The Key Strategies for Identifying Best Fit Colleges

There are more than 3,000 colleges in the United States, often posing a dilemma for students who have no idea how to go about narrowing down their list of potential colleges.  While many colleges resemble resorts, with amenities such as a lazy river, golf course or ski slope, students realize that the main purpose of a college education is to prepare them for a career in their chosen field.   

So, the first step is to identify one’s ideal major. College Board has published the Book of Majors, listing the vast majority of majors offered at colleges throughout the country, and indicating which schools offer a degree in each field. Students can also go to the website of a large university, such as Rutgers, Penn State or Ohio State, view the vast list of majors and research those that are of interest.  

 

For more unusual majors, the list of potential colleges will be greatly streamlined.  According to the Book of Majors, only two universities offer a bachelor’s degree in Animal Genetics, Rutgers – New Brunswick and Clemson in South Carolina, while Animal Nutrition is offered only at Purdue in Indiana. Likewise, only a handful of universities offer a bachelor’s degree in Cognitive Psychology, including University of Connecticut, Emory in Georgia, Northwestern in Illinois, Tufts in Massachusetts, and Brown in Rhode Island.

For majors that are offered at a multitude of schools, students should consult the U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges magazine. For many fields, it will indicate rankings of the most highly rated colleges.  Students interested in Supply Chain Management will note the top rankings for Michigan State University, Arizona State University, University of Tennessee at Knoxville, MIT, and Penn State University. Those interested in Chemical Engineering will note the top rankings for MIT, Georgia Tech, University of Delaware, University of California at Berkeley, Stanford University and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

 

Once students identify the strongest colleges for their intended field of study, they should visit and tour the schools to determine if the academic and social environments are in line with their interests and preferences.  If in-person visits are not possible, students should carefully peruse the websites of colleges under consideration, take virtual tours, and view A Day in The Life Youtube videos.  The more information students have about a college, the more educated decisions they can make.   

Susan Alaimo is the founder and director of Collegebound Review which offers PSAT/SAT^® preparation, essay editing, and private college advising by Ivy League educated instructors. Visit CollegeboundReview.com or call 908-369-5362