Once the applications have been sent out and acceptances start rolling in, it may seem like the college admission process is finally done. But there’s still one essential step left: making the final decision on where to go. Two college admissions pros based in NoVA chime in on how to sort through the offers and make a commitment.
Get Specific
First and foremost are financial considerations. Acceptances come with an offer letter detailing how much aid the school will provide in grants, scholarships, and loans. Use that, plus the financial information on each school’s website, to determine a realistic cost of attendance.
Be sure to “compare apples to apples” during this process, says Colleen Paparella, president of DC College Counseling. “Every school has an estimated cost of attendance on their website. But if you dig into that, and you look at how they create that, they usually do include different factors in those numbers.” It can be helpful to create a spreadsheet to get side-by-side comparisons on specifics, such as tuition, room and board, and scholarship awards.
It’s also time to think practically about the school’s location. The climate, distance from home, and its potential for post-grad success are all factors to consider.
“The climate is a big draw. But to get a warmer climate, you have to go south, and that’s far,” says Cathy Ganley, senior consultant and owner of ForWord Consulting. Think through the logistics of visiting home — if it will be expensive or difficult to organize, will you be OK only visiting a few times per year, if that?
Though post-grad jobs seem far-off, remember that where students go to college could be where they’re looking for jobs after graduation, so it’s important that the area has opportunities that will support them.
“They’re likely to have much better recruiting in the geographic area where they go to school. So, somebody who wants to get a job in DC would be much better off going to college at a place that has relationships with organizations in the DC region,” Paparella says.
Each student will likely have deal-breakers for a school, such as an academic program or a sport or extracurricular that isn’t offered. If a school is missing a must-have factor, it can be taken out of the decision.
Students can then narrow down the list to around three top-choice schools. Once students eliminate schools from the list, they shouldn’t drag their feet on informing the university of their decision so that the spot can go to a wait-listed candidate. “Don’t hold on to it, because it’s somebody else’s dream school, and you’re parking yourself in their spot,” Ganley says.
Go Beyond the Tour
Once the decision has been narrowed down, it’s a good time to visit each school and pay close attention to the campus culture. Paparella suggests the prospective student pick a spot on campus like the dining hall or a student center to observe how the students interact with each other. Are they friendly and sociable? Ganley also says to look at how many are wearing school sweatshirts or T-shirts to measure how much school spirit there is.
And while tours can help provide important information, going up and talking to students on campus can help prospective students get a more candid view of the school.
Paparella also recommends reading a few issues of the student newspaper. “I actually think that’s like the No. 1 best tip for getting a sense of the culture and what’s going on on campus,” Paparella says.
Students can also go online and search for the school on social media. School-specific groups can help students connect with potential classmates, but they’re often monitored by the university and might not give a totally unbiased view of campus life. Another route is to look for accounts on TikTok or Instagram that post about attending that university and reaching out to chat with them.
Block Out the Noise
Seeking advice from third parties can be helpful, but students should remember that parents, peers, and other sources may have biases that will impact the conversation.
“If you talk to your neighbor next door about his experience at UVA, but he’s a totally different person than you and has different interests and [a] different personality, likes different things, you know, his experience may not be reflective of what yours would be,” Paparella says. What’s most important is always what the student thinks of the school.
These biases can go both ways. A school’s elite reputation doesn’t necessarily mean it will be the best fit based on what’s important to the individual student.
“Don’t let the hype sway you,” Ganley says. “Just because you got into a fantastic school that might be leaps and bounds for some criteria above the others — just ask yourself, where do you see yourself being the happiest both in and out of the class?”
Make the Call
Mark it on your calendar or set an alarm on your phone: decision day is a deadline nobody wants to miss. Colleges will have a set date, typically May 1, when students need to submit a deposit to accept their place at the school, and if it isn’t done in time, that student could lose the spot.
If there are truly extenuating circumstances that are holding someone back from committing, such as pending financial paperwork or a family emergency, it’s possible to reach out to the college admissions office to request more time. It’s up to the college’s discretion whether it will accommodate the issue, but many are willing to help for a valid reason.
Whatever happens, students are not permitted to accept admission to more than one school. “You run a very, very real risk of being able to go to neither of those schools, because they’ll drop you as soon as they figure out what you did,” Paparella says. Ultimately, remember that whatever the final choice is, it’s what a student makes of the experience that matters, Ganley says. “My general philosophy on making decisions is ‘It’s going to be fine,’ right? It’s not like there’s only one choice and you have to be careful to make the right one. You can learn to be happy anywhere.”
Feature image, stock.adobe.com
This story originally ran in our March issue. For more stories like this, subscribe to Northern Virginia Magazine.
