Updated: 08/24/2004

Selecting A College

A fair share of the e-mail this column gets relates to the question of what colleges are best.   In this column I'll try to focus on some of the key issues.

First of all, some people say, "It really doesn't matter where you go to school as long as you get a degree in something from somewhere."

If this is all that needs to be considered, you can save yourself a lot of time and money by spending $50 or so on a mail order diploma from an unaccredited diploma mill.  It will look good on your wall (from a distance) and you can claim you have a "degree"; and throughout your life you can hope that no one asks you any questions about it.  (Watch out for job interviews!)

Assuming you want a real degree, you would be wise to consider some real options.

If you want maximum return on your four-year, many-thousand dollar investment, you need to consider a topnotch university. In a 2002, The Princeton Review listed their "top 10" choices.

• Northwestern University
• Amherst College
• United States Air Force Academy
• Princeton University
• Yale University
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Duke University
• Dartmouth College
• Swarthmore College
• United States Coast Guard Academy

Recently, a group of West-cost high-school students who scored from 1,200 to 1,600 on their SAT tests were asked what universities they were considering.  (With SAT scores this high, they would probably be eligible for academic scholarships almost anywhere.)

The top five choices were:

• UC Berkeley
• Harvard
• UCLA
• Yale
• Stanford

The strictly liberal arts schools would constitute a rather different list, of course.

The top 15 universities in terms of technological strength yields a different type of list. (Keep in mind that research-oriented schools generate more than one-billion dollars a year for themselves from patents.) The top schools in this category are:

1. University of California
2. MIT
3. Stanford University
4. Caltech
5. University of Texas
6. Princeton University
7. University of Wisconsin
8. Johns Hopkins University
9. University of Washington
10. University of Michigan
11. University of Chicago
12. North Carolina State University
13. University of Southern California
14. Pennsylvania State University
15. Georgia Institute of Technology

Each year U.S. News & World Report ranks "America's Best Colleges." The top choices for 2004 were:

1. Harvard University and Princeton University (tied for first place)
3. Yale University
4. University of Pennsylvania
5. Duke University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Stanford University (all tied for fourth place)
8. California Institute of Technology
9. Columbia University, Darthmouth College (tied)

The top-ranked liberal arts college for 2004 was Williams College. The top-rated public university (at number 21) was University of California-Berkeley.

Of course, these listings are based on criteria that a prospective student may or may now consider primary deciding points in their decision making process.

Even so, you may notice that many of the same schools keep popping up on lists of top schools. Before we get to "why," let's consider five questions you need to ask in making a decision on a four-year college.

1. Given your SAT scores and high-school grades, what schools will admit you? (Don't just assume you won't have a chance to get into a top university.  Check out the possibilities.   You might be surprised.)

2. What is your economic situation?  Without the aid of hefty scholarships, out-of-state tuition at public universities and at private colleges is often prohibitive.

3. What do you want to major in? Some universities are noted for being strong in certain areas and not in others.

4. Relocation Issues.  This covers the whole range of issues from travel distances to where you can afford to live.

5. University Environment  This also covers many things.  Included are

The latter primarily refers to colleges with specific religious orientations. I do not have much personal experience with these schools and strong religious beliefs would undoubtedly prevail in many cases. 

However, I recently heard a Protestant minister say to his congregation, "Why should young people have to consider a second-rate college just because they are Christian?" I'll let that quote speak for itself.  It may or may not be relevant that this minister holds a Ph.D. from Stanford.

The college years are some of the most significant in a young person's life.  Lifelong habits  and coping abilities are learned.

Young people need to be challenged to develop necessary understandings and skills.  They must learn to make informed  decisions from a smorgasbord of options.  They need to learn to successfully deal with rigorous demands—even with uncompromising, cantankerous professors who seem to have unrealistically high standards.

You also need to consider this: Which university among your possible choices would command the most attention and respect on a resume or an employment application?  Some universities immediately attest to your abilities.  Others could be seen as suggesting that not many options were open to you. 

Remember, that university will be a part of your resume for the rest of your life and the average young person will be changing jobs about eight times during his or her lifetime.

College is the biggest investment in time and money most people will make in their lives, and it can pay the biggest dividends.

Selecting an easy path does not provide the best preparation for success in today's highly competitive world.  This understanding is clearly reflected in the colleges being considered by highly capable and motivated high school students.

If they don't know it already, these students will soon find that there is an excitement in being on a campus noted for making major contributions in fields such as science and medicine. 

Students of this caliber may soon be rubbing shoulders with professors who have made important contributions to the world—and who are prepared to help them do the same.

So the bottom line is: try to find the most challenging, stimulating and thought-provoking university you can attend.  

Not only is this what the university experience is supposed to represent, but it will provide you with the best return on your investment and the best preparation for lifelong success.

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