One of the most significant preferences you will make about your education is selecting a university, which may be intimidating if you don’t know where to begin.
Breaking the task down into seven key points can make it seem less overwhelming and help you focus your research on the schools that are most likely to be a good fit for you.
Distance
Think about how far you want to be from home while you study. If you don’t want to travel too far, look into universities in your home town or the next town. But if you’re ready to leave home, look at schools farther away or even in a different country if you want to travel and learn about a new culture.
Location
Consider if you feel more at home in a large metropolis or a smaller village. This relates to the first item. Think about where you would feel most at home, and then start crossing off universities in those places. If you choose a place that fits your personality, you will likely spend time exploring and making the most of where you live.
Course content
Next, you need to decide what course you want to take and what parts of that course you want to study. Courses and reading lists at different universities will often be different, so look at the curriculum from the previous year. But if you’re not sure where you want to go, choose a university or country where you can try out different subjects to help you figure out what you’re interested in.
Societies
Aside from academics, you’ll want to attend a college that encourages you to make friends. If you previously have a hobby or interest you want to keep doing in college, make sure that the school you want to attend supports that. Or, if you want to try a new hobby, sport, or activity, you can look through the lists of societies and clubs and see if one catches your eye. Researching the events put on by the university or the students’ association can also give you an idea of the kinds of events and activities you can expect to participate in.
Support
Even if you don’t need it, it’s important to know about the help you can get as a student. Check out what the students’ union or association offers regarding mental health, money, and course materials. Find out how the university helps students and make sure you know there are services to help you if you have any problems. And if you have a mental health problem, a disability, or other special needs, make sure you find out what kind of help you can get when you get to college.
In this case, if you are an international student, you should learn about the help you can get and how the university will help you fit in with the other students.
Sustainability
Universities have no justification for not devoting time and money to being greener institutions now that sustainability is receiving more attention. Check out their plans for cutting carbon emissions, using less plastic, and throwing away less food. It’s important to find out what your future school is doing to be more environmentally friendly.
Cost
When choosing a college, the last thing you should think about is how much it will cost you. If you stay in your home town, you’re more likely to spend less money than if you go abroad to study. On the other hand, the country you choose to study in could have better financial aid packages or lower tuition fees than the country you live in now. It’s also possible that the cost of living in another city will be less than in your own. Putting these different possibilities side by side can help you decide.
Open days
It’s not always possible to go to an open day, but it’s always a good idea to visit a few universities if you can. You will learn a lot more about the school. If you can, you should also spend some time in the town or city where the university is.
Converse with present students
This might be a little harder to set up, but it is possible. On university open days, you can usually talk to and ask questions of student representatives. But remember that because they are working at a university event, they probably had a good time in college overall. Look at student groups on Facebook or Twitter and ask questions to get a more realistic and full picture. You could also examine online to see if any students at your chosen university have blogs or video blogs and see what they have to say.
Officers of admission
Don’t be afraid to contact university admissions officers if you have a more specific question. They’ve probably listened to every question under the sun, so don’t be shy about asking anything.
Websites of universities, blogs online, and social media
You can find some interesting things about your university through a quick Google search. Look at its website, where you can easily find information on some of the points mentioned. You may also be directed to social media threads or online forums where you can find answers.
Instructors
Talk to your instructor or guidance counselor if you have trouble deciding what to do. They can help you weigh the different factors and decide which school is best for you. It is possible they can connect you with high school graduates studying at your chosen university.
Rankings
Rankings of universities are a good way to get a general idea of how well a school is doing. Depending on your ranking, you can find out different things about a school. For example, the World University Rankings look at how well a university is known around the world, the Impact Rankings look at how committed a university is to sustainability and equality, the Teaching Rankings look at how well a university teaches, and the Reputation Rankings look at what academics think of an institution. Depending on what you care about most, rankings can show you how well a university is doing in different ways.
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