Four tips to select the school for you

Many students have come to know the last few weeks of March as one of the most anxiety-ridden times of the year, rivaling finals, graduation, and even Advanced Placement exams. It is the time of year when colleges announce their decisions for acceptance of student enrollments.

Because of the national college decision day, the last day for students to submit deposits for the colleges and universities they want to attend is May 1, and there is a large period of time where students will be faced with tough decisions on where they will end up calling home for the next four years. While this decision can be difficult and often overwhelming, there are a variety of things to consider and resources offered to help make the decision feel right.

If possible, visit the colleges you are deciding between. One of the best ways to know for sure whether or not you want to attend a college is to see the college itself and experience the atmosphere. If visiting your college is not feasible, Cedar Falls High School has scheduled various college visit with admissions counselors from school like Iowa State, Iowa, Upper Iowa University and more. At these meetings you can meet with admissions officers and ask them questions about their schools. The link to sign up to various meetings throughout the next couple of weeks is on your Schoology calendar. If the college you are interested in is not visiting Cedar Falls High School this spring, you can easily email your admissions counselors with any questions you may have regarding the college.

This seems to be an obvious thing to consider when choosing a college, but there are ways to make this easier if you are concerned about the cost of the colleges you have been accepted to. There are a variety of scholarship opportunities available locally and nationally to help pay for school, and these opportunities can be found by talking to your counselor.

While much of this research was probably done before you applied, it doesn’t hurt to continue trying to learn things that will help narrow your search. Are there special internships that a college offers? What kind of food do they serve?  Find out what current students have to say about the school. There are probably Youtube videos you can watch or Instagram pictures you can look at that will give you the inside look at life at the college. The counselors are talso here to help you through this process, and you can have meeting scheduled where you can get help deciding between schools and which one is the right school for you. They can answer your questions, respond to your concerns and give you extra resources so that you can be sure that you are making the right choice. To schedule a meeting with your counselor, visit the counseling website and sign up for a time that works for you.

If you are deciding between more than one school, it may be easier to decide between them once you have completed your research and answered your questions about each school by creating a list of pros and cons. Seeing a physical representation of the list may help you differentiate between where you want to go.