By Ben Davis

Have you ever searched for buried treasure... without a map? Many students and parents feel they’re doing just that when they begin searching for a college. The key to knowing where to look is to know what you’re looking for!

The process can be daunting, from determining which schools to visit to knowing how to evaluate diverse universities. I’ve asked four Metro-area college-bound students and a parent to share their experiences so others can chart a course toward successful college choices. It’s a fill-in-the-blanks map anyone can customize. By making a list, visiting several schools, re-visiting the best ones, and going with your gut, each student can find treasure at the end of their search—a meaningful university experience.

Make a List
When graduate Lela Berry started exploring universities, she looked everywhere. She could picture herself happily studying at Duke University, the University of Texas, or even New York University. Her mother Susan had to put some practical limits on the young dreamer. She shares, “I finally had to say, ‘OK Lela, find your top ten, then narrow it down to your top five,’ because she was looking at everything.”

Lela started researching on the Internet to shorten her list and to determine what characteristics she wanted in a school. She says, “Those websites really show you what kind of options schools have. It showed me that I wanted a smaller college but didn’t really care if it was in a rural or urban setting.”

With a field of hundreds narrowed to five, and with a deeper understanding of what characteristics they most valued in a school, mother and daughter began the next step, visiting a campuses.

Visit Several Schools
Lela felt strongly drawn to Washington University in St. Louis, but she still visited four other schools. It turned out to be a good thing, because she was put on the waiting list for acceptance into Washington University. “I’ve always thought Wash. U. was what I wanted,” Lela says, “But I changed my mind. I chose Baylor.” Without multiple school visits under her belt, she might not have had that choice.

College freshman Meredith Wadley thought her college search was over and done after the first visit. “I was planning to go to OBU (Oklahoma Baptist University). I even thought I was 100% sure,” she says. “So I didn’t look at anything else.” She applied early, was accepted, and planned her freshman year in Shawnee.

After the initial excitement, however, she experienced a different emotion. “Around January,” she says, “I started feeling really uncomfortable with that decision.” After time spent thinking and praying, the Wadleys agreed to restart their college search. Unfortunately, Meredith and her family faced a time crunch in coming up with an alternative—graduation loomed near.

Re-Visit the Best Schools
Former senior Eric Probo really did his homework, exploring which schools have strong Aerospace Engineering programs—his major of choice—and visiting them. After one campus tour of Oklahoma State, he liked what he saw so much he took a second, and a third, unofficial tour, followed by a fourth.

Eric trekked across campus so many times in the process of making his college decision that he cultivated a genuine connection with his future university home. “[My parents and I] wandered around campus just seeing what was out there. I really liked all the brick buildings and the overall atmosphere. It felt right.”

Most universities offer more than visitors can experience on one visit, so a second look is a good idea. Graduate Skylar Anderson states the biggest factor in his college search was “the impressions I got from the visits I took.” He found academics and scholarships were fairly well-matched at his top schools, so he watched for the decisive element during his visits—“the amount of ‘Ultimate Frisbee’ played on campus.”

Go with Your Gut
After online research, college visits, and repeat trips, students come to perhaps the most distressing stage of all: making a choice. Parents are a crucial resource in this time, acting as a springboard for ideas and sharing from their own experiences. Lela found her parents helped her by “talking and thinking out loud with me. And it helped to just know they were there for me.”

Nevertheless, even parents cannot see the future, and each student ultimately must make a tough choice based on limited knowledge. Yet each student who has taken these steps discovered a powerful ally—an instinct deeper than they thought developed throughout the search process.

Skylar Anderson says, “In the end, my gut feeling of where I want to be, where I fit, and what I want to do is what I have to decide with. Sometimes we just have to take a gamble, trusting that we know ourselves well enough to choose best.”

College searching can be difficult. But with practical tools and perseverance, any family can find the school that’s right for them.

More College Search Tips
* Use the Internet. The Internet offers some great resources, like CollegeNet.com (basic statistics), FastWeb.com (scholarship information), and CollegeBoard.com (the total package, including “action plan” timelines for each year of high school). These resources are free and better than comparable books.
* Talk to high school counselors. Counselors are there to help and have walked through the college search before. Plus, campus representatives from distant universities often visit high schools, allowing students to determine if the school is worth a second look.
* Attend college fairs. Metro area college fairs happen every year, usually in the fall, and attract representatives from across the U.S. Take your top ten colleges list and make a stop by every booth on the list, then decide which schools are worth a physical visit.
* Incorporate college visits in family vacations. Lela Berry wanted to visit Washington University in St. Louis, so her family took her to St. Louis as a birthday present. In between shopping and sightseeing, they made time for a campus tour and found it well worth the visit.

Ben Davis is a freelance writer from Oklahoma City who visited nine universities before settling on one that fit him best.