I want to finish my college degree and get a good job
Getting to the finish line is not easy. How do you select the right school? What characteristics are important to you? Here is a straight forward way of organizing your thoughts and picking your target school - one of the first steps in reaching your goal. For many college students - especially students dealing with life's circumstances, running to the finish line is filled with unpredictable challenges.
Learn from the lessons of others. Finish college your way and build a college experience customized for your circumstances. Explore transfer options proactively - not after you have taken the courses. This will safeguard transferability. Set your goals. Be honest with yourself and seek sound advice. Assess your strengths and weaknesses. Plan your college career in stages. Make each year invested in college count for something. Most important, pace yourself. It is not a race to finish first. If your goal is to finish college, you have come to the right place to find information on putting together a plan.
There are colleges and universities everywhere across the United States. They are also major differences between colleges and universities you should understand when venturing to compare coursework and credit earned. Some are large brick and mortar universities (traditional). Others are are online and virtual. Some are located in urban settings and some are rural and far away. Many now offer courses online or in a distance learning formats. How do you know what college or university is best for you and your circumstances? The experience of shopping for a college is allot like dating and match making. Do we ask the right questions? How are we influenced by others? Are we hiding our true feelings? Are we thinking with our head or following our heart? In order to shop for a college, first understand the differences and nuances. Unlike ice cream, there are more than 31 flavors. There are colleges for everything just about - from liberal arts to technical, from international to local, from selective to open enrollment. So, our first bit of advice is to keep an open mind and judge the school based upon characteristics important to you. Let's list some of characteristics you can prioritize:
| Location near work or home. You don't need an excuse for not making it to class do you? |
Learning Format, online, lectures, video. How is the mix? What do you prefer? |
Convenience Factors, time of classes. Can you balance school, work, life, etc. and expectations? |
Focus on Students and their needs. How often do students meet with faculty? What are the ratios like class size? How many faculty are in your key departments? |
Focus on Research. How much emphasis is on advanced research? How much is presented to students and alumni? |
| Programs of Study Offered. Do they have a good range? How is the curriculum structured? Are they interdependent? |
Active Alumni Network. Are they connected to the school and students? Do they visit classrooms? |
Focus on Rankings - national and regional. How important are the rankings to you? |
Focus on Advising and helping students succeed. How often do the advisors meet with students? Do they have special services, hours, etc? |
Focus on Publishing Books, Papers, Websites? Check out the bookstore? How many of the books are authored by faculty? |
| Student Affinity Groups for you to engage with. Will you have time to be active outside of class work? |
Partnerships with Outside Companies and Organizations. How are the partnerships connected to students? |
Level of Services Available to students from finding part-time work to housing. |
Focus on Learning Recognition Inside and Outside the Classroom. How is learning assessed? Are tests the primary format? Are papers required? |
Focus on Student Job Placement. How are students served? Is the Career Placement Center busy? Are the services in demand? |
| Social Opportunities and Networking. Is it all work and no play? |
Faculty full-time, part-time, level of expertise. Are they experienced? |
Regular Feedback loops with Faculty and Advisors |
Focus on Faculty Expertise. Can you see evidence they are proud of their faculty? |
Focus on Internships, matching, filling, finding, etc. Is there a special emphasis on real-world training? How do internships fit into the program of study? |
| Resources available for teaching and learning. How are the classrooms? State of the art? Are they large or small? |
Reputation of the institution and departments. Ask potential employers? Are they donors to the school? |
Accreditation and reviews by third parties. |
Governance, funding, incentives for student success. Public schools are given incentives. Do you recognize them? |
Connections with other schools and institutions. Are there agreements published and promoted? Are the courses transferable and recognized by other institutions? |
Take a moment and rank your targeted schools in each category. Use a scale of 1-10 - ten being the most important. Add up the scores of all the cells per school and compare them. This informal assessment may help you assess the right school. You could also associate a priority to each cell, which would apply a factor and ranking - making the most important characteristics influence the overall scores. For more information on the types of institutions, please visit and review shopping for a new College.