There are many ways to choose a college. You could choose one based on where you want to live, where your parents went to school, or even where your friends plan to attend. When selecting a school, it’s important to consider various metrics in order to find the college that best suits you and your unique needs.
A metric is a measurement that is used to gauge the quality of an attribute, and essentially tells you if something is good or bad. For example, when you want to know if a movie is worth watching, you may look at movie reviews to see how many stars were given to the movie. The same sort of principle can be used when choosing a college.
1. Admission Rate
Depending on how you performed in high school , you may want to apply to colleges with higher or lower admission rates. If you aced everything in your academic history, you have a better chance for acceptance at thecolleges with lower admission rates. On the other hand, if your academic history is less than perfect, make sure you apply to some colleges that have a higher admission rate, just in case. Applying for a number of places does not hurt but it definitely keeps you on the safe side just in case you don’t get admissioned into your preffered college.
2. Graduation Rate
Graduating from college is definitely more important than getting accepted. Without graduation, what’s the point of being accepted in the first place? When considering a college, review the percentage of students who complete the full program.
3. Freshmen Retention Rate
Another metric to consider is the freshmen retention rate, which explains what percentage of freshmen return for their sophomore year. A high retention rate indicates overall student satisfaction with their first year experience at that school. It also indicates that few students failed their freshmen year, a crucial time for students trying to adjust to college life.
4. Student to Faculty Ratio
There were 700 students in my very first class at the University . Needless to say, I never actually got to meet the professor, or get any personal attention or help. Luckily, most of my other classes had fewer students. If I had known that the average class size at the University was much less than 700, I probably wouldn’t have been so unnerved during my first day at college. If you want or need one-on-one assistance from your professors, examine the student to faculty ratio very closely.
5. College Size
Even if the student to faculty ratio is reasonable, analyze the overall size of the college. This can play a huge role in your comfort level, and in how well you fit in. A large college may be overwhelming for some students, but a small college may be underwhelming for others. Do you want to recognize everyone on campus, or do you want to have more privacy?For more info you can check out Nancy Etz
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