How do you pick a college?
There’s not a simple answer!
Kind of reminds me of the question, how do you pick a spouse?
Maybe through a group of friends. Maybe through a ministry at church. Maybe you use a dating app. Maybe your parents contact a matchmaker (no joke, some cultures do that).
Broadly, how do you discern God’s will for your life? The Bible says in Romans 12:
1) “Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God” – recognize God’s authority over you and live for Him
2) “Don’t be conformed to the patterns of this world” – don’t buy into the culture’s norms,
3) “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind” – soak yourself in God’s word and His ways.
The result is that then “you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is.”
My mentor Carol Wever once summarized this as “Follow God in your everyday life now, and He will make the next steps clear.” Have His attitudes and pursue His priorities.
Worry-Motivated Prayer
As each of our children finished up high school, the temptation to worry about next steps served as an excellent motivation for a more fervent prayer life. It wasn’t easy. But by May of senior year, we were rejoicing in God’s direction and the closer relationship He gave us with Himself as we were forced to rely on Him more heavily than before.
So let’s say you are praying intensely for God’s direction, guarding your priorities, and walking faithfully with Him day-to-day. What are some practical steps you can take as you seek to know His will?
What Are You Looking For?
When I was choosing a college for myself years ago, I started with a list of the top universities in each major (the 1980s version of US News and World Report’s list, I suppose) - I picked my major, found the schools with the best reputation, and started visiting.
I wouldn't do it that way now.
Today I see the goal of college more as "who do you want to BE after four years," rather than "what do you want to DO after four years" (by which a lot of people actually mean, "how do you intend to make money").
The most important question to be asking is what your child wants to get out of four years of college.
Are they just checking a box in order to move on to grad school or a job? Then they might want to test out of a bunch of requirements using CLEP, AP, Straighterline, or dual enrollment, and graduate quickly.
Is their focus employability? Then lists like U.S. News might be helpful, as well as data from college career placement offices and employment statistics after graduation.
However, while credentials and employability are important, a college’s influence on your future goes beyond those numbers. Universities disciple us to become someone. Spending four years surrounded by faculty and peers that are passionate about learning and the Lord – or those who aren’t - has a profound effect on a person.
Although my husband and I both went to secular colleges, all four of our kids wanted to attend Christian schools. I have been so encouraged to hear them relay what it meant to them to have classes and a peer environment where the Bible and a Christian worldview were so fully integrated. For example, one daughter told me how much richer her quiet times were because of what she was learning in her Constitutional Law class. Who knew?
List of Priorities
A helpful approach is to make a list of “must haves” and “preferences” in order of importance to you. Usually walking through this kind of exercise can help you start to narrow down a list of schools of interest.
Maybe a must-have is an ABET-accredited electrical engineering degree. Maybe it’s a having a faculty who are all committed to inerrancy. If both are must-haves, then your list of schools just narrowed tremendously.
Some factors to consider: academic challenge (too low, and they might not learn; too high, and they might not pass), campus atmosphere, Christian support, size, majors, social scene, support services (medical/tutoring/counseling), internships, study abroad, job or grad school placement, faculty accessibility, extracurriculars, location, and finances.
Keep an open mind on finances at first, because many private schools have sticker prices that drop dramatically once you are admitted. For example, did you know that if you make under $160,000/year, Princeton is tuition-free?
Creating Your List of Schools
Your list of priorities will direct how you research schools. Use Google and ask friends. Maybe visit a college fair with questions (make your student ask them). Narrow your list by pouring through websites. Fill out contact forms to request mailings. Have your child call the admissions office and ask if they could speak with a student in a major or activity that interests them.
There’s no substitute for campus visits. Have your student contact admissions ahead of time to see if they can sit in on a couple classes, meet with a faculty member in their major, and, if possible, stay overnight in the dorm. Taking advantage of a teen summer camp at the school can really help get a feel for the atmosphere, too.
Senior year is usually too busy with applications and the rest of life to squeeze in trips to colleges, so aim to make your visits sophomore and junior years. Avoid the summer; the campus isn’t normal then.
Apply Broadly and on Time
Eventually, by application time (fall of senior year), you will want to narrow that list down to maybe six schools: a couple reaches, a couple matches, and a couple safeties. If you think you will need merit aid, remember you’re more likely to find it at the safeties, not the reaches.
You don’t know where the most financial aid will be coming from, so apply broadly – as Ecclesiastes 11 (rather ominously) puts it, “Give portions to seven, yes to eight, for you do not know what disaster may come upon the land.” In other words, don’t put all your eggs in one basket.
Apply early; to get maximum scholarship consideration, many schools want applications in by mid-October. Sometimes schools waive application fees if you apply early (even August). Fill out your financial aid forms (FAFSA and maybe CSS) as soon as possible, probably January. Some schools give away their need-based aid on a first-come first-served basis.
Choose Wisely
As your field of colleges narrows, encourage your student to stay active researching, talking on the phone with current students, and coming up with lists of questions for their admissions counselors. Attend in-person or virtual admitted students’ days. Keep praying.
Once their financial aid packages are announced in the spring, compare them carefully and go back to schools to ask for reconsideration where needed. Keep praying.
Keep Trusting
Proverbs 3 says that God’s word is “a light unto our feet,” not a searchlight illuminating the whole forest. He has a way of showing us one step at a time, enough that we know just what we need to do next, but not so much that we are tempted to stop leaning on Him. What a perfect process! Isn’t He good?
For More Information
This Saturday at the Advancing the Next Gen Conference in Raleigh I’ll be giving a presentation on how to find Money for College, and another on Effective Homeschool Transcripts. I’d love to meet you and answer questions you may have.
Another resource I discovered recently was this HSLDA presentation on how to afford Christian colleges. As part of the webinar, the speaker discussed how to pick a school, and her insights were particularly well done.
Missy Fox
Photos by Vladislav Babienko and Tim Foster on Unsplash
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