figuring out how to choose a university can be one of the hardest things to do.
There’s so many, all over the world, and they all just look amazing.
I’m not going to tell you which one to choose, but I’m going to present you some questions that you need to ask yourself, which may help you narrow down your choices.
What do you want to study? If you don’t know, do you have a leaning?
This can be important because some schools make it more difficult to change majors (ex: undecided/general to psychology).
Do you want to be near home or far away?
Keep in mind, if you’re far, your parents will not be able to visit you as often. You may not be able to go home for all vacation (if you financially cannot), if you are sick your parents cannot bring you food and help you. Once you leave you may not see your parents for a while. Some are okay with that, and you may think you are, but really sit down and thank about it.
If you want to go far, think of what weather you may be moving into.
If you like the heat, then going somewhere that it snows may not be good, and visa versa.
See what the course you are looking at offers – ex: if you need internships or real-world experience.
You may really want your course to push you to get real life experience, but you also may prefer not to.
How much does the school cost?
Sometimes the price-tag will make you have a preference or automatically say no to a school.
How much money in scholarships do they give?
Look at their statistics page to see how much money, on average, students get in scholarships. If there are grade requirements (from SAT or AP), see how you stack up!
Do your test scores meet the schools requirements?
This is where you need to realistic. If you have lower scores, then spending time on schools above where you will get in is silly. Have a few difficult schools you’d like to apply to, just because, but be realistic. Remember, each application costs money!
How much is the application?
Applications range in prices. If you are applying to a lot of schools, you may need to choose the ones with cheaper price tags.
How many have you narrowed it down to?
Don’t have too many schools on your list. The amount of money will stack up. Most people have 5-8 schools, and some, push as high as 12. That is a large amount of schools…so don’t have too many. In this case, ‘less’ can be more. But of course, once again, this is up to your personal discretion.