How Not To Choose A College

Most teens think more about used cars they'll buy than the colleges they'll attend. Our College Crisis Counselor tells you why that's a bad ideas.

I'm a College Crisis Counselor. Whenever a student enrolls at the wrong college, I'm on the case in a flash. I can spot a problem from a campus quadrangle away and solve it before you can say undergraduate baccalaureate degree."

There can be a thousand reasons why college freshmen end up in the wrong place, but let me tell you about some of the more common cases that I've dealt with in my flourishing practice.

Family Tradition

Most of the time, it's a good idea to listen to your parents, but sometimes trouble starts when students listen too closely. For instance, take case #563B....

Scott was raised in a crimson and aqua crib, the school colors of Flowing Lake University. FLU's mascots, the Chargin' Chipmunks, paraded across his bedroom wallpaper. From the time he could wave a Flowing Lake banner, he was brought to every homecoming game. You see, Scott's father went to FLU because his grandfather graduated from FLU because his great-grandfather founded the university.

Poor Scott--when it came time to apply for college, his father simply asked, "Did you get your application in to FLU yet?" Scott never had the chance to tell his dad that what he really wanted to do after high school was study at the Culinary Arts Institute and pursue his goal of becoming a chef.

Midway through the first term, when he had pretty much flunked every course in the FLU catalog, Scott came to see me. I brought Scott and his father together for a long overdue conversation about Scott's goals--not his father's. Just last week Scott sent me a delicious chocolate cheesecake, his term project at the Culinary Arts Institute.

High School Romance

Sometimes high school romances can lead to college heartaches. Case in point: #8706H....

Jack and Diane were inseparable from the day they met in sophomore year of high school. Jack was the star of the basketball team, and Diane excelled at tennis. All their classmates thought they would get married shortly after high school graduation. But as it turned out, Jack was offered a scholarship to attend Golden Hoop State College in the big city. Although Diane had always dreamed of going to a smaller college and studying to become a high school English teacher, she followed Jack to Golden Hoop. Diane didn't want to give up a future of happiness with Jack for her "silly" dream.

After his first basketball game, Jack rode off with a sophisticated city girl driving a silver BMW convertible. Diane was left alone and without direction. She called my hot line, and I knew the solution within 10 minutes--she bought a one-way ticket back home and enrolled in a nearby college with excellent English and education departments. When I last talked with her, she was earning straight A's in her courses and dating a guy who had never touched a basketball.

Money Matters

Money, or lack of it, can complicate choices when students base college decisions on finances. Take case #789S....

Emilio's family had recently come from Guatemala to the United States and founded a restaurant here. His parents were determined to help their children succeed in their new country. They needed him to help out at the restaurant after school, but Emilio always found time to get his homework done. Biology was his favorite subject, and molecular biology fascinated him more than anything.

When it came time for Emilio to pick a college, he was determined to find one that was affordable, because his parents had enough financial problems to worry about as it was. He longed to study molecular biology at the renowned Metropolitan Institute of Technology, but it was one of the most expensive colleges in the country. He knew that his parents wouldn't be able to manage the high costs. So Emilio enrolled in the General Science program at Southwest State University, where his family could pay the tuition and fees by taking a second mortgage on the restaurant.

I received an E-mail from one of Emilio's professors at Southwest State. The professor, who was a graduate of the Metropolitan Institute of Technology, recognized Emilio's talent after the first lab project, and he called me. Over dinner at the family's restaurant, I explained the ABCs of financial aid to Emilio and his parents. With scholarships, grants, and low-interest loans, Emilio was actually able to attend Metropolitan the following semester for less out-of-pocket expense than it cost him to attend Southwest--and that's a fact!

All That Glitters...

"All that glitters" is not always a good goal when it comes to college choices. That reminds me of case #432L....

Anastasia first fell in love with Emily Dickinson University when she saw the movie Admissions of Love. From the moment the final credits rolled, she knew that she could only be happy on the leafy green campus of EDU. As other high school juniors collected information about a variety of schools, Anastasia decorated her bedroom walls with pictures of the flower gardens, the ivy-covered buildings, and the Emily Dickinson monument on campus. She watched the EDU admissions video over and over until the tape wore out. When her parents took her on a campus visit, it was as beautiful as she thought it would be, and her perky, well-dressed tour guide told her how wonderful her next four years would be.

Three weeks into her freshman year, Anastasia realized the honeymoon was over. Although they seemed friendly at first, the women in her ivy-covered dorm excluded her from their parties and she heard them refer to her as "the one from the public school." While Anastasia was used to going to the Dairy Queen and hanging out in the video arcade on weekends, most of her classmates drove expensive cars to dance clubs in the city. Her illustrious professors were busy when she went to them with questions, and apparently no one studied Emily Dickinson's poetry. On weekends, she found herself spending Saturday nights playing cards and drinking cocoa with the residents' advisor.

When Anastasia walked into my office, I broke the sad news to her--she needed to begin the college search process from the beginning, this time with her eyes wide open. I saw her last week. Together we studied a bundle of pamphlets, brochures, and view books, and not one of them had been the setting for a movie or television show.

Stumbling Blocks

Students' perceptions of their own abilities can sometimes be their own worst enemies. Let's look at case #591J....

The thing that Mike feared most in the world was not snakes, public speaking, or commitment--it was tests! When the number-two pencils were sharpened, the bubble sheets were distributed, and the directions were given, Mike froze. He had tried to talk himself out of his anxiety. He had tried practice tests. Nothing seemed to help. Needless to say, his SAT scores weren't the greatest, but his grades were pretty good, and he had been involved in lots of high school activities.

Mike really wanted to be a lawyer, but he figured that no four-year college would accept a student with such low SAT scores. So he signed up for a six-month technical school program where he could learn how to repair VCRs.

While watching television late one night, Mike saw my infomercial and called the toll-free number. It was obvious that Mike was not happy in his current career path. He was surprised when I told him that hundreds of four-year colleges don't even require SAT or ACT scores, and that many other colleges are more interested in high school grades and activities than test scores. Mike applied and was accepted at a four-year college with an excellent pre-law program. Now he has more time to regain his confidence and conquer his test anxiety.

It's Your Decision

Let me give you a little advice that can save you the cost of my high consulting fees:

* Know yourself. Spend some time thinking about your own strengths and weaknesses, goals and dreams. Don't let other people talk you into following a path that doesn't seem right for you.

* Know what you want in a college: Big school or small school? Close to home or far away? Active city campus or quiet country setting? Which sports and activities are important? What majors are you looking for? Is religious affiliation important? What kind of student body do you want to be part of?

* Shop for a college the way you buy a car: Look under the hood. Kick the tires. Take it for a test drive. Ask people who already own a car of this make. Above all, don't always believe what the salesperson (or admissions representative) tells you.

* Make your own decisions: Friends and family can give you all the advice in the world, but you're the one who has to live with your college decision.

Take some time making your college choice. It will be one of the most important choices of your life.

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