This is one of the most important parts of the whole process for obvious reasons... it is where you will spend 4 years of your life being educated!
To start with you need to write a list of dealbreakers:
-2 year or 4year... just trust me.. for an international student 4 year is easier!!!
-Large, medium or small??
So large, over 15,000 people- this is for those of you (like me) that want to still be able to meet someone new in your year on your last day of senior year! And for those of you who don't like everyone to know who you're dating or to know you!
Medium (between 6,000-15,000), this is smaller than large... obviously... but I guess this is for those of you who like meeting new people but would like to recognise a familiar face at least twice a day!
Small (below 6,000)
The smallest university I know has 600 people... so if you want a school smaller than your highschool where everyone knows one another and you know everyone too. This is the one for you!
Of course in each section there are extremes ranging from those with 600 people to those with 70,000 people!
-Public or private?
Normally the main difference is price however for an international student fees are what we call 'out of state' and are expensive for either one... shouldn't determine your choice!
-What campus setting? Urban, suburban or town???
This below website explains the differences...
https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/find-colleges/how-to-find-your-college-fit/campus-setting-rural-suburban-urban
which fits your bill?????
-Single sex or co-ed??
I'm a flirt so this was easy for me... co-ed! If you were at a single-sex high school maybe branch out and try something new....!!!
-Residential campus or commuters??
This basically means would you rather have all your friends stay at your uni to sleep and the weekend or to go home... bearing in mind unless you are living off campus... campus may be quite empty over the weekend!!
-Does the school offer one or some of the majors you may want to take?
YOU ARE GOING TO UNIVERSITY NOT JUST FOR THE EXPERIENCE BUT ALSO FOR THE EDUCATION: DO NOT i repeat DO NOT go somewhere where in your last 2 years you can't major in the subject you need for the carrer you want... I think thats called career suicide!!- WAIT.. you can't lose something you never had!
-SAT scores?
How do you measure up... could you actually get in??
-Price?
Is money an issue then you need to find a university that will I repeat again.. WILL offer financial aid to you... specifically to YOU, the INTERNATIONAL student!!!
AND THE MOST IMPORTANT...
DO THEY ACTUALLY TAKE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS????
So now you have a list of your dealbreaks.. so you won't look at any of those universites that don't fit that:
You can now add some other secondary dealbreakers such as:
-Greek system (more to come)
-Student publication (newspaper or TV or radio station)
-Certain sports- WILL BE A DEAL BREAKER IF WANTING TO GO FOR TEAM OR SPORTS SCHOLARSHIP!
-Other extra-cirricular activities..
But fear not instead of searching through the entire almost 4,000 universites.. there is a quick and easy method developed by the amazing collegeboard: a search for universities depending on the choices you put in...
SO WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR:
https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/college-search
-type your options but start with only your absolute dealbreaks... then keep getting more specific until you feel you are left with a nice amount (between 15-30) that you can go through and by process of elimination pick the ones you want to apply for!! (but thats not till later...!!!)
Good luck
Please leave any questions below as comments.. happy to help
Much love
S xxx
