Welcome dear reader to another blog post. This time we will be discussing how to select a school(s) to apply to in the United States. If you haven’t done so already, check out this post where we discuss why you should even consider a US education.

By the end of this article, you will know two things about how to select a school: 

1.  Factors to think about when selecting schools, and
2.  How to build your own application list

There are over 5000 colleges and universities you can apply to in the US. This means there are a LOT of options to consider when picking schools.

For someone who has never lived in the US, this is a daunting task. You might be asking yourself, what schools are good? Or better still where do I even begin? The good news is you don’t have to play a game of Russian roulette to come up with an answer.

For starters, let’s scope out the problem (yes, a very engineering approach, you should expect nothing less 😁). There are 2 main kinds of schools you can apply to as a high school graduate; either a 4 yr college, or a 2 yr community college. You will graduate from a 4 yr college with a bachelor’s degree, while you graduate from a 2 yr community college with an associate degree.

A good number of people choose to start in a community college. The idea is that you complete the basic prerequisites and humanities there, and then transfer to a 4 yr college/university. At the 4 yr college, you then complete the core course requirements for a Bachelor’s degree. We will cover the nuts and bolts of the difference between the two kinds in a different article. For the sake of this article we are going to assume that you are planning to go to a 4 yr college/university.

So now that we’ve established that, how do you actually select a school?

There are 4 things to consider when you think about how select a school in the US:

1) Your major/expected degree in the school.

This is perhaps what we would consider the most important thing. What do you want to study? Different schools have strengths and weaknesses, in different courses and subjects, so it is definitely important to select a school that is strong in your major. If you want to be a mechanical engineer, google “top schools in the US for mechanical engineering” and go from there. The reason this is an important exercise is because a school that has a strong engineering program for instance will also most likely have all the resources that you need to get a job after graduation – which I’m going to assume is important to you.

Note: You might also come across what is called a Liberal arts school. These are generally schools that focus on providing a well-rounded education with an emphasis on the humanities. These types of schools are perfect, in our opinion, for pre-med majors and people who want a global view of the world.

2. School size

How does school size come into play to select a school? We will illustrate with two scenarios through the lens of two students. Sylvia is currently a student at a school with 5000 students on campus, while Rose is at a school with 30,000 students on campus. As you might imagine their daily experiences will differ. 

In scenario one, we will consider class size in the school.

It is likely that in Sylvia’s general Chemistry class there were 10 students in her class (i.e. a professor to student ratio of 10:1). Whereas in Rose’s general chemistry class there were 100 students in her class. You should expect that Sylvia will more likely get more attention from her professor given the small class size compared to Rose, and she is also more likely to build great rapport with the professor.

This is not the end of the world though because there are many ways Sylvia can always make up for her possible lack of individual attention. Some of them include going to her professor’s office hours, joining the honors college in her school – generally classes are a smaller size in the honors college, or just being patient because as you progress up the academic ladder, your class size typically decreases. 

In scenario 2, let’s consider school resources.

Since Sylvia is in a bigger school, if she wants to conduct research, there are many professors in many departments that she can reach out to. The sheer number of professors increases her chances of acceptance into a laboratory that will allow her conduct research. It also increases the chance that the professor will have the fancy high-tech equipment she needs for her research project. In Rose’s school, given the smaller number of students, there might not be as many professors available that align to an area of research Rose is interested in. 

Again, this is not the end of the world for Rose because she can always apply to summer research programs in other schools (there are many of them!) and makeup for the experience that she might be missing at hers. 

In summary, think through what kind of student you are, and whether you like the anonymity a big school offers versus the small town feel of a small school. There are no wrong choices here.

3) School cost of attendance and availability of scholarships.

This is one of the most important factors to select a school, we will cover this in-depth in a different article. For now, make sure you are aware of the cost of the schools and the potential scholarships they offer. Getting into a school that costs $80,000 USD yearly and offers you no scholarships when you can only afford $10,000 USD yearly is a waste of your time. Steer clear.

4) Weather in the school location

I hesitate to put this on there because it’s really not that big of a deal since you dear reader can most likely adapt to any scenario. Perhaps you are like me who grew up in a place where the weather was either rainy or it was sunny. There were no extremes. Well, in the US, one of the first things you learn is that every “region” i.e. the Northeast, the Midwest, the West Coast, the South etc has a different weather pattern. It is generally warmer in the south and much colder up north. So at the very least look up the weather in different states so you are not surprised. Most people learn to adapt so don’t let that deter you from applying.

Now that you’ve done your research on the different schools, and you can select a school, one question probably still remains…

How many schools should I actually apply to and how should I prioritize them?

To answer the first part of the question (how many schools?)

A: Apply to as many schools as you can afford! The more schools you apply to the greater your chances of getting into one that is a good fit. Let’s face it, the application process is very expensive with application fees averaging around $50 per school. It is important to be realistic about how many schools you can indeed apply to. Aside from financial cost, the application process is also time consuming. You will need a lot of energy to write your essays and chase down recommendation letters.

The second question (how should I prioritize my list to select a school?) is personally my favorite.

One of my EducationUSA advisors taught me a principle many years ago that I used, and have consequently taught to many others. I will share it with you below (I know, I’m really kind like that 😆);

Your school application list should be a mix of reach schools, match schools, and safety schools. Let me explain.

Happy Applying!

• Instagram