Chinasa Iseogu '05 majored in English and works for the New York State
Assembly as a committee assistant to the standing Committee on Health.
She was active in many campus organizations, include our student newspaper. "The key to conducting
a successful search requires you to go through three progressive steps of self-education." |
What Do I Do First?
Tips on how to start your college search
By Chinasa Izeogu ’05
Preparing to start your college search may seem like a daunting task, but
there are several ways to approach the challenge. The key to conducting
a successful search requires you to go through three progressive steps of self-education:
- Understand, at least generally, what you want.
- Talk with your teachers, coaches, parents, guidance counselor or an older
sibling; they will reveal insights that you are not aware of.
- Take the time to visit schools. Plan to stay for a night or weekend so
that you will be able to feel what it’s like to be there. Brochures
cannot simulate the feeling of interacting with the students and professors
or convey the atmosphere at events, games, lectures on so on. Check out the
college or university’s student newspaper to get one perspective on
the politics on campus.
There are other ways to get to know schools. For example:
*When looking at the school’s admissions page, see if they offer virtual
tours or online chats, like the one St. Lawrence University provides in fall
and spring.
*E-mail the faculty to ask questions about courses and the students with questions
about social life.
You should also check out some of these most frequented Web sites:
College search engines
www.usnews.com –gives insightful
information about colleges and finances. It also provides rankings,
which has been controversial.
www.petersons.com –Peterson’s
Web site allows you to search for college and university information in various
ways.
www.collegenews.com/news.htm --Lists
student newspapers at many colleges.
www.collegeboard.com – Creates
a list of potential schools for you based on the information you fill in, including
cost and geographic location. It also has information on the SATs and
AP tests. Also has “LikeFinder,” which locates colleges similar
to those you are searching.
www.review.com –Princeton Review’s
college search Web site features Counselor-O-Matic. The program asks
you questions and synthesizes your answers by providing a list of colleges
divided into “safety,” “good match,” and “reach” categories.
Finance
www.ed.gov/studentaid
--The U.S. Department of Education’s Federal Student Financial
Aid home page for college funds. Here you must fill out the Free Application
for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) to be eligible for grants, loans and work-study
assistance. If this site is too concentrated, try www.finaid.org. It
offers calculators to help you figure out how much you’ll have to pay
and how long it will take you to pay back loans.
www.wiredscholar.com –Has
a comprehensive list of scholarships run by Sallie Mae, the largest private
education loan company. The firm sponsors the site, so if you don’t
find a scholarship you can apply for a private loan from the same Web site.
Books
Colleges that Change Lives, by Loren Pope (Penguin Books, 2000)
Don’t Miss Out, by Anna and Robert Leider (Octameron,
2002)
The Fiske Guide to Colleges, by Edward Fiske (annual)
Financing College, by Kristin Davis (Kiplinger, 2001)
The Insider’s Guide to the Colleges, “the only
guide written and researched by students for students,” according
to its Web site, by the Staff of the Yale Daily News (2002)
