How Not To Choose A College

Career World, Oct, 2000 by P. Gregory Smith

Most teens think more about used cars they'll buy than the colleges they'll attend. Our College Crisis Counselor tells you why that's a bad ideas.

I'm a College Crisis Counselor. Whenever a student enrolls at the wrong college, I'm on the case in a flash. I can spot a problem from a campus quadrangle away and solve it before you can say undergraduate baccalaureate degree."

There can be a thousand reasons why college freshmen end up in the wrong place, but let me tell you about some of the more common cases that I've dealt with in my flourishing practice.

Family Tradition

Most of the time, it's a good idea to listen to your parents, but sometimes trouble starts when students listen too closely. For instance, take case #563B....

Scott was raised in a crimson and aqua crib, the school colors of Flowing Lake University. FLU's mascots, the Chargin' Chipmunks, paraded across his bedroom wallpaper. From the time he could wave a Flowing Lake banner, he was brought to every homecoming game. You see, Scott's father went to FLU because his grandfather graduated from FLU because his great-grandfather founded the university.

Poor Scott--when it came time to apply for college, his father simply asked, "Did you get your application in to FLU yet?" Scott never had the chance to tell his dad that what he really wanted to do after high school was study at the Culinary Arts Institute and pursue his goal of becoming a chef.

Midway through the first term, when he had pretty much flunked every course in the FLU catalog, Scott came to see me. I brought Scott and his father together for a long overdue conversation about Scott's goals--not his father's. Just last week Scott sent me a delicious chocolate cheesecake, his term project at the Culinary Arts Institute.

High School Romance

Sometimes high school romances can lead to college heartaches. Case in point: #8706H....

Jack and Diane were inseparable from the day they met in sophomore year of high school. Jack was the star of the basketball team, and Diane excelled at tennis. All their classmates thought they would get married shortly after high school graduation. But as it turned out, Jack was offered a scholarship to attend Golden Hoop State College in the big city. Although Diane had always dreamed of going to a smaller college and studying to become a high school English teacher, she followed Jack to Golden Hoop. Diane didn't want to give up a future of happiness with Jack for her "silly" dream.

After his first basketball game, Jack rode off with a sophisticated city girl driving a silver BMW convertible. Diane was left alone and without direction. She called my hot line, and I knew the solution within 10 minutes--she bought a one-way ticket back home and enrolled in a nearby college with excellent English and education departments. When I last talked with her, she was earning straight A's in her courses and dating a guy who had never touched a basketball.

Money Matters

Money, or lack of it, can complicate choices when students base college decisions on finances. Take case #789S....

Emilio's family had recently come from Guatemala to the United States and founded a restaurant here. His parents were determined to help their children succeed in their new country. They needed him to help out at the restaurant after school, but Emilio always found time to get his homework done. Biology was his favorite subject, and molecular biology fascinated him more than anything.

When it came time for Emilio to pick a college, he was determined to find one that was affordable, because his parents had enough financial problems to worry about as it was. He longed to study molecular biology at the renowned Metropolitan Institute of Technology, but it was one of the most expensive colleges in the country. He knew that his parents wouldn't be able to manage the high costs. So Emilio enrolled in the General Science program at Southwest State University, where his family could pay the tuition and fees by taking a second mortgage on the restaurant.

I received an E-mail from one of Emilio's professors at Southwest State. The professor, who was a graduate of the Metropolitan Institute of Technology, recognized Emilio's talent after the first lab project, and he called me. Over dinner at the family's restaurant, I explained the ABCs of financial aid to Emilio and his parents. With scholarships, grants, and low-interest loans, Emilio was actually able to attend Metropolitan the following semester for less out-of-pocket expense than it cost him to attend Southwest--and that's a fact!

All That Glitters...

"All that glitters" is not always a good goal when it comes to college choices. That reminds me of case #432L....

Anastasia first fell in love with Emily Dickinson University when she saw the movie Admissions of Love. From the moment the final credits rolled, she knew that she could only be happy on the leafy green campus of EDU. As other high school juniors collected information about a variety of schools, Anastasia decorated her bedroom walls with pictures of the flower gardens, the ivy-covered buildings, and the Emily Dickinson monument on campus. She watched the EDU admissions video over and over until the tape wore out. When her parents took her on a campus visit, it was as beautiful as she thought it would be, and her perky, well-dressed tour guide told her how wonderful her next four years would be.