With over 4,000 colleges in the US alone, how do you even start your college search? Here are two questions that can get you started.
What is the retention and graduation rate?
One way to measure the success of a college is the percentage of freshmen students who return for their sophomore year (retention rate) and the percentage of students graduate in 4-6 years (graduation rate or completion rate). This is an important measure for several obvious reasons, and some not as obvious. If students stay at the same college, it means they are enjoying their time, they feel as though it is a valuable experience, they are getting the academic and personal support they need, and they are able to afford the tuition. You can check college graduation rates here.
Don’t assume that everyone stays at the same college through graduation. Only 62% of students who begin at one college graduate from that same college within 6 years. Once again, this is only one factor. YOU are not a statistic. If a school has a 50% graduation rate, it doesn’t mean that YOU have a 50% chance of graduating. That being said, it’s a factor worth considering.
Who do you want to be in 5 years?
Think about who you want to become 5-10 years from now from a career standpoint as well as personally, relationally, and spiritually. We are all becoming someone, and if we pay attention, we can become who we want to be on purpose. So keeping in mind the professors, peers, coaches, classes, extracurricular activities, and overall campus life, what college will provide the best environment for you to change into the person you want to become? This is not implying that you are a sponge and that you will inevitably soak up the culture and become the average of everyone around you. We do, however, want to surround ourselves with at least some people that we want to emulate.
