College

[stankybank]

1) figure out what you want out of your degree. pick a school that best fits that category.

2) location. pretty important. close to home? far? west coast? east coast?

3) cost. parents paying? loans/grants/financial aid?

4) social life. party? study? mix?

5) alumni. connections?

finally, pick a school that you think you'll belong to. forget what your parents think. I'm sure you'll have to listen to them one way or another but seriously, this is a place you'll be at for the next so many years so make sure you decide on a school that you won't regret going to.

above all, study hard, enjoy college life, and have fun!

[shadow29]

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probably helps to have a general idea of what you'd like to do when you grow up. You'll get to college and probably change your mind a couple of times. Pick a place a minimum of 5 hours away from home.

Oh and don't choose Georgia Tech. This place suks dog dic.

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You got into Georgia Tech?

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Let's not forget that mmbt0ne also got into Tech...

[CrashPat]

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Keep this in mind: I go to Amherst College (1600 students) and I applied to a lot of similar small schools. I thought I wanted a small school with not a lot of students. I was completely wrong. I feel like I should've gone to one of the big Ivy league schools now, because in a school this small, you just get to KNOW everybody and eventually the social scene loses it's appeal. If you go to a big school, you can choose to avoid people and hunt out new people you've never met before.

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This is important. The school I go to is 2500 students and while it is an excellent choice academically, the social scene is horrible. This is magnified by the fact that it is an engineering/science school and has a 70/30 male/female ratio. It is only 2 hours from home which is far enough that I do not feel like I should visit and they do not visit me which is good.

If I were to do it over again I would look at a larger state school that still had a good program for what I want to do. And I would not focus on the cost as much, money is really pretty insignificant. If it costs 10K a year or 20K a year you are still going to be poor as hell and paying for it for a long time when you get out.

The last thing to consider is geographical area, I finally figured out when I was 19 or so that winter sucks and I would rather be somewhere where winter meant it got down to 50 instead of 0.

[runner4life7]

I was lazy and missed the deadline for stanford and mit so i applied at uw-madison since it was close and still a good school and much cheaper. If you are serious about school go to a good school, but doesnt have to be top private, worry about being raped for grad school. Or just be a poker pro.

[ClaytonN]

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probably helps to have a general idea of what you'd like to do when you grow up. You'll get to college and probably change your mind a couple of times. Pick a place a minimum of 5 hours away from home.

Oh and don't choose Georgia Tech. This place suks dog dic.

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Are you UGA? If so, awesome.

[ClaytonN]

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Well, I'm going to be a senior next year in high school, mind pointing me what should I consider and figure out before applying to colleges next year? What helped you decide where you wanted to go? How did you go about applying to colleges?

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Seriously, you need to talk to your high school counselor or something to that extent. Like the lady in the career center. It's their job to help you with stuff like this.

[shadow29]

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probably helps to have a general idea of what you'd like to do when you grow up. You'll get to college and probably change your mind a couple of times. Pick a place a minimum of 5 hours away from home.

Oh and don't choose Georgia Tech. This place suks dog dic.

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Are you UGA? If so, awesome.

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No, he goes to a real school.

[YourFoxyGrandma]

Visiting all my schools of interest made my decision so much easier. There were alot of schools I was considering at first, but after visiting a bunch of them it was pretty easy to narrow the field.

Side tip: If you go to visit a school, swing by the admissions office and let them know you were there--get a tour, fill out a card. Do something. Schools keep a record of your visits and can sometimes be more likely to accept you if you've shown that you are serious about attending and not just applying there for the hell of it.

[BB_Specials]

I went to Northern Illinois University because I didn't have to write an essay.

[Macdaddy Warsaw]

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Good program and good atmosphere (girls, nightlife, etc). If you are miserable you won't do well in school.

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Truer words have ne'er been spoken. My sophomore year is an example.