3 things to consider when choosing a college

College is often regarded as the "best times of our lives", but this honestly depends on the school you decide to attend. There are a bunch of factors that contribute to deciding where we want to spend the next four years of our lives living, learning, and growing into adults. When I applied to colleges I didn't have a "dream school" in my head, my parents weren't in a frat or sorority, and the colleges my parents did attend didn't really interest me and I had no desire to attend either of them... sorry mom and dad. Well, my dad's school didn't have a women's basketball team so continuing my athletic career there wouldn't be an option so that's the extent of my reasoning for that one. Anyways here are some of the things you must consider before choosing a college or university.

Community college or 4-year university. This is something to consider because it really narrows down your options. There is often a negative connotation with community or junior colleges, but it's nothing to be ashamed of at all. The pros of a community college include:

• Cheaper than universities:
• Most community college are designed for people who live at home so you save on housing.
• The tuition is much cheaper as well. According to College Board, the average tuition for a 2-year college is about $3000.
• Low GPA. If you struggled in high school and your GPA is a little low, you can use those 2 years to build up your GPA to transfer to your dream school.
• Uncertain. If you aren't sure what you want to major in, it is a good idea to just get your core requirements done so when you transfer you can declare a major and focus on that. 
• Make money. It's easier to work part time. Commuting to a community college gives you more time to work and make money without some of the distractions that accompany a big university. By distractions I mean some of the social obligations you might feel from your roommate or parties on campus and things like that.
• Athletes. It's a great way to keep playing and work your way up. A lot of athletes kind of look down on people who play at junior colleges, but I know a ton of people who spent two years at a JuCo and are now playing at D1 universities, so don't be afraid to start there!

If you agree with any of those points you might want to consider a community college!

The pros of a 4-year university:

• More choices. Universities are bigger than community colleges, therefore there will be more options for majors and specializing in certain fields.
• College experience. Football games, parties, living in a dorm, etc. Taking part in these events are fun and really define the social aspect of college. 
• Bachelor's degree. Having a bachelor's degree compared to an associates will most likely give you an edge up on people with only an associates.
• Pre-anything. If you want to be a doctor, lawyer, dentist, or anything that requires extra schooling, you should really consider a 4-year university. For example, getting into med school or law school obviously isn't an easy thing to do and they really consider the school you went to before applying for those schools. 

My pick: I chose to attend a 4-year university. I got a lot of scholarship money, I can play basketball there, and they have an excellent program in computer science. 

Location, location, location!!

• Close to home. If you want to have the option to come home on the weekends you might not want to go somewhere that requires using an airplane to get home or driving hours to get home unless buying plane tickets and gas is fine with you.
• Post-graduation. Where do you want to live after graduation? Do you want to come home or look for a job immediately? If you want to get into technology, it might not hurt to go to college near Silicon Valley so you can make some connections or maybe get a part-time job or internship while in college. If you want to get into fashion, you might want to go to school in New York to do the same. 

My pick: My college is pretty close to home, only about an hour drive. I made that decision so my parents can come to my games and I can come home whenever I'd like.

School size.

The pros of a small school include:

• Small class sizes. If you come from a smaller school or just like the feel of a high school class size then you might want to pick a smaller school. This also allows you to make connections with your professor and it might make you feel less intimidated to ask questions in class. 
• Not as overwhelming. I think that huge universities often feel like mini cities. There are thousands of kids and it just really busy all of the time. Also smaller schools are often cleaner than large schools. I've toured schools like University of North Texas and I know people who have toured University of Texas Austin which both have 30,000+ students and they are both noticebly less clean than smaller schools. By clean I mean trash or debris lying around campus because it's a lot more difficult to clean up after tens of thousands of students compared to just a couple thousand. 
• Know more people. I come from a high school class of almost 600 kids so often when we are testing I'm looking around the room like "I've never seen some of you people before in my life." So if you want to know more of the people who you go to school with, a smaller class size might not be for you. 

The pros of a larger school include:

• Larger dating/friendship pool. While your primary focus at college shouldn't be dating or making a whole bunch of friends, it is still important to consider who you will be living with. At a larger school, you are more likely to meet people of really different backgrounds while at a smaller school you might have more of a homogeneous group of people to interact with. 
• Sports. At a bigger school, those sports games are really fun and taken pretty seriously. You'll have more tailgates, bigger stadiums, and all that jazz which I think makes college pretty fun, but if you aren't that big into watching sports this might not apply to you. 
• Big class sizes. Some of you might enjoy lecture style classes and not having to participate in discussions with the whole class; so this one might be a plus for you!

My pick: I chose a smaller school. While in my senior year of high school I had the opportunity to go on a field trip to the University of North Texas. They have about 30,000 students total and I sat in on a freshman level communications class with a size of 400 students. In comparison, when I was previewing the college I chose to attend, I sat in on a freshman level computer science class of about 21 students. I was used to this size class from high school and it was much easier to ask questions and get things done... and the teacher actually knew everyone's name which is a plus.

There are a lot of other things you should consider when choosing a college, but these were the main things I considered when I chose my college. I am very happy with the chose that I made and I wouldn't go back on it. The most important thing to do when choosing a college is to not let anyone influence you to change your mind after you make your decision.