10 important pointers to choosing a Right college for you.

Choosing the right college after all that successful effort at your entrance exam is one of the most important decisions you need to make. and quite often you are at crossroads while taking this decision. Reputation? Campus Placement? Facilities and Infra? My friend's recommendation? Better Higher education prospects? Cost ? these and many such considerations put their weight on your decision-making process making it challenging for you. So here I bring you some important pointers to help you take the right decision.

1. Your academic interests and goals: This is first and foremost . What do you want to study? What are your long-term career goals? Make sure the college you choose offers programs that are aligned with your interests and goals. Remember choosing a stream that is not aligned with your interests and goals just because a reputed college is offering may give you a job but will not give you a career.  You can assess this by talking to your guidance counselor, researching online, visiting college websites, and attending college fairs.

2. The college's reputation: What is the college's reputation for academic excellence? What is its graduation rate? What are its alumni doing after graduation? This  information can be discovered by taking a Look at college rankings, reading college reviews, and talking to people who have attended the college. You may need to begin this process early since connecting with alumni may take time. 

3. The college's size and location: Do you want to go to a small college or a large university? Do you want to be in a rural area, a suburban area, or an urban area? 

Read about the college's location online or Visit the college's campus , take a feel about the college , the classrooms, the library and other essential facilities. additionally  talk to current students, to get more information.

4. Campus placements and internships : Does the college have an Active Placement Assistance cell. How many Industry connect does the college have ? what kind of industries visit the college every year for placements. Does the college offer Internship support through these connects? you need to find answers to these questions to check if it aligns with your career goal. 

5. The faculty ( The lecturers / professors ): How many permanent faculty members does the department have ? What are the faculty members like? Are they experts in their field? Are they passionate about teaching? How many faculties are involved in research? How are the faculties  with respect to their connect with students, their willingness to meet individually and solve your doubts and queries. These days many reputed colleges are not having even reasonable faculty members, many of these institutes recruit faculties on hourly contract basis and pay very meagre amounts ( In Pune an Assistant / Associate professor on a Contractual basis gets paid  between 400-1500/- per session even in most reputed colleges ) Even Many PHD  qualified lecturers do not get more than 40-50k per month and hence the attrition rate at many colleges is quite high resulting in direct impact on student learnings. 

6. The cost: How much will it cost to complete your course there? Can you afford the tuition, fees, the Hostel and Mess charges or rental expenses, and other expenses?  To have this information check out during your campus visit . Additionally look at the college's financial aid website, talk to your guidance counselor, some of the college alumni students, and then to your parents to understand the budget available.

7. The college's student body: What are the students like? Are they diverse? Are they friendly? Are they academically motivated? 

How to get this information: Visit the college's campus, talk to current students, and read about the college's student body related activities online. 

8. The Campus Life: What is the college's campus like? Is it a traditional college campus or a commuter campus? What extracurricular activities are offered at the college? Are there clubs and organizations that interest you? Does it offer activities that are aligned with your career goal.. for eg if you want to become an entrepreneur, does the college have activities like startup clubs or innovation cells or if you want to get in armed forces does your college have NCC ? 

9. Your Boarding Facility : Will you be able to get hostel admission for your stay. if yes how is the arrangement if not then where can you get rental / PG accommodation at your preferred cost and taste. How would be the food facility be arranged? 

While to some it may sound not so important and a generic assumption  that,  "if there is a college then the stay arrangements would be there"  may be made. But I have come across quite a few students whose academics were badly affected for a year or two due to the stay and food arrangement gone wrong. Some have faced serious health problems and some have faced distress and trauma as well because of the homesickness or  unwanted company around. I am sure you don't want to buy this for yourself or your child.  

10. Your gut feeling: and finally when you visit the college, do you feel like you could see yourself there? Do you feel like you would be happy there? Trust your gut instinct when making your decision. 

I am sure you would agree with the above pointers. Yes it involves some amount of effort to tick mark all the above checkboxes, but it's worth. After all it will be making or breaking your Dream Journey. 

Some pitfalls of going only by market reputation / perception of a college:

• Not all colleges with a good reputation are a good fit for everyone. Morever in the era of paid PR management, improving reputation has become much easier.  What matters most is that the college is a good fit for your individual needs and goals.
• College rankings can be misleading. They often focus on factors that are not important to all students, such as selectivity and endowment size.
• A college's reputation can change over time. What was once a highly regarded college may not be as good today. My personal experience about two highly reputed colleges in Pune has been very disappointing. 

It is important to consider all of the factors listed above when choosing a college. Market reputation is just one factor to consider, and it should not be the only factor. Ultimately, the best college for you is the one that is a good fit for your individual needs and goals.

This exercise should be done well in advance so that you are clear when you appear for the centralized admission process where you have to choose your preferred list of colleges. Looking at the current trend of choosing colleges based on certain specific parameters, its highly possible that the college that has the maximum score on your checklist may actually be easily offered to you and you need not have your blood pressure ride the sine wave during the admission process.

what do you feel ?

Do let me know your views through your comments.

regards

Avinaash Deshmukh

Youth and Career Coach