Once again, the key to preparing for college is to start early.

1. Why are you going to college? What are you going to be studying?
2. Does the reason you’re going to school match the strength of the school you’ve chosen?
3. If not, why did you choose this school?
4. If you chose a school for other reasons (your parents went there, your friends are going there, it’s a prestigious school, the school has a reputation for being easy, whatever...), you may be sacrificing your ideal education for less than ideal reasons. Going to your parents alma mater or a prestigious school is fine, but make sure you don’t pass up the opportunity to attend the school that is your perfect match.
5. Go visit the school while the semester is in session, and make an appointment with an admissions counselor. Try to talk to students who attend the school to get feedback on their experience on campus.
6. Make sure to ask the admissions counselor what their admission requirements are, and make sure your grades, admission test scores and extra curricular activities can meet those standards. You should also ask for ballpark figures for tuition, books, and room and board, since some colleges may be out of your price range.
7. Begin preparing for the SAT or ACT depending on which test your chosen schools accept (you can take both if you want to cover all your bases).
8. If you can’t visit a school, make sure to visit their website and request necessary information to help you make a decision. But if you can possibly visit the school in person, don’t use the internet as a substitute. There’s nothing quite like being on campus.
9. On a piece of paper, write down your objective as well as subjective feelings about the college, a sort of “pros and cons” list. This gives you something to look at a few days later when the excitement of visiting the school has worn off. This also gives you a visual way to compare the different colleges.
10. Once this is done, list your favorite colleges in order of preference from 1 to 6. Then leave this list alone for a day or two (if you started early enough).
11. Come back to the list, and determine if these really are your top six picks. If not, shuffle, add, subtract and so on. But if they are your top six, then send applications to your top 4 colleges.
12. Now comes the hard part. Look at the standard qualifications for the top 4 colleges you sent applications to. Are their admission standards in line with your qualifications? Are you a “shoe in” or a “long shot”? If you are a “shoe in” to your top 4, then maybe you don’t need to send in the application to the two that are left. But if you’re a long shot on 2 or more of your top 4, then look at your remaining 2 and make a decision. Should you apply to these final two colleges, or should you look for a “safety” college where you are sure to get in. Whatever your decision, it’s usually a good idea to have one or two colleges where your acceptance is assured...just in case.

Also, apply to a “match” school, which is a school that matches your academic profile and offers strong academic degree programs in the field of study you are interested in. When preparing for college, these are the schools that should really attract your attention.

Informal visits can be just as informative, but you need to be focused. If you have friends who attend the college, they may be able to help, but this isn’t a party weekend. Try to visit during the week while classes are in session. Get permission to sit in on a class or two, and see if you could talk to some professors too.

Although this isn’t education related, attend a school function if possible. Go to a football, baseball, basketball game. Go watch a concert, or take in the local lakes or rivers.

If you get a chance, try out the college cafeteria. You would be surprised at how much cafeteria food differs from campus to campus. And a word of experience here, it’s real easy to over eat at the cafeteria. Lots of food, eating with friends, emotional eating...you got the trifecta of weight gain here.

So, after you check out the cafeteria, go visit the student recreation building. Most colleges have pretty nice gyms for weights, cardio machines, basketball, group exercises and racquet ball. It’s easy to forgo this option, but you can meet lots of other students at the rec center. Be sure to check out any intramural programs if you’re interested in group sports. This is a part of the college experience too.

Wouldn’t it be terrible if you went to your perfect academic college only to find they had terrible food, no recreational facility and nothing to do on campus? I only mention these extracurricular activities because they round out your college experience. None of these are reasons to go or not go to a college, but just remember they are available so you don’t become isolated when you get to college.