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Whether you think you want to commute to school, move away from home to get the typical college experience, or take classes online, it's imperative that you consider a variety of things when you begin your  

Search for colleges

 .

If you aren't sure about what you'll major in or what size school you want, start with something you do know. If you know you want to go away to school, search for universities that are in your chosen geographical area. If you aren't sure if you want to go away, but know you want to major in business, and that you would prefer a smaller school, eliminate schools that are over a certain size or that don't have good business programs.

After you've made your first round of cuts, determine what the next most important factor is. Maybe you want a school with a good football team, off campus housing, or a competitive debate team. If playing division one sports in college is important to you, then don't even consider schools that aren't D1. This makes your pool even smaller, which is good.

After your search for colleges, you want to have a pool of no more than 15 schools, all of which you should be able to see yourself attending. If you can't see yourself attending a school, there is little point in wasting the time and application fee to apply.

Be sure to have a few "safety" schools on your list - schools you are certain you will be accepted to. You should also have some "reach" schools - schools that are a reach for you to get into - and some middle of the road schools.

During your search for colleges you should also remember to find out about the financial aid each school offers, the school's demographics, clubs and organizations can you join on and off campus, what the residence halls are like, what off-Campus life is like, if there is career placement help available to you upon graduation, and what the employment rate of graduates is. Of course, you should add these questions to your own pile to create a useful structure for choosing your college.



Jackie A. Bondanza is a former writer for The CollegeBound Network. Learn more about finding a school that's right for you.

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