Beginning My College Search

Hello everyone!

Now that I’m a sophomore in high school, college looms a bit closer. I know that I still have a lot of time before I actually have to apply, but I’ve always looked forward to going to college and hopefully going to a good one; naturally, I want to be prepared in advance. I wanted to give you guys some background on what I’ve done to think about college so far, and what I plan to do the rest of this year to continue preparing.

Signed up for college newsletters/email lists, etc. – I wanted to receive specific information from a variety of schools; when many different types of colleges are sending you brochures and emails, you can start to compare the differences and see what you like about all of them. Plus, if you already have schools in mind, this may be considered a part of demonstrated interest, which can be considered as part of the application process for some schools.
Consulted with both my high school counselor and a private college counselor – It’s important to utilize the resources available to you; you totally don’t need a private counselor, but at least talk to your school counselor about possible plans for the future. It’s their job to talk about this stuff, so they should have some sort of pointers. Get to know these types of people; the better they know you, the more they can tailor their advice to your needs and wants
Talked to people who have already been through this process (family friends, friends’ siblings, cousins, etc.) – Sometimes you need the perspective of someone who was literally just in this situation. Talk to people a couple years older than you; ask them how they went about the college process, how they chose their school, and of course how they’re doing now! Again, if you have specific schools in mind already, try and find some people who attend that college already.
Attend college events (college fairs, school visits, special events)– I haven’t attended any of these yet, but I hope to go to a few this year if they fit into my schedule. These are more of a priority if you’re a junior or senior since you can make connections with the representatives and get more specific information about schools, but it’s still good to start going as an underclassman if you can.
Visit local colleges – I wouldn’t start visiting colleges in other states/farther away if you’re just beginning to look at all the options out there; there’s just too broad a spectrum. If you have specific schools in mind definitely make the trek to go visit, but otherwise I would just go walk around whatever colleges are closest to you. I’m luckily to live in southern California so I’m pretty close to USC, UCLA, UCSB, kind of UCSD, plus more, but it doesn’t even have to be a prestigious school that you visit first; just getting a feel for campus life is the important part.
Keep track of potential interest and make a spreadsheet – It doesn’t have to be too serious; just make a list of any colleges that interest you, whether it’s because of their location, majors/programs, sports, etc., it doesn’t matter. It can be a huge list, because it’s sure to shrink down as you go through the rest of high school. Mine’s about 70 schools, but I’m only a sophomore and I know that probably less than 10 of those schools (or even none of the specific ones I found!) would be good fits in the end. I’m also pretty indecisive, so when making lists like that I’ll kinda throw everything on.

I hope this gave you guys an idea of some of the first steps you can take to start thinking about college. Maybe it will inspire you to do some research of your own! Either way, if you’re a sophomore like me, there’s plenty of time to figure things out; I definitely need to work on staying in the present and not stressing about the future so much. I’m always here to answer questions or take requests for future posts- keep an eye out for new content coming soon!

-Brooke