College

[TDiver]

Hey everyone,

I've been getting quite a few e-mails and letters for both academics and athletics and I wanted your opinions about what to look for.

I only have 5 official visits that I can take for diving and even though five may seem like a lot, i'm having trouble even narrowing it down.

I know to look for like what i'm interested in. Which for me is communications, but what else do I look for? I know about coaches and such for diving.. but I just want things to help me narrow it down a bit.

Thanks for any help at all you make give me.
-Tori

[NYgymfan]

Hmm, this is harder then I thought. Because most of the things I look for are when I am at the school already. As far as picking what schools to visit, I visit as many as I can.

I mostly look at student life. Thats what sets the schools apart. All schools have academics and classes. And for me, so long as there is computer science and economics majors (can't decide which i want now so i'll go for both) I'll consider the school. But the student life stuff varies widely.

I want to go to a school where students are happy. A couple of schools I looked at look like students have no social lives (one of them is MIT). I'd prefer a school in a happening city over one in the middle of nowhere. I want to see the inside of a dorm and where students eat. I want to take a walk around the campus without the parents and try to envision living there. I also try to contact students there. Like I've contacted people that went to my HS and are at the college now. Get the name of your tour guide and e-mail them if you have new questions. Most of the time, students who give the tours are great because they really love their school and will go out of their way to help with questions. My dad tried to make a spreadsheet of pros and cons of each school. So at least there is a way of visualizing it.

Ultimately, a lot of it is based on gut feeling. And for me applying to a lot of "big name" schools, my ultimate decision will depend on which schools admit me and which don't. But yeah, those are some ideas, and I'll admit I'm confused as ever over this whole college selection process.

[mspennylane]

I would look for a school that fits your personality, big school small school, city country, that sorta stuff...its not all about the team and the major, there are so many of those you should make the decision based on how much you like the school as a whole.