There are over 3,000 colleges in America and one choice to make. However, once you begin looking at colleges and seeing what they offer, it is easy to weed out the ones that do not fit what you want. When considering college, here are things to consider:

• Location: Do you want to stay local or go far away? Do you like urban areas or the suburbs? Do you like the rain or snow? Sunny and 75? Narrowing location gives you a limited number of colleges.

• Majors: Depending on what stage of the process you are on, you may or may not know what you want to major in. If not, make a list of maybe three majors that interest you and see the schools that have them.

• Class Size: This refers to the amount of people that will be in your actual classes. This can vary from 13 people to 200 people. Is it important to have a personal relationship with your professors or do you just want the information?

• School Size: This refers to the amount of people that actually attend the university in total. Do you want to see the same people walking to class every so often or every time you walk to a class, you see new people?

• SAT/ACT Scores and GPA: There are logistics that come into play when choosing colleges besides what campus looks pretty. These include SAT, ACT, and GPA. See the ranges of the colleges you have interest in and the colleges in the ranges you are in. Do they coincide? What can you do to make the schools you have interest be the schools you are in the range for? (However, remember colleges look at other things other than these scores).

• Cost: Money obviously plays a large factor, but scholarships are out there and you cannot be limited due to it.

• Party School??? This is rather self-explanatory.

On College Board there is a place called “College Search Step-by-Step,” where you can make these decisions and see what colleges match your wants. The web address is https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/find-colleges/how-to-find-your-college-fit/college-search-step-by-step. Here you can rank the importance of these factors and see what colleges may be a match.

Determining the college for you may be stressful, but try to keep in mind that this is supposed to be an exciting time. Take a deep breath and understand that you will end up where you are supposed to. Happy college hunting!