If you'd like more information about college choice than the ten ideas below, please see What Color Is Your Parachute for Teens, chapter 6, "How to Make the Most of College."

  This weekend begins serious decision-making time for high school seniors who have been accepted to college.  For most teens, choosing an institution for their higher education represents the most important and most expensive decision they've ever made. 

The thoughts below are written to help seniors mull over their choices.  Most of these ideas are not mine.  They come from the pile of "I wish I would have..." comments from the over 400 young adults I interviewed before writing What Color Is Your Parachute for Teens.

1. Please read Seth Goldin's blog on the coming meltdown of higher education. Every point he makes is backed by recent research  http://dld.bz/bFub.  

2.  College makes the most sense for those in the academic top 25% of their class.  If you are not, a university degree, with its big price tag and likely student loans may not be your best next move.  Get a copy of Patrick Coomb's Majoring In Success or some other popular "how to survive and thrive in college" book.  If you haven't read it by August 1, you're not really ready to go away to school.

3.  Do you have a plan?  Studies show that students who know why they are going on to college do better and graduate in greater numbers than those who haven't researched why going to college is a good idea for them.

     Every senior considering college should know their alternatives:  Could you get into your favorite career field with a 2 year degree or other technical training?  Would this be a better place to start your higher education?

4.  Budget for at least 5 years of schooling if you are going to a 4 year college.  Only 30% of students graduate with a Bachelors degree in 4 years.  More than half, 60%, take 6 years to get a BA or BS.

5.  Spend the summer getting training so that you can get a higher paying job.  Over 80% of college students work; 25% work full time (anything over 30 hours a week is considered full time).  If you can qualify for jobs that make more than minimum wage, you'll need to work less and you can study more.  This means you may actually graduate in four years.

6.  Are any of the colleges where you might want to live after graduation?  After four to six years of interacting with professors, having jobs, volunteering or just finding the best place for pizza and free happy hour food, you'll build up quite a constellation of contacts.  Do you really want to start creating another network from scratch, or have you considered which college is in an area you might want to stay in after you graduate?

7.  Which schools have the most extensive tutoring programs?  Your first term at college is often a lesson in humility; you quickly learn that there are a whole lot of freshman students much smarter than you are.  Unless you had a nearly perfect SAT score, you'll find that college level classes can be much harder than even your AP classes in high school.  Check out the tutoring available in your weakest subjects. Is it free? Is it available at convenient times? 

8.  Which of the schools you are considering have the best support programs?  Being away at school is so exciting, but living in a cubicle with another human 24/7 can be challenging. What school has the strongest Student or Residential Life programs that offer conflict resolution, improving study habits, time management, setting priorities, and give an overview to leadership and team-building opportunities or clubs?

9.  Does one school have better value added programs?  Employers hire candidates that can quickly become productive. Internships, co-op education, service learning, campus chapters of professional organizations, study and working abroad all increase your employability.  Also, if you want to work at a campus radio station, newspaper or other cool position to add to your credentials, these opportunities are much harder to get at big-name schools.

   Most students state that one reason for pursuing a college degree is to get a a better job than they could have gotten right out of high school. Do your part to make that happen.  Students who get good jobs after college usually start working in their area of study or get internships by the summer of their sophomore year.  Remember this too: Recruiters and interviews can tell from a quick glance at your resume if you majored in partying or if you laid down solid career tracks while in school.

10.  Have you checked out the career centers at each of the schools you are considering?  How long is the wait to get into see a career counselor?  Many college grads had less than kind words to say about their college's career center staff.  Most reported that if they knew what they wanted to do, the career center was helpful.  Not so much if they were clueless.  Ask career counselors if they can help you build a career plan from no idea (if that's the case, how do you know your college selection will help you get where you want to go professionally?) to becoming employed.  If the counselor's eyes glaze over or you get hazy, general answers, expect to DIY (Do It Yourself) career planning if you choose this school.

While college isn't just for career advancement, spending tens of thousands of dollars and not getting closer to your job goals is like buying a Ferrari with no engine.  You'll not get far. 

Comments welcome!