How to Choose “Best-Fit” Colleges

College-bound students are often overwhelmed at the task of identifying the “best-fit” school at which to continue their academic journey.  With more than 4,000 colleges in the country, students should turn to available resources to guide their all-important decision.

One tool, that has stood the test of time, is the annual Best Colleges guide by U.S. News & World Report. In its newly released 40^th edition, the guide ranks the “Best National Universities,” from #1 to #300+, with details on such qualities as graduation and retention rate, student/faculty ratio, and financial resources. Even more helpful to students who know what they want to study in college are the specific rankings within the guide on “Best Business Programs,” “Best Engineering Programs,” “Best Computer Science Programs,” and more. U.S. News and World Report also offers an online search tool, College Compass.

 

Students can also turn to College Board, the company that offers the PSAT and SAT exams, to utilize its “Big Future” online search tool.  Students indicate the specific criteria they are seeking in a college, such as preferred size, location, specific major, particular sport or extracurricular activity, and housing options. The database then presents a list of all colleges that meet their requirements.

College Sticker Price May Now Exceed $90,000

The number of students who sought admission to NYU for this year’s freshman class totaled 118,000, according to University statistics.  Of this applicant pool, 22,000 applied “early decision,” with a commitment to attend if accepted. The overall acceptance rate was 8%.  

What some people may find baffling is that the “sticker price” of NYU’s Stern School of Business for the current academic year is $94,914. (Prices vary slightly among NYU’s different colleges.) This covers tuition, food and housing, and estimated costs for books and supplies, transportation, and personal expenses.  For commuter students, the price is listed at $76,662.

 

NYU is not alone. Other colleges with sticker prices exceeding $90,000 this year include the University of South California at $95,000, The University of Pennsylvania and Brown University (Rhode Island) at $92,000, Dartmouth College (New Hampshire) at $91,000 and Boston University at $90,000, according to the Associated Press. Meanwhile, the competition is fierce to gain acceptance to each of these schools, with an overall acceptance rate between 5% and 11%.

U.S. News Proclaims America’s 2025 Best Colleges

With the arrival of fall, each year, comes a newly released “Best Colleges” guide by U.S. News & World Report that ranks four-year colleges in America. The highly anticipated 2025 edition cites the same “Top 5” Best National Universities from last year: Princeton, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Harvard, Stanford and Yale.  In addition, the same institutions from 2024 complete the Top 20 listing for 2025, although the order of some have changed: California Institute of Technology, Duke, Johns Hopkins, Northwestern, University of Pennsylvania, Cornell, University of Chicago, Brown, Columbia, Dartmouth, UCLA, UC – Berkeley, Rice, University of Notre Dame, and Vanderbilt.    

While the ranking of a school is not the only criteria that students, and their parents, should assess, it’s a value guideline due to the factors that are considered.  A great deal of data is utilized by U.S. News to rank nearly 1,500 four-year institutions that offer bachelor’s degrees. This includes peer assessment, graduation rate, financial resources per student, faculty salaries, student-faculty ratio, and borrower debt.

 

Since the top criteria of students in choosing a college typically revolve around academic reputation, cost of attendance, and return on investment, these are among the matters that U.S. News prioritizes in its rankings.

Top November Break College Tour Tips

November is a month when most New Jersey public school students enjoy several days off for Election Day, Teacher Convention Days, and the Thanksgiving Break. For most of these days, college classes, and the activities that surround them, are in full swing. So, it’s the perfect time for high school students to tour the colleges they’re dreaming of and find out what life would be like on any particular campus.

If parents can take time off work, it’s the ideal opportunity for a road trip. Most students attend college within a few hours of home, so the trip does not have to be to a far-off location.  Colleges in Washington D.C. and Boston are often on students’ list of potential best-fit schools, making these popular cities to visit.  Some Boston favorites are Boston College and Boston, Northeastern, Tufts, and Harvard universities. Washington D.C. favorites are typically American, George Washington, and Georgetown universities.

 

Even if students are on their own for their school break, there are more than two dozen four-year colleges within New Jersey that they can tour on their own, or with friends. Popular options are Princeton, Rutgers, TCNJ, Seton Hall, NJIT and Stevens Institute of Technology.

  

Students should always book a tour in advance, and then sign in upon arrival. Colleges keep records of student visits and look favorably on this data as a sign of “demonstrated interest.” When touring college campuses, students should take notes. Although at the time they think they will remember exactly what they are seeing, after touring a multitude of schools the details tend to get blurred.

(5) Top College Majors For High Paying Salaries

College-bound students dreaming of earning $163,000 to $212,000, on average, after their first decade of work, should choose their major wisely. There are specific STEM fields that do not require advanced degrees and pay particularly high salaries. 

Five college majors with the highest pay potential, according to U.S. News & World Report, are Petroleum Engineering, Operations Research & Industrial Engineering, Interaction Design, Applied Economics & Management, and Building Science.  

 

These five majors “feature specialized STEM skill sets that can result in steady employment where there is more labor demand than supply, creating lucrative career opportunities over time,” according to Payscale data analyst Jackson Gruver.  

 

Petroleum Engineering tops the list, with average annual early career pay of $97,000 and mid-career (at least ten years of experience) pay of $212,000.  Petroleum Engineering is the core of energy transition, the core of renewable energy, and the provider of energy security for our nation, according to Richard Schultz of the College of Engineering & Mines at the University of North Dakota.

The Opportunities of College Geographic Locations

Location should be a major consideration of students looking ahead to their college years. It’s not just how far from home a student wants to move; it’s whether one is seeking an urban environment, a suburban feel, or the quiet countryside.  

Some students choose to recreate the vibe of their hometown, while others seek a whole new environment. Location is a factor that greatly influences one’s college experience, so it should be carefully considered.

 

Students seeking to immerse themselves in the heart of a bustling city often seek schools in New York City, Boston, Washington D.C., or Philadelphia.  Those favoring a suburban or rural feel may want to check out colleges in the heartlands of Pennsylvania, a state that hosts more than 100 four-year institutions.

 

Location is an important criterion even beyond the feel of a campus.  Often, a particular location is preferable based on a student’s college major. 

Top Colleges for Business Majors in the Northeast

Students considering a future college major often favor business, with its multitude of options. These include Accounting, Business Analytics, Entrepreneurship, Finance, Management, Marketing, and Supply Chain Management/Logistics. Many local students prefer to attend college in the Northeast, allowing for easy transportation between their home and college campus.

The 2024 edition of the “Best Colleges” guide by U.S. News & World Report lists five northeast institutions among the Top 8 ranked business programs in the country. These are University of Pennsylvania, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), New York University (NYU), Carnegie Mellon University, and Cornell University.

 

Additional business programs that are somewhat less competitive, but still rank in the Top 50, are offered at Penn State University, University of Maryland, Boston College, Babson College, Boston University, George Washington University, University of Pittsburgh, University of Rochester, Northeastern University, Syracuse University, University of Massachusetts – Amherst, and University of Connecticut.