Selectivity Most of our students go on to independent colleges and universities. It is important to note that competition for admission to the institutions to which our students most frequently apply has not diminished. The Ivy League is setting new records

More Links U.S. Colleges and Universities Deciding where to apply

"Early" Application Options
Early Decision is an undergraduate plan whereby the student who knows where he or she wants to go and seems well qualified can apply, usually by November 1 or 15, and receive a decision in December. There now exist numerous, confusing variations on this theme including Early Action, Early Notification, Rolling Admissions, Early Option II, Winter and Interim Options. Our advice: check out any of the early plans with the specific institution involved. A student with a clear first choice and strong qualifications at the time of application may be rewarded with early peace of mind. But, changing student preferences and dramatic academic improvement can make a binding commitment to attend a particular institution both premature and uncomfortable. And many students get swept into the early application frenzy without realistically assessing their prospects for early admission. (Almost half of the early candidates are deferred; only a few of those are later admitted to college.) A student who wishes to file an early application must feel that they are as strong a candidate as they are likely to be based on the junior year record and test scores. Try not to get caught up in the early frenzy; give your own situation careful thought.

Tips & Info: How to Choose Colleges
Choosing where to go for your undergraduate, graduate, or professional education is one of the most important decisions you will make. Where you get your degree can have as much impact on your future options as the type of degree itself.

Although your choice of where to go to college may be limited by financial factors, your past academic record, geographic, or other considerations, it is most logical to aim for getting the best education possible within your means. Achieving this goal will require diligence and forethought. You need to study the schools and programs, figure out which ones you can possibly get into and afford, and then apply strategically to a range of institutions so as to maximize your options, allowing you to make the optimal final choice. Here are some suggestions about steps to take to guide you through this process.

Self-assessment
The first step in deciding where to apply to college is to assess your self. What are your interests, strengths, and weaknesses as a candidate? Here are some practical measures you can take to help you gain perspective:

Think about what you want--and do not want--out of your academic experience. Ask yourself the following questions. Some of the answers may be self-evident, some may take time to develop. It may help to clarify your thoughts by making lists of what you want and don't want and refining them over time.

What sort of degree do you want?
An associates or bachelors degree?
Graduate or professional degree?
Masters or Ph.D.?
A combined degree?
What do you want to study?
What subject(s) do you want to major in?
Minor in? Study on the side?
What do you want to get out of your studies?
Practical career training?
A liberal arts education?
An education in math and science?
Professional training?
Do you want to start working right after college?
Do you want to go to graduate or professional school?
Do you want to work in a highly competitive college setting?
Where do you want to live?
What experiences do you want to have outside the classroom?

Create a curriculum vitae, resume, or portfolio of your work. List your degrees, courses, grades, and dates of completion. Include information about any research, publications, conference papers, jobs held, etc. Also list any references you may have (see "Getting Good Recommendations" for more information).
Get copies of your transcripts and board exam scores. See if you can also get an official document confirming your current class ranking. (Not all institutions provide this information.)

If you are enrolled in school or college, make an appointment with your guidance counselor or academic advisor to discuss your application plans and status. Ask them to evaluate your competitiveness as a candidate. Also, ask their opinion about where they think you might consider applying to school. Seek the same feedback from teachers or professors who know you well.

Evaluate your financial resources. List all existing and possible resources, including financial aid (loans, grants, scholarships, fellowships, tuition waivers, stipends, work study, etc).

Study the schools
The next step is to gather information about many different schools and programs. Depending on your priorities, you might start your search geographically (looking at all schools in an area you want to live), by major (looking at schools which offer degree programs in a subject matter you want to study), by special programs (looking at schools which offer a special program of study which interests you), etc. There are many reference guides available which can help you to learn about colleges across the world. Consult comprehensive reference sources which cover a broad selection of schools.

Once you've acquired a feel for the range of choices, begin to look more closely at the schools which appeal to you the most. What information sources should you investigate?

Visit college web sites.
Visit campuses. Interview with admissions officials and program or department faculty. Talk to enrolled students.

Begin early
It's important to start the process of deciding where to apply early. If you're considering applying to top-tier, nationally-ranked schools or degree programs, it is advisable to look into the entry requirements early. Even if you're not headed to top-ranked schools or degree programs, you should start thinking about where to apply at least one year or several months before applications are due.

Request several applications
Solicit applications and promotional material directly from several colleges or particular programs. Order your applications early (typically, the summer or early fall before the application is due) and all at once so that you can compare them, digest the questions, and strategize how you'll respond.

Apply to several schools across tiers
How many schools should you apply to? Unless you're focused on just one or two schools where your admission is assured, it is advisable to select at least three schools, but more (6-8 or more) if possible. The more applications, the more offers and choices can potentially emerge. In addition, unless you're set on applying to top-tier schools only and are guaranteed admission, it is advisable to apply to schools that fall in two or three different tiers--or categories of selectivity--and to apply to at least two or three schools in each tier. The three tiers of schools would include:

"Reach" schools that you'd really like to attend, but which are the most highly competitive schools you could possibly hope to get into, and which may or may not admit you. Safer schools are those where your admission is more assured. Back-up schools that are not as selective, will almost certainly admit you, and will still adequately serve your needs and interests.

A word on financing application costs: it is expensive to apply to several colleges or programs at once. Budget money early to pay for college applications. If your resources are limited, look into sources of assistance to cover the cost. It would be a shame to limit your college choices because you couldn't afford to apply to several schools across tiers, as suggested above.

Results?
If you follow all the steps above and make correct judgments about your chances for admission at the schools where you apply, you should receive acceptance letters from multiple schools or programs.

There is no question that for most students, deciding where to apply is complicated. Your decision will be influenced heavily by some factors over which you have no control -- SUCH AS the grades you have already earned. It will also be influenced by factors which are entirely personal. It's normal to change your mind several times as you try to decide where to apply. The fact is, there is no precise step-by-step process that will allow you to choose that one mythical perfect college. For nearly every student, there are a large number of institutions where you would be happy and successful.

If the process of choosing that perfect college seems unsystematic and haphazard--you're right. In the end, every decision about which college to attend is subjective. There are many colleges which will offer you a great education, so you need to keep an open mind as you begin your search.

If you are JUST STARTING YOUR INTERMEDIATE OR A LEVELS, you still have plenty of time to do something about the one thing that will affect your chances of admission more than any other thing--your transcript. Before you start looking for specific colleges, you should learn about what you can do in high school to improve your chances of admission. If you're a second semester junior or a senior it's becoming a little late to do much about your grades. You should begin thinking about colleges that interest you.

Deciding where to apply:
Directories such as Peterson's Guide to Graduate Programs are critical to the first stage in your process of choosing a graduate school. Besides giving an idea about the breadth and scope of programs available, they will provide you with complete listings of school addresses, program directors, faculty members, and number of applicants/enrolled students. This sort of information can help you to identify the twenty or thirty programs in which you have at least some interest. Throughout this process, however, you will need to keep an open mind -- schools that you never would have considered may suddenly sound intriguing, and programs that you supposed were top of the line may turn out to be less than advertised. Keeping an academic diary with a list of schools under consideration, the date, and perhaps the reasons for rejecting each program will be both informative and interesting to you as the time passes.

Once this initial stage has been completed, you are ready to request forms, brochures, and application materials from each school. This is best completed in July or August, as most programs do not have the new forms or lists of current faculty printed before then. Don't bother asking specific questions; most schools start by sending only the basic information in their "prescreening" process. Not that they are evaluating your credentials yet, but they do try to identify the "I love this place!" students from those who are "Just shopping, thanks." Once you have received the standard materials, you should certainly address these specific questions to the graduate secretary or program director; that is, if you haven't already learned the answers through the initial mailings.

The majority of graduate school guidebooks are ludicrously inadequate insofar as offering specific criterion by which to choose a graduate school. The assumption is, I suppose, that you know what you are looking for, and that therefore the main factor will be completing the applications. However, there are many programs out there that could be right for you, and finding as many of them as possible will increase your chances proportionately. An improved selection process therefore should enable you to choose from significantly more admissions offers and better financial aid packages. By considering the many factors involved, you will forge a process more reasonable and clearheaded from the start.

Competition:
Who will you be competing against for admission to this program? Are your scores and undergraduate grades comparable? Don't get hooked on a school for the wrong reasons, especially if your qualifications do not approximate the level of competition for that particular school. By the same token, realize that you bring a unique set of academic abilities and personal traits to any graduate program.

Geographic Location:
For personal or family reasons, applicants sometimes have only a certain geographic range of schools to which they can apply. Being as open as possible to different areas will increase dramatically the prospects available to you. It also may help you to get in to certain schools like the University of Idaho, which might want to diversify its student body. But you will also need to consider that the school's reputation and alumni network will be strongest within a few hundred miles of the school, and therefore many of your post-graduation job prospects will emanate from this region. If you can't see yourself living in the area for very long and are applying to a school without a nationwide reputation, you may be doing yourself a disservice.

Recommender's Recommendations:
Where did the people who are writing your references get their degrees? Since admissions teams habitually evaluate the qualifications of the recommenders (and what could be better than their own alumni?), these schools might be well worth considering. Alternatively, ask your recommenders if they know anyone at the other programs to which you are applying, or if they recommend any particular programs for your interests and background. Remember the saying: "it's not what you know; it's who you know." Get to know as many people as possible, and utilize their insight as fully as possible.

Number Of Students:
This is important both for your own personal tastes (can you stand being in a program with just a handful of students… or one with several hundred?),

Urban/Rural Campus:
Where do you want to live? With M.A. programs generally taking two years to complete, and Ph.D.'s stretching to about six or seven years, this urban/rural difference can become a pretty important factor. Of course, it need not be similar to your undergraduate institution, and there may be advantages to a new perspective that you have not yet considered. You may also find that a novel setting is "acceptable" as long as you are sufficiently pleased with the other, more substantial aspects of your environment.
Research Interests: Certain schools have reputations that emphasize particular facets of their curricula. If you have areas which you especially enjoy or dislike to concentrate upon, this can make a big difference. In fact, the school with the best overall reputation may not be the one that excels in your particular area of interest. On the other hand, however, you may decide to change your specialty after you enter grad school. How much will this affect your happiness with this particular school?

Academic Resources:
Library size is something you always hear about in brochures. You think, "Who cares? How many of these 19.3 trillion books, 42 million dissertations, and 97,000 journal subscriptions am I actually going to read anyway?" Answer: a very small percentage. BUT when you decide to do a research pape,. you will be pleased to have one or two special resources on hand. Things like science labs, computer centers, departmental fellowship funds and archival holdings in your field of interest similarly represent the institution's dedication to providing resources for its graduate population. You will appreciate them when the time comes; find out what they offer up front.

Curriculum Choices:
Be certain that the school offers the exact degree you are interested in pursuing. If you are interested in more than one possibility, see if the school has both. It would certainly be easier if you could just change programs without also having to change addresses, wouldn't it?

Social Life:
A school's social life will be reflected partly by the strength of the graduate community, partly by the scope of public attractions available, and partly by the atmosphere within the department itself. Articles, advertisements, and crime reports in the school newspaper are all time-tested methods of judging the tenor of social activities

Job Placement:
All schools will say they have a solid record of success, but how can it be possible to have a tough job market when all these schools tout "94% professional placement rates"? Check the figures, ask students, look at employment listings; in short, do whatever you can to ascertain the true story on this score. This will, after all, be the most important thing to you in a few years (aside from the excitement of adding a few initials -- M.A., P.A., M.A.T., M.F.A., Ph.D., whatever -- to your newly-acquired business cards). Many schools are accepting students into dangerously oversubscribed professions. Although the numbers are difficult if not impossible to obtain, a rough guess will be an important distinction between programs for you to consider.

Rate Of Attrition:
Some departments do a better job of weeding out graduate applicants after they arrive on campus than in admissions. Again, the numbers are difficult to determine. Check the size of the entering classes versus those graduating, query the admissions staff, and ask students currently enrolled for the real story. If the students have no idea what you're talking about, fine. If they do, listen carefully... and ask a few more students.

Graduate/Undergraduate Status:
Graduate students quite often are an afterthought to the strategic planning of university administrators, especially since they comprise a relatively small, self-regulating body of adults who don't tend to cause problems (e.g., tearing up the newly-seeded football field, puking on wealthy benefactors, leading demonstrations against cafeteria food). This is even more likely if the vast majority of students (i.e., "tuition income sources") are undergraduates. Check the ratio of graduate to undergraduate students to see how outnumbered you will be. This ratio also will tell you something about the school's social priorities. If undergraduates seriously dominate the landscape, the academic and social life probably will also be skewed in that direction. As long as you don't mind buying beer for nineteen-year-olds and giggling at sophomoric jokes, this won't matter to you. Otherwise, ask.

Accreditation:
After you spend several years working towards this degree, will professionals in the field universally acclaim you as one of their own, or will they look at you like you just bought a Cracker Jack license? Check the number and status of the various accrediting agencies if you have any doubts.

Well-Known Faculty:
The opportunity to work under the academic "giants" in your field of interest is one of the most exciting thing about graduate study. Be careful about basing your decision on this, however as this great faculty member may die, leave, take a sabbatical, or other such thing. It is true that a faculty advisor who transfers to a different school often can bring his/her promising students to the destination program; those who die, however, leave their students plum out of luck.

For Master's Students:
It may be an advantage for you to consider schools which offer the Ph.D. as well as the M.A., since they often can offer richer resources, stronger faculty, and a broader base of students and alumni. On the flip side, however, you will want to determine the prevailing attitude towards masters students in such programs. Finding yourself on the short end of a preference for doctoral students can easily make graduate school a much less pleasant experience than it might otherwise be.

For Doctoral Candidates:
Keep in mind that the major purpose of most doctoral programs is focused upon publishing, and use that as an important yardstick for your own choices. What is the average length of time to complete a dissertation at the various programs? What subjects have been featured in previous candidates' dissertations? Is funding available to students after finishing the comprehensives? Such questions will illuminate the priorities and problems that may define your post-Master's work at this school, or alternatively force you to consider transferring... and unnecessarily endure this application process again.
And there are a few more things you may or may not want to consider…

Age Of Professors?
It may be a drawback to have professors at the twilight of their careers, possibly unmotivated and not abreast of current conditions in the profession. Or, it may be bad to have young professors primarily concerned with making a name for themselves and moving on to a bigger name school. You decide if you care or not.

Possibility Of Funding?
Institutions with larger endowments sometimes will offset high tuitions, but don't count on it. Unless you are in the hard sciences or independently wealthy, you're either going to need to scramble for fellowships or go into hock with a government loan... or probably both. Greater opportunities for funding may come as you move down the academic food chain to schools of lesser reputation, but will it be worth it? It is best to decide after you are accepted.

Costs or Workload?
Grad school costs a small fortune and requires your best academic efforts no matter where you go. Any program that cuts corners to increase enrollment probably will prove quite disappointing when you receive your degree. Graduate school bargains, limited workloads, or "Get Your Degree By Mail!" options should therefore be discarded. However, there is one exception to the cost factor: public universities sometimes can offer subsidized tuition rates significantly better than private schools without a corresponding drop in quality. These may be worth investigating.

Special concerns?
Add these to your list. Any means of making your choices broader and more informed will lead to a more fruitful application process.

Once you've completed your list, you will need to locate the appropriate resources for information. Professors, current students, and professionals in the field often can provide useful anecdotal information. Specialized reports can be found in most journal subscriptions or association reports within your field. Since these sources reflect the ideas of working professionals, they hold special weight. In addition, Ph.D. candidates can find information by reviewing the list of doctorates awarded by particular departments or by consulting Dissertation Abstracts, published monthly by University Microfilms International. Humanities doctoral candidates may also check the academic journal Lingua Franca for job placements of recent Ph.D.'s, noting whose graduates are getting hired and by whom these graduates are being employed.

More specialized reports can be found in most journal subscriptions or association reports within your field. Since these sources reflect the ideas of working professionals, they hold special weight. In addition, Ph.D. candidates can find information by reviewing the list of doctorates awarded by particular departments or by consulting Dissertation Abstracts, published monthly by University Microfilms International. Humanities doctoral candidates may also check the academic journal Lingua Franca for job placements of recent Ph.D.'s, noting whose graduates are getting hired and by whom these graduates are being employed.

Most students apply to far too few programs their first time around. Don't make such a mistake. When you finally emerge from the piles of brochures and personal recommendations and yearly program rankings, have a solid number of schools to which you can apply. You will be better off sending applications to a wide range of programs and deciding between the several acceptances -- and financial aid packages offered -- than having few or no options. Applying to a dozen or more schools is probably overkill, and applying to just three or four is too few. Seven to ten applications is probably the most reasonable figure for your targeted approach.

Choose some very ambitious schools, so that you will know that you got into the very best school that you could, and choose some real safety schools as well. Perhaps these latter schools won't provide the status or resources that you had wished for, but this is worst-case planning. Ask yourself, "would I rather go to this mediocre program or not get the degree at all?" After doing so, you probably will find one or two lower-dwelling institutions to fulfill your needs satisfactorily.