In The Paradox of Choice, Barry Schwartz explains that while some choice is useful, too much choice can be paralyzing. He comes to this conclusion when he goes shopping for new jeans, a task he remembers being quick and easy back in the day before jeans became “bespoke.” After being inundated with scores of fits and lengths, colors and styles, he finds himself in the store for hours, weighing the pros and cons of each pair. After he makes his purchase he finds himself considering whether or not having more choice made him more satisfied with his purchase. In the end, he argues, having more choice made it harder to take action because of the fear of making a mistake, or missing out on something better. Apply that thinking to building your college list and it’s not hard to see why weeding through thousands of options can be so daunting. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, there are just over 4,500 degree-granting post-secondary schools in the United States alone, with 2,870 of them offering a four-year Bachelors degree. That’s a whole lot of choice.
How do you start to create some order from the thousands of possibilities? First, it’s about adopting the right headspace. A healthy headspace is one of the most important and overlooked components to creating a college list. As best you can, rid yourself of the idea that there is only one perfect place for you, and, that if you don’t end up there, your life will turn out less successful than going to another place. The truth? There are hundreds of colleges that have well-respected programs designed to set you up for academic and professional success.
You might be asking, if there are hundreds of great colleges out there, why go through the process of shaping a college list at all? Why not just put a bunch of college names on a dartboard and create a list at random? The reason is that finding the right kind of institutions the right size, the academic philosophy, the social environment, the all-around culture – means that you are more likely to be happy at college. If you are happy, you are more likely to perform well and set yourself up for all of the life opportunities that come later. In fact, it’s much better to go to a school that makes you happy and inspires you to succeed than to choose a school because you’ve heard of it, be unhappy with the environment and perform less than your best.
Now it’s time to think about what you are looking for in a college – location, size, campus environment, sports program, major offered, tuition cost, special programs and opportunities, etc. Chances are, you will not have a preference for every single category, but you will probably have one or two “make or break” attributes to get you started. Maybe you know you want to major in marine biology (or at least have enough of an interest that you want to have the option of a major), maybe you are a star soccer player at your high school and want to play in a D3 varsity soccer league, maybe you know you want to be right in the middle of a city; starting with what you know will help you cut the list down significantly. There are plenty of free online search engines that will allow you to put in some desire attributes and get a suggested list back. Try the College Board’s Big Future for a start, which is free and fairly user-friendly.
Once you have school ideas, begin to research the schools in more depth. Read school profiles in a respected college guide like the Fiske Guide. Go to the college websites and check out the admissions page and the department pages for majors that might interest you. Then, read student-written reviews on sites like Niche and Cappex. (NOTE: These reviews can give some greater depth, but be careful not to put too much weight on any one opinion – you never know if someone was just having a bad day!) If you know any alumni or friends who are attending, get their thoughts. Also, check out the social media feeds and colleges’ online newspapers to get a feel for the events and campus culture.
Finally, be open to the list changing as you learn more. You might decide to add or subtract schools as you visit more places. You also might rethink things like how far away you would like to go, or what academic areas you would like to have the option to study.
Most importantly, trust your gut. If it feels right, keep it on the list! If it doesn’t, let it go – there are many more choices out there. You are better equipped than you know to figure out the right school for you.
