Five Factors in College Selection

Geek Gab
Not looking for a school where your class notes disappear two nights before the final? Do your cultural homework. Check the student handbook for a code of conduct, assess residence life programs promoting safety, and review recent campus crime statistics. Without overdoing the Sherlock Holmes routine, try to figure out how current students are responding to this institutional encouragement to treat one another kindly and gently.

Becker Academic, LLC, is a distinctive company, with a special mission and methods. Our motto is “placing education first in college selection.” If that motto appeals to you, then consider our sociological vision of the collegiate matching game. It’s not accidental that we begin with the cultural context of campus life. The five factors appear in descending order of importance to us. You may disagree with our ranking, but you won’t be left guessing about our position.

1. Culture: This college fits with who I am.

Culture is a word with many shades of meaning. As we use it, culture refers to a set of practices that shape the activities of a social group, and in this case the social group happens to be an academic community. All groups have distinctive cultures. A balanced culture provides most participants with the means to accomplish most of their goals, most of the time. Without a culture, there would be no routines for doing everyday tasks and no shared understandings about the ways to tackle new problems.

When considering different colleges, remember two cultural points:

• There’s no place like home. Expect to make certain adjustments on any campus.
• Colleges aren’t twins. No two are alike; some will be better for your learning and living than others.

Spoiler Alert
Not all campus visits work out as hoped. If economics is your proposed major but you find yourself observing a class on annelid locomotion (how worms move), then use the opportunity to hone your interpersonal skills. Be discrete if you check your email during class even if students around you do this because, unlike you, they have already been admitted.

You’ve probably found a cultural match, if:

• You experience the campus as a community that affirms your identity and that supports the ethical conduct of its members.
• You want to know more about the students and faculty whom you meet during a campus visit, view online and contact through email.
• You easily imagine being friends with these students, laughing with them in the dining hall and working with them on class projects.
• You envision making a contribution, academically and socially, to this community.

2. Cognition: I could learn something important here.

Cognition comes from the old Latin root, cognoscere, meaning “get to know.” Getting to know is an active process, and college life will engage your attention in many ways. You will gain expertise in a major field of study. You will learn to adapt creatively to an ever-changing world. And, along the way, you will come to know more about yourself, your interests and your key educational competencies.

When considering different colleges, remember two cognitive points:

• Knowledge is power. The more you learn, the stronger you will become.
• Aim for the center. The best position for intellectual development in college is neither too far ahead nor too far behind your peers.

Geek Gab
In scholarly research, the pay-off comes as resume building. Nice outcomes for an undergraduate assistant include co-authorship on a peer-reviewed journal article and/or making a presentation at a regional or national conference. Don’t expect to earn much money, because the real rewards in this game are nonmaterial.

You’ve probably found a cognitive match, if:

• You are challenged but not intimidated by classes that you observe during a campus visit and by course descriptions that you review online.
• You have a hard time deciding between several first year seminars, because they are genuinely of interest to you.
• You have determined that faculty members often involve undergraduate students in research projects, for course credit or a modest stipend.
• You have compared the course offerings in your proposed major to those of other schools that you are considering, with favorable results.

3. Finances: I won’t be putting my grandchildren in debt, will I?

Compared to any other country in the world, attending college in the United States is an expensive proposition. It gets more expensive every year. A substantial chunk of the cost of American higher education comes from structural enhancements: the new garden apartments beside the lily pond (yes, really), the state-of-the-art exercise facilities staffed with wellness counselors, the fully wired and wireless campus. Another hefty sum goes for small items like the five cases of Italian mineral water specified in the contract of the alternative rock band that’s playing on campus next weekend.

Spoiler Alert
Half of American undergraduates change their declared majors. Unless you will be attending a professional program, such as a college of engineering, do not put too much emphasis on a single academic discipline. Never pick a college because one professor teaches there.

Fierce competition for the best and brightest students drives college administrators to provide all this stuff. In fairness to the administrators, some American teens seem to require these amenities; others really don’t care. Either way, you (and your parents) will be paying the price for attracting yourself to the college in the first place. Ironic, isn’t it?

Figuring out the best way to pay for college is tricky for the layperson. While Becker Academic, LLC, can assist in negotiating institutional offers of student aid, we do not provide financial planning services. We do strongly encourage college-bound students and their parents to obtain reputable advice in this area.

If your family does not have a relationship with a trusted and certified financial planner, you may wish to consider purchasing a package with online support. One firm that offers college financial planning, beginning in January of the student’s junior year of high school is www.simplycollege.com. In the meantime, we offer a couple of non-technical suggestions.

Spoiler Alert
Most colleges now expect students to pay for part of their education, even when parents can cover the costs. Admissions officers are seeing too much high-end, international volunteerism to be impressed if you spend July in Cape Town or Jakarta. Starting in the summer after your junior year of high school, get a job. Next summer, get a better job. You’ll be glad that you did, when prospective employers ask about your contribution to college.

When considering different colleges, remember two monetary points:

• Prevent sticker shock. Anticipate (rising) costs well in advance.
• Calculate and compare hidden (incidental) costs. On average, doing things in New York City will be more expensive than doing things in Lincoln, Nebraska—one of the most underrated college towns in the country.

You’ve probably found a financial match, if:

• Your parents anticipate meeting their Expected Family Contribution (EFC) to your higher education. (See Parents’ Resources for College Funding.)
• Your family prepares for tuition hikes and related increases of no less than five percent per year.
• You plan (not hope) to increase your summer earnings over your college years in order to maintain or increase your share of the costs of your education. (Note all of those “yours” in the preceding sentence. For once, this really is all about you.)
• You set a ceiling for the amount of student indebtedness that you are willing to incur before you take out your first loan. As a ballpark estimate, we suggest a figure less than what you anticipate spending on a new car after graduation, although the college degree will last longer and take you further than the automobile.

4. Fun: It’s not all about hitting the books.

Geek Gab
With countless students coming together to create a community, intellectual discussions are often...lively. Here are a few sample topics. What is the nature of human nature–good, bad or neutral? Which plays the greater part in childhood development: Nature or Nurture? How reliable is the research conclusion that playing violent video games makes kids behave violently? Did you notice the progression to particulars that might actually interest you?

The academic community (AC) that you select will be like no other community in your life. That statement is not hyperbole. It is a social fact. Don’t delude yourself about college being high school without the curfews and the required attendance. Don’t think of college as akin to later life, only with term papers and final exams. Should your life after college include graduate or professional training, even those experiences will differ significantly from your undergraduate years.

When considering different colleges, remember two social points:

• Something’s lost; something’s gained. Definitions of entertainment change, so give yourself room to grow.
• Partying is a wash. You can party, pre-party and pre-game pretty much anywhere, if you’re seriously dedicated to eroding your health and well-being. (If you are so dedicated, then consider changing your ways before something dire happens to you or someone you love.)

You’ve probably found a social match, if...

• You find extracurricular activities similar to those that you have enjoyed in high school.
• You see opportunities to explore emerging areas of personal interest and to take healthy risks. If you’re a jock, then consider the performing arts (as performer or spectator). Similarly, if you’re a geek, then join an intramural sports team.
• You can imagine a time when you will (willingly) attend a presentation by guest speakers coming to the campus or participate in a departmental colloquium. After all, it is an academic community.
• You feel inclined to engage in the intellectual debates taking place outside the classroom, whether conducted in real or virtual space.

5. Location: Do I care if the campus is on Alcatraz?

Spoiler Alert
Airports in Alaska, the Rocky Mountains, the Upper Midwest and the Northeast close for inclement winter weather, and planes are rerouted to warmer destinations. Unless you enjoy making the best of adversity (three nights on that plush airport carpeting), consider the implications of an academic destination that requires flying the snow belt.

Alcatraz is that cold, wet lump of black rock protruding from San Francisco Bay, with the abandoned penitentiary on top. As far as we know, no one has suggested turning the crumbling prison cells into dorm rooms, but on your next visit to the Bay Area, you can catch a ferry to the island if you want to consider the possibility.

Location is often the first topic that client families raise when looking for a good college match. Why, then, have we saved it for last? There are two reasons. First, believe it or not, students and parents tend to reach an agreement on location quickly—if not as quickly as they discover a shared distaste for living on Alcatraz.

Second, from our perspective, it is what you do in college that has meaning, not where your college happens to be located. Location is seldom a deal breaker in college selection, but it can become paramount later in your undergraduate career. For example, location matters greatly when the time (a semester or a year) comes for you to participate in an off-campus internship or a study abroad program. (For more on these options, click The Sixth Factor: Getting Away.)

When considering different colleges, remember two geographic points:

• Communication technologies bridge physical distances.
• Human communities can thrive in nasty climates. You’re human; you’ll be joining an established community; you, too, will be able to thrive in a less than optimal location.

Geek Gab
Future employers may ask you to relocate, and your career advancement may hinge on transferring to improbable locations—Paris, Texas, or midtown Manhattan. Having been hauled around the globe as a child by your parents is not the same as demonstrating your adaptative competencies as an emerging adult. Bear this in mind when selecting a college.

You’ve probably found a geographic match, if:

• You and your parents agree that home is not too far and not too near, as all of you define near and far, but often within a day’s drive or a couple hours of flying time.
• You find the climate during the school year to be neither amazing nor awful, as you apply those terms. Truly amazing locales make it harder to invest in your academic community, especially if the weather fits your passion: e.g., surfers in Santa Barbara, snowboarders in Burlington. Awful is not “less than optimal”; it is unbearable. Be honest with yourself on this one.
• You are willing to consider a new demographic context: big city, suburban enclave, small town, rural setting. Most of us have a preference, and we gravitate to institutions in our preferred locations. Try thinking and living outside your geographic box; new vistas will open for you.

• You discover evidence of positive “town/gown” relations. More important than the size of the surrounding social matrix is the relationship that a college sustains with its greater community. Indifferent or hostile relations do not speak well for the key educational competencies of a faculty and a professional staff. People who can’t be bothered to get along with their neighbors are poorly positioned to foster your appreciation of an increasingly multicultural society and a global economy.