Taking the Mystery Out of the College Search and Application Process

Sandra Steele, M. Ed., LPC
Educational Consultant

Selecting a college is an important choice—perhaps the most important choice you have ever made. Your choice of a college can either be good or bad, positive or negative, depending upon your willingness to devote yourself to the process. If you invest yourself in the search, you will find many schools from which to choose. If you are passive and wait for your counselor or parents or your mailbox to bring word of “the perfect school,” chances are you’ll be sadly disappointed with your ultimate choice.

Your power to choose a college. Your first choice is whether you desire a college education. Make a list of the outcomes you desire from a college education. Think about how you want to be different as a result of going to college.

Decide whether you want to be a student. Often students claim they want to go to college, yet they don’t show the requisite commitment to the academic side of college life. They may see college as four years of fun and games. Are you ready to make a commitment to your studies? Do you have the persistence necessary to be a successful student?

The next choice is when you want that education to begin. Some students delay the start of their college experience for a year or more to be prepared fully—emotionally as well as intellectually—for the rigors of college education.

Finding a college should not and need not be traumatic or stressful. Optimism and perspective are important as you begin to look for a college. Remember that 90% of the colleges in the US accept over 80% of those who apply.

The diversity and excellence of US colleges are truly mindboggling. Your investment in the college selection process is the first way to demonstrate your commitment to your future success. It is a unique opportunity to affect your life in a positive way.

It is amazing, but decisions you make as early as 8th grade have a huge effect on your college career. These decisions affect how soon you’ll go to college, what type of college you’ll attend and even whether you’ll go to college at all.

Ways to Jumpstart your College Planning:

• Get Involved. You’ll develop skills and show colleges your ability to make a commitment and stick with it.
• Take Challenging Courses: Colleges do look at your grades, but also they pay close attention to see that you’ve challenged yourself with difficult courses.
• Get Help: Having trouble in a class? Talk to counselor, teachers, etc. to let them know you WANT extra help.
• Read. Read, Read, Read, beyond study and homework. Reading pays off when taking standardized tests, such as the PSAT/NMSQT, SAT, ACT Tests.
• Don’t Delay. Make sure you are taking the solid math and other courses that get you ready for college. Take the PSAT/NMSQT as a sophomore.
• Get the College-Bound Facts. Get to know your counselors or an Independent Educational Consultant.
• Involve Your Family. Have parents talk to counselors or consultants to help you, as the student, stay on the right path.

Mrs. Steele has been a Licensed Professional Counselor with a Master of Education in Guidance for 20 years and was previously the Director of Guidance at Concordia Lutheran High School, Tomball, Texas. As an Independent Educational Consultant, Sandra Steele assists students in finding the best matched college by utilizing a student’s interest, skills, academic achievements and values. Additionally you can expect an educational consultant to assist in preparing the college applications, essays, financial aid applications and the admission interview .

Also, Sandra Steele is certified in administering career interest and skill surveys, personality indicators, and the scotopic sensitivity/Irlen Syndrome screening for visual depth perception.

For additional information or assistance in the college application and financial aid process or scotopic sensitivity screening, contact Sandra Steele.

I. College Choice as a Process

A series of steps in which each builds on the previous one

• Step One
  • Analysis of your self as a potential college student
    
• Step Two
  • Review the qualities that will make a college right for you
    • Size: small vs. large
    • Academic offerings: liberal arts and sciences vs. specific career colleges
    • Coeducational or single sex
    • Religious/ethnic orientation
    • Qualities found in the student body
    • Academic environment
    • Activities available
    • Big name school or best fit school
    • Cost and availability of financial aid
    • Admission difficulty
    • Need for academic/social recognition
    • Location
    • Academic success in college
    • Fitting in/being comfortable in colleg
• Step Three
  • Use all of the resources at your disposal to select the colleges to which you will apply
    • Internet: www.collegexpress.com, www.usnews.edu, www.collegeboard.com, www.fastweb.com
    • Write colleges for viewbooks and applications
    • Research college choices
    • Use a manila file folder for each college to which you are applying in it, put applications and other materials for that college
• Step Four
  • Work systemically on your application and essays
    • Know precisely what forms, test scores, etc. are required for all of your college choices
    • Craft excellent application essays
    • Volunteer and community service work
• Step Five
  • Pick your college

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