Choosing a College that is Right for YOU!    by Randall S. Hansen Ph.D.

Choosing where you want to go to college is an extremely personal -- and frequently stressful -- decision that teens and their families have to make. So, how can this article help you? This article's intent is to give you a framework that will help you choose the college that is right for you.

One piece of advice before we begin: It's best to start this process as early as possible, ideally in the junior year of high school (although some experts say to start even earlier). Try to use this website as much as you can.

To start on the right foot, please click on the link below and print any of the lists that you might need.

http://www.webreader.com/download/college-checklist.pdf 

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An Important Decision

Choosing a college is often the second most important decision in life—exceeded only by the choice of a wife or a husband. In money terms, college can easily be the second largest expenditure in life—exceeded only by the cost of a house. (Some colleges cost more for four years than the average cost of a house in some states.) College is more than a preparation for a career. Often the person who graduates has become a different person from what he or she was as an entering freshman. Moreover, the imprint of a particular college or university can remain for life. Decades later, people may say knowingly, "He was a West Pointer," or "She went to Bennington" or "He is a Chicago economist." Many writers have commented on the fact that Lyndon Johnson's relations with the Kennedys were soured by his awareness that they went to Harvard while he graduated from Southwest Texas State Teachers College. For better or worse, the choice of a college has lifelong implications.
                                                                                                                                                                                                    Thomas Sowell

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