Quick Fix:  Picking a College

By Prin Dumas

The most daunting task in a teen's life may seem the decision to attend a particular college.  Propelled by potential, a student may not know how best to meet the needs of their future selves.  Understandably, this is stressful!

1. Consider your level of commitment to a major, career, or industry.  If you are definite about the type of life you want to create, pursue the college that allows you to aim for that immediate goal while providing you with enough flexibility should any life emergencies occur.

I wanted to be a lawyer.  It was my senior year in college and I had already taken the LSAT to get into law school.  I had slaved over LSAT books and I had selected the law schools I preferred.  I paid my application fees.  I was set, and then, I became very ill.  In fact, I became ill and then, even more ill after I got better.  For a few years after college, I was known among my friends as "the walking plague."  Funny?  Sure, but it put a major dent on my career objectives, and made my double major in English and psychology slightly useful.  I hadn't planned to use them, but now that I wasn't a lawyer, I could fall back on something practical, and I did.

1. Analyze your current relationships:  family, friends, romantic, professional, and community.  Can you leave it all behind?  If you can't, why not?  Assess your personal ability to be on your own and be apart from your current routine.  Is a new setting a plus or is it a minus?  Do you attend where all of your friends are planning on going or do you take a risk to start fresh?

I am the only person from my high school graduating class to attend Fordham University that year.  That excited me!  I loved my friends dearly, but the night before we all started to move off to our respective campuses, we gathered together, took pictures, shed a few tears, clung to a few hugs, and moved forward.  We all survived.  I never regret moving on campus, and I never regret refusing to come home every weekend.  I only lived 45 minutes away, but it was essential to who I am now that I experienced more than what I grew up knowing.  My best friends and I all went to different colleges...and for the most part, graduated college on time, and we're still friends ten years later!

1. Envision the type of salary you want to have after college, once you kick-off a career.  Be realistic about the type of mind you possess and your willingness to work.  Now put a price tag on the most expensive college on your list, including room, board, books, and some buffer cash.  If you did your math correctly, attending a great college like, Princeton University, costs you a total of

$47, 375-a year.  Can you afford this in your life?

I grew up poor.  My parents could hardly help me out with books, let alone an alternative to the local colleges around me.  I worked very hard, and I had two full scholarships, including room and board, but I did not accept them.  I chose Fordham.  Why?  It was not the "best" college that granted me acceptance, but it was the best college that I could afford.  How did I do the math?  Each year, I had to take out about $12, 000 in student loans to make my education there possible.  I figured that four years would cost me a total of about $48, 000, and I sure as heck hoped that in one year (some day) I would make more than that in a salary.  To me, one or two years of my life were worth the cost of going to my college of choice.  Yes, people pay back loans years and years later, but that's because you're paying $50 to $100 a month.  If you want to go somewhere, think proportionally, and invest in yourself!

Picking the college of your choice is very difficult at this age.  You are expected to project what will work for your life ten or twenty years from now.  You are expected to predict mishaps and obstacles, and you're expected to do it alone.  Although your family is a huge part of your college decisions, please, do not forget that by the time you put a foot on that college campus, you will probably be an adult.  If you are passionate about your decision, you need to be willing to defend it, even if it means not getting all of the support from your parents you had hoped to receive.