College Size

Small sized colleges (less than 5,000 students): 

Small classes taught by professors (about 15-30 students per class) and hands-on learning opportunities. There may not be as many majors or classes to choose from, but you may have a chance to self-design your own major. You are more likely to have a strong advising system and relationships with your professors and there may be a strong sense of community. Small sized colleges tend to be private, like Hobart, Colgate, Grinnell, and Reed but can also be small public colleges like SUNY Geneseo and Delaware State University.

Medium sized colleges (5,000 – 15,000 students): 

Mid-sized universities have a blend of characteristics typical of both small and large universities. Be sure to research colleges’ websites and ask current students for accurate information about each school. Research what types of organizations are available, what housing is like and how many students live on campus, what majors are available, who teaches classes, and which division and conference they belong to for sports. Yale, Brown, Howard, Duke, University of Montana, and Binghamton University are all medium-sized universities.

Large sized colleges (more than 15,000 students): 

The number of students served by large schools means that there is a lot of everything: lots of classes and majors to choose from, and lots of opportunities for social engagement. Many classes are likely to have 200 or more students. If you want to develop relationships with your professors or advisor, you may have to work hard at it. The campus itself will be very large and you may have to take public transportation to get around. On the other hand, the school may be so large that it is broken down into different campuses and most of your time will be spent in a smaller environment. Finally, if you like sports, athletic programs at large schools tend to draw a lot of attention. A few examples of large, private colleges are University of Southern California, New York University, and University of Pennsylvania and of public are UCLA, Michigan State University, and the University of Texas at Austin.

In the Colleges tab of your UStrive dashboard, you can filter colleges based on college size.

Some questions to help guide you in thinking about campus size:

1. How big is the student body?

2. What is the average class size? The student/faculty ratio?

3. How big is the campus? Can you walk from one end to the other?

Geographic Location

Geographic location may be an important factor for you to consider when selecting a school. Perhaps you’ve lived in a rural area all of your life and would like to attend college in a metropolitan city. Or maybe you’d like to remain local, so you can be close to your family. Whatever it is that you are considering for college, have a few different options in terms of geographic location when coming up with your college list.

Some questions to help guide you in thinking about location:

1. Do I prefer to live in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, South, Midwest, or West?

2. Do I want to live in an urban, suburban, or rural area? Is the airport nearby?

3. Do I want a “college town” where the college dominates the community's life?

4. Do I prefer a particular kind of weather? Does weather have a large effect on my moods?

5. How much do geographical surroundings matter to me? (Mountains, ocean, etc.)

6. How often do I want to visit home?

In the Colleges tab of your UStrive dashboard, you can filter colleges based on state, distance from your zip code, and region.

Academics

Many institutions are known for certain programs; for example, Northwestern University is nationally known for its journalism program. Researching the types of majors available as well as the faculty members should be a central component of the search.

Some questions to help guide you in thinking about academics at an institution are:

1. What general fields of study am I interested in?

2. What are the graduation requirements and required courses?

3. Do I want to follow a pre-professional track (typically in medicine or law)?

4. Do I want research opportunities available to me as an undergraduate?

5. Do I want the flexibility to take courses in different divisions? For example, if I am in Engineering can I take courses in the Business school?

6. What is the overall graduation rate for students at a given college? What about the graduation rate for underrepresented students?

School's Personality

The school’s personality is made up of the people who live there, the things they do and the atmosphere in which they do it. Since this will be your home for the next 4 years, the school’s “personality” should be one that you find inspiring as well as comfortable. Remember that college is more than a place to learn – it will be like a second home for the next four years.

Some questions to ask yourself when considering a school’s personality:

1. How important is racial, geographic, and socio-economic diversity to me? Do I want a certain group well represented on campus?

2. Would I be open to or interested in attending a school focused around a particular population such as a military academy, Historically Black College or University, an arts/theater/music conservatory or a single sex school?

3. How important is the political landscape of a school? Do I want a conservative or liberal campus, or neither?

4. Is religion on campus important to me? Do I want to attend a religiously-affiliated university?

5. Do I want to join a fraternity or a sorority? How do I want fraternities and sororities to influence campus life?

6. Does the school offer specific support for first-generation college students?

7. Do I want a Division I sports school with big football and basketball games on the weekends? Do I want intramural or club sports available for me to play non-competitively?

8. Do I want to be able to do a certain extracurricular activity (i.e. write for a campus newspaper, perform community service, or join student government)?

9. Does the school offer study abroad opportunities?

You can also review the following link for the most common factors students consider when they decide where they want to apply with a list of specific questions to consider:  My Priority Factors: What Matters Most to Me?

Cost

Perhaps cost is the most important factor to you, and for good reason. According to a Pell Institute study done in 2003, only 11% of low-income, first-generation college students will have a college degree within six years of enrolling in school, compared to about 55% of their more advantaged peers who were not low-income or first-generation students. Let this not deter you, though. Every bit of education you get after high school increases the chances you’ll earn good pay.

Sticker Price vs. Price You Would Pay

When you are looking at a particular college, it can oftentimes be easy to look at what their average annual cost is. The important thing to keep in mind is that this is usually the sticker price, but the actual cost that you might pay may be much lower, especially if you come from a low-income background.

Sticker price is the generic cost of attendance for a university and does not factor in financial aid. Therefore, this is not the realistic cost of what you would pay to attend.

Expected cost or net price is the cost of attendance minus any scholarships, grants, and financial aid you will receive. This is the realistic cost of what you would pay to attend. This price is what you should focus on. To get a better sense of this expected cost, be sure to use the UStrive college search tool and look at the Cost & Tuition tab for each college.

A good way to get a sense of the net price of a university ahead of time is by going to:

• College Board's Expected Family Contribution Calculator

• Finaid's Expected Family Contribution Calculator

Let’s take Stanford, for example. The sticker price cost for a year at Stanford comes out to $69,109 per year, which is on the pricier end. However, if you look at Stanford using the colleges tab and go to the Costs & Tuition tab, you’ll see that most students actually end up paying DRAMATICALLY LESS than the sticker price.

Stanford is far from the only school that has a lower price for most students (especially low-income students) than their advertised sticker price. That’s why we would strongly recommend considering all schools (without regards to cost) and then narrowing your list if you see that your expected cost (not the sticker price) is still outside of the budget that you and your family have for your education.

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