\u201cAt best, the college selection process is an educational experience. Students should be thoughtful, ask questions, trust their own educational instincts and experiences \u2013 and realize they are doing precision guesswork, at best.”<\/strong><\/p>\nIt is impossible to know whether a college is the right one until a student actually starts attending the school. For some reason, students expect, and are expected, to know what the best school for them is, prior to attending. Unless there are some psychic perspective college students out there, there is no way of telling.<\/p>\n
Uyen Vu, a freshman Biology major at The College of New Jersey, agrees that there is no way for a student to know if a school is right for them, until they start. Vu believes that the success of a student is dependent on their experience, not necessarily on the credentials of the school they attend.<\/p>\n
Vu said, \u201cIf a school has a good program, but you are not happy there, you\u2019re not going to succeed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no such thing as one perfect college! There will be several, if not many colleges, where a particular student will flourish. Lives of great worth are developed in all kinds of colleges.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\nAs someone who was completely unsure of which college to attend, I often wondered if the college I chose would have any influence on my ability to succeed in my future career. After gaining insight from Thacker, and reflecting on my own experiences, I\u2019ve come to realize that the college itself has little to do with the success of the student.<\/p>\n
Kaitlin C. West, Admissions Counselor and College Ambassador Coordinator at The College of New Jersey, believes that finances should play a role in a student\u2019s college pick. She agrees with Thacker in that there are many colleges in which a particular student can succeed. If a student doesn\u2019t attend their dream school, it isn\u2019t a life or death situation, it is likely that another school is also a good fit.<\/p>\n
West told me, \u201cPicking your dream college is great, but do you want to spend the rest of your life in student debt? Consider the financial aid and scholarship package each school offers. You\u2019ll thank yourself down the road.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere a student goes to college is not nearly as important as what a student does in college. It\u2019s the doing, not the going that matters.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\nWest also agreed with this point made by Thacker. She told me that a prospective student should put themselves in the shoes of a college student on the campus and ask if they can picture themselves getting involved on that campus.<\/p>\n
\u201cCan you see yourself walking the campus? Hanging in the student center? Joining the clubs? Doing work in the Library?\u201d West said.<\/p>\n
As a freshman myself, I have come to understand the importance of involvement. Getting immersed in the campus is just as important as attending classes.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat matters most in the process \u2013and in college and beyond \u2013 are student qualities, such as confidence, curiosity, imagination, willingness to take risks, compassion, honesty, critical thinking\u2026\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\nThacker recognizes the challenges involved with the college admissions process, but also encourages prospective students to realize that their worth isn\u2019t dependent on their choice of college.<\/p>\n
If only I could go back in time, I would give myself Thacker\u2019s advice, and maybe pass some along to the girl I watched cry in the bookstore on that rainy day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I vividly remember the rainy, overcast day that I first stepped foot on the campus that I would later call home. I stood in the bookstore of The College of New Jersey as my mother lagged behind, pestering me into revealing whether or not \u201cthis was the one.\u201d At that same moment, we watched as a father reprimanded his daughter, whose face was damp with tears. He screamed over the fact that she had yet to pick a college and she was, obviously, distraught. The scene that I watched play out in that bookstore wasn\u2019t, and still isn\u2019t, uncommon for prospective college students to experience. Choosing a college is one of the hardest decisions young people have to make and the stress put on them by society is just short of overwhelming. Now, as a freshman in college, I have come to realize that the stress endured during the admissions process is unnecessary and that there are far more important things in life than picking a college. In an effort to determine what factors are the most important to consider when picking a college, I spoke with Lloyd Thacker, the founder and Executive Director of the Education Conservancy, a nonprofit […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2507,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[30],"class_list":["post-3682","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-wim","tag-tcnj"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/pearson.immtcnj.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/pearson.immtcnj.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/pearson.immtcnj.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pearson.immtcnj.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2507"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pearson.immtcnj.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3682"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/pearson.immtcnj.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3682\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3685,"href":"http:\/\/pearson.immtcnj.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3682\/revisions\/3685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/pearson.immtcnj.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pearson.immtcnj.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pearson.immtcnj.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}