Find your perfect fit with Cappex.

Attention high school seniors: It’s that time!

You’ve spent the last three years giving up your free time so you could fill in the blanks on your resume with volunteer work, extra curricular activities, and a part time job. You’ve invested countless hours studying so you could make the grades. Now it’s time for all of that hard work to pay off. It’s time to begin your college search! Check out these common mistakes high school students make on their quest to find the perfect college fit!

Not Searching

The biggest mistake you can make in the college search is not searching at all. Perhaps your father, grandfather, and great grandfather all went to the same college, and you just assumed that’s where you should go, too. Maybe your freshmen year, you and your group of friends all decided to go to the same college. Or maybe you picked your own college, but it was in middle school. Do not just go with the flow because you might not like where you’re headed. You need to choose your own direction, or at very least, verify that the direction you’re going is indeed your best option!

Not Spending Enough Time Searching

Deciding where you’ll spend the next four years is not a decision you should make lightly. This is where you’ll be trained in the knowledge that prepares you for your career. This will be where you will eat, sleep, and breath. This is where you’ll make new friends, join clubs, and independently become the person you want to be. Take your time deciding what it is your looking for, and familiarizing yourself with what’s out there. You want to be sure that you’re giving yourself the best opportunities, and that you’re going to choose somewhere you like.

Not Visiting the Campus

One of the biggest and most common mistakes students make is when it comes to choosing where to apply, they often judge a college by the web site, posters, and photographs in college catalogs instead of actually going to see the campus. This is like choosing your friends just by looking at their yearbook pictures! Just like you spend extra time picking out an outfit, a background, a smile, and a hairdo, colleges try extra hard to look good for their pictures, too! You won’t know what a college looks like on a typical day, or what kind of culture is has, until you actually take the time to go there.

Not Using Cappex to Find Your Best College Fit

Unlike our parents’ generation, where colleges were found through college fairs and guidance counselors, we have the internet to make our lives easier! Cappex is a site where you can search for colleges, and colleges can find you as well! By filling out a profile and answering a few questions about what you’re looking for, you can be linked to colleges all over the country that best match your interests and preferences! You can even find out your chances of being accepted!

For even more info about making your search as thorough as possible, check out this edition of Cappex White Board Friday in which Bobby highlights the Top 3 College Search Mistakes students make.

Imagine that you’re interviewing your future school for the position of providing you with the best education and college experience possible. The following is a list of questions to “ask” your future school.

Is this a two or four year institution?

Is this a large school or a small school?

What is the average number of people per class at this school?

Is this college in a suburban, urban, or rural environment?

What does the surrounding community have to offer?

What is there to do for fun?

Is this a public or private school?

Is this a same-sex or co-ed school?

Does this school have a religious affiliation?

How much does this school cost?

Does this institution offer scholarships and other financial aid programs?

How far is this school from home?

Is this school in-state or out of state?

What majors does this college offer?

What makes pursuing my major at this school different than another school?

Is this school able to give me a good education?

What benefits does this school have to offer?

What are the meal plans and food like?

Does this school offer extra-curricular activities I’m interested in?

Does this school offer a particular sport I want to play?

Does this school have a sorority, fraternity, or national honor society I want to be a part of?

What are the acceptance rates for this school?

Do I meet the acceptance criteria for this school?

Does this college offer study abroad programs?

How do students get around at this school?

Am I allowed to have a car at school?

What is the transfer rate for this school?

What is the drop out rate for this school?

What percentage of students who attend this college graduate in four years?

What are the students like at this college?

How diverse is this college?

Does this school have enough computer labs, a big library, a pool or a gym?

How many of my high school classmates plan on attending this college?

Will I live on or off campus?

How safe is the college and surrounding community?

What is living on campus like at this college?

How many people share a dorm room at this school?

How many people share a bathroom in the dorms?

Are the residence halls co-ed?

What is this school known for?

Do I like how the school looks?

Is this school up to date on their technology and equipment?

What have the professors in my field of study accomplished?

Could I feel at home here?

For tons of resources to help you search for colleges, find scholarships, and discover your perfect college match, check out Cappex.

We have been hearing a ton of feedback on the big school/small school debate, like these comments from Cappexians Emily and Audrey:

The debate could go on forever about the pros and cons of a big school versus a small school, but in the end, it’s what floats your boat! If smaller classes, guaranteed attention from professors and faculty, and a close-knit community is something you’re looking for, how about starting off your college search with the 10 smallest colleges in the United States:

1. Shimer College
Enrollment – 81
Fun fact – Shimer college, now co-ed, was originally founded as an all female college. Its classes are exclusively small seminars–how could they be that big!– in which students discuss original source material rather than read textbooks

2. Sterling College
Enrollment – 99
Fun fact – Sterling College is one of seven colleges part of the Work College Consortium, which means it’s an institution of higher learning where student work is an integral and mandatory part of the educational process.

3. Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts
Enrollment – 128
Fun fact - The Lyme Academy is known for its contemporary focus on the history and tradition of representational art, centered on the study of nature and the figure. So if you want a contemporary focus on the history and tradition of representation art, centered on the study of nature and the figure…this might just be the place for you…just…maybe…

4. Bryn Athyn College
Enrollment - 155
Fun Fact - Bryn Aythn’s College’s original campus and surrounding community was designed in 1893 by Charles Eliot of the firm Olmstead, Olmstead, and Eliot – the famous firm responsible for the design of New York City’s Central Park.

5. Art Academy of Cincinnati
Enrollment – 156
Fun fact – Students at the Art Academy of Cincinnati work closely with faculty members who themselves are professional contemporary artists (student to faculty ratio is 10:1).

6. Burlington College
Enrollment - 166
Fun fact – Burlington College is one of the few American universities to offer study abroad programs in Havana, Cuba. So if you have an undying desire to relive your favorite movie “Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights,” this might be the easiest way to get the clearance to go to Cuba.

7. College of Visual Arts
Enrollment – 189
Fun fact – The College of Visual Arts is comprised of 5 school buildings including a 1915 mansion.

8. Montserrat College of Art
Enrollment – 270
Fun fact – Well-known alumni of Montserrat include prominent fashion designer Sigrid Olsen, sculptor Carlos Dorrien, and children’s book illustrator Giles Laroche.

9. Cogswell Polytechnical College
Enrollment – 287
Fun fact – Among Cogwell’s other programs are animation and video game development.

10. Judson College
Enrollment – 324
Fun fact – Judson is one of the oldest women’s colleges in the United States, but is now co-educational.

What’s your take? Do these schools sound too small or are they just the right size? Leave a comment!

The one thing you might not be prepared for is the question that most students wind up dreading:

“So, [insert name], where ya heading off to college next year?”

Why does this question get annoying? Well, for one, you might not know the answer. And for another, any question that is repeatedly asked by anyone and everyone you happen to come in contact with will make you feel like you accidentally stepped into a never-ending inquisition.

So here are 4 ways to repeatedly answer the most dreaded college question:

1. RUN
As soon as you notice the words forming in your podiatrist’s lips, hop off the chair, and run out the door–you can send a pigeon for your shoes later.

If you are not a good runner, or you haven’t trained your pigeon to carry heavy objects quite yet, the next 3 options might be for you.

2. I’m Still Searching
You might have zero clue where you’re going. In fact, depending on the time of year someone asks you the question-that-shall-not-be-named, you might only be in the beginning of your college search. If this is the case, be honest. Let the inquisitor know you’re really not sure. You can tell them about the schools you might apply to, or which schools Cappex has introduced you to. Keep your answer short and sweet.

3. Magic
Don’t underestimate your magician-like skills as a conversationalist. Utilizing the magician’s method, you can make it seem like the question never existed by artfully changing the subject. This takes skill, but, hey, David Copperfield didn’t just make the Statue of Liberty disappear one random morning–he honed his craft (and had a big crew).

4. Bore your listener
If you really want to teach the person who asked the dreaded question a lesson, give them all the gory details. They’ll realize how much is behind the question–the hours you spent studying for the ACT/SAT, the conversations where you asked your favorite teacher to write you a recommendation, more hours you spent studying for the SAT II’s, asking a teacher you didn’t like that much for a recommendation, figuring out what to write your college essays about, joining the 10 different clubs that all raise money to help children–the list goes on!

The more you elaborate, the less likely that person is to ever assault another high schooler with the question:

“So, where you going to college?”

This is not an easy decision. With all the factors that go into applying for college, the enormous amount of paperwork and figuring out how to pay for it, some of the original reasons for why you applied to certain colleges over a different set of 12 colleges have gone out the window.

So, we’re here to help you loop back to those original thoughts that made you apply to the specific colleges in the first place.

Here are 5 things not to forget about when deciding on a college:

1. Your goals and passions
By the time you’ve gotten into some colleges, you’ve probably heard everybody’s opinion about where you should go–which colleges are ranked higher, which has a better reputation, which college has the best campus. It’s nice to have some feedback from your family and friends to work with but maybe Uncle Carl’s passion for the U’s football team isn’t why you should go to his college of choice.  This is your college experience, so make sure you take into mind your goals and passions.

If you’re passionate about college football, maybe the school without a football team isn’t right for you.  If you’re goal is to graduate in two and half years, maybe that huge party school is too distracting.  Take into account your goals, your passions and which college or university meets those requirements.

2. The way you learn best
You’ve probably heard it way too many times to count, but everybody learns a little differently.  Some students only thrive when they’re in the front row of a 15 person class.  Others prefer to be incognito in the back corner of a 500 person lecture hall.  Whatever your learning habits are, try to see how they match up to the schools you’re accepted to.  A 40,000 student university will have a different academic culture than a 1,000 student liberal arts college. Where will you thrive?

3. The people you want to be around
There are different kinds of cultures at different colleges.  Some campuses have more diverse student bodies than others; some have super academically competitive-natured student bodies.  If you’re the type of student who is laid back about grades, surrounding yourself with overachievers might not be the perfect college fit for you.

The best way to understand a student body is to visit the school.  Take a road trip with your family and get to know the school a little better to help make your college decision easier.  You can start planning your easy campus visit trip here.

4. The distance from home
A lot of college-bound high school seniors get a certain bravado about how far away from home they’re comfortable being.  Maybe that Australian college recruiter who gave a cool speech about surfing and studying during 5th period was convincing enough to make them forget about the 9,000 miles distance from home.

Take some time to really consider what you’d be comfortable with.  If you’re a homebody, going to a school where you have to fly to get there will most likely restrict how often you’ll be able to go home.  If you never want to go home again, by all means, go to school in Australia.  Just make sure you understand costs of transportation between home and school and how it might affect the frequency at which you can go home.

5. Networking possibilities
Having a little foresight never hurt anybody…that we know of… For this reason, take a few mental jumps ahead to think about your life after college.  As a college graduate, what will you want to do?  Certain schools have strong alumni ties to the Peace Corps, others have connections with Wall Street.  The alumni pool of your college might just be able to help you kick-start your dream career after graduation.