*All students interviewed for this story are seniors at Valley.
With nearly 6,000 colleges in the U.S, over 80 in Virginia alone, narrowing down a list of colleges can feel incredibly daunting and near impossible.
So, I asked seniors how they started their college search.
Lindsay Semaio recommends narrowing down schools based on financial criteria: both tuition and application fees. Application fees can range from 50-100 dollars per school, which is one of the main factors Semiao considered.
“I didn’t want to spend a lot of money on applications, so I looked into all the schools as much as I could before I had my final list,” Semiao said. “ I looked at how much tuition would cost and I made my list from there.”
Chance Harcrow started by making a list of things that were important to him in a college, such as proximity to family and having his desired major.
“Through that I was able to narrow down my schools to mostly schools in Texas, because that’s where most of my family is.” Harcrow said. “After I found those schools, I made sure to visit those so I knew if I would actually like being in person there.”
Julia Helm agrees with Semiao on the importance of prioritizing cost, but also recommends keeping an open mind throughout the process.
“It has to be somewhere you really feel at home, and that may not be your dream college.” Helm said. “It’s important to keep an open mind to all schools.”
Kaila Jackson focused on similar criteria as Semiao, Harcrow and Helm, focusing on academics, costs and campus feel.
“First I started by looking at the programs of each college I wanted to apply to, and that was from either hearing it from friends or family or teachers about what colleges they thought would be good for me,” Jackson said.
She then researched tuition, application fees and looked into scholarships by GPA. Once Jackson narrowed that list down, she did campus tours and looked at criteria important to her, such as a walkable campus, if she’d need a car and how she felt about the dorms. Jackson ultimately ended up applying to 8 colleges.
“I would definitely do it the summer after your junior year so you’re not waiting until November to choose what colleges you want to go to,” Jackson said.
Izabella Hortega primarily focused on her desired major, and finding the best school for her interests.
“I originally thought I wanted to go into science, but then junior year I realized I was really good with history, and so I looked at some top science and some top history colleges,” Hortega said.
Hortega decided to apply to a few schools that had both strong science and history programs, and then one specific science school and one specific history school.
“I wanted to make sure I had options that fit both science and history because at that point I wasn’t sure which I wanted to major in,” Hortega said.
Do you have a question for seniors? DM us on Instagram @lvhsviking or email me at [email protected].
