Making Your College Admission Decision in 2025 – What to Consider and How to Feel Confident in Your Choice

During this time of year, high school seniors and pending transfer students face a momentous decision – which college admission offer should they accept? With Admission Decision Day just around the corner on May 1st, it’s an exciting time, but also a stress-inducing, stomach-churning time. You might worry that you’ll make the “wrong choice,” or that even if the choice you want to make feels like the right one now, that you’ll later have decision-regret and want a do-over.

But no need to worry! Read on, and by the time you’re done reading, you’ll likely know which college is best for you, and you’ll be ready to click the “Accept” button in your preferred college’s portal!

How to decide which college to attend

When weighing college admission offers, there are several factors to consider:

• Academic fit
• Financial fit
• Cultural fit and personal priorities
• Access to internships and jobs
• Other considerations

Academic fit

When making your admission decision, it is critical that you spend time researching the specific academic program you selected when you applied for admission. Take the time to review the list of courses required for your major at each college. Are the requirements similar at all of the colleges? Or do they differ? And if they differ, how do they differ?

In some colleges, you can select not only a major, but also a concentration or area of focus within the major. Usually, colleges that offer those options are going to be better choices academically, because they enable you to select courses that more closely match your interests as well as your career goal. In addition, colleges that offer those kinds of options typically have faculty and resources that are more focused in that academic area, which is also important.

It’s also a good idea to look at the overall flexibility of the major. For example, some colleges might be very prescriptive, giving you a list of courses that you must take, with only a few electives, while other colleges may have a smaller number of required core major courses, and a larger number of electives within the major that you can select from. Similar to the colleges that offer concentration areas, greater flexibility within your major means that you can customize your academics to be more tailored to your individual interests and career plans.

You should also check to see how popular your major is at each school – if your major is more popular, then you’ll find a larger community of students with similar academic interests, and you’ll also find that the college might have more faculty and resources for your major. On the other hand, popular majors sometimes result in more impacted classes, so you may find it more difficult to get the classes you need. It is important to weigh all of these pros and cons to confirm which colleges are best academically fit for you.

Financial fit

It is so important to select a college that is affordable for you and your family. You’re probably thinking, “College is so expensive – it’s never affordable!” And it certainly can seem that way. But college can be affordable – however, you may discover that the college that is most affordable might not be the college you prefer to attend. So when making your admission decision, you’ll need to weigh the relative importance of affordability as compared to other factors you are considering.

If your family has been fortunate to be able to save some money towards your college education, then you’ll have some money already earmarked for college. You’ll then have a foundation upon which you can build by earning scholarships, earning money from a job, and also possibly qualifying for need-based aid through the FAFSA.

On the other hand, if your family hasn’t been able to save for your education, and if your family is low-income or middle-income, you won’t have that initial savings to start with; however, you may find that you can qualify for need-based federal or state grant aid, as well as possibly earn need-based scholarships and merit scholarships, along with also earning money from a job.

Many families fall somewhere in the middle. They may not have had enough income to be able to save for college, but they might have too much income to qualify for need-based federal or state grants through the FAFSA. In fact, this is the situation where most families find themselves. If this is your situation, you’ll need to really prioritize applying for scholarships, and you’ll want to work full-time during the summers, and part-time throughout the school year to help pay for college.

If you’re wondering where to look for scholarships, ScholarshipOwl is an outstanding resource for external private scholarships. Scholarships earned through the ScholarshipOwl platform can be applied to whichever college you’ll be attending, so you won’t have to know which college you’ll be at before you start applying. You can also apply for scholarships through the college you’ll be attending; however, if you haven’t yet applied to those scholarships, you may find that most of the university scholarship deadlines will have passed. Still, it doesn’t hurt to contact the financial aid office of the college to ask.

Once you have received your financial aid and scholarship offers from the colleges you are considering, you’ll want to review them side by side to see what you would need to pay out of pocket to be able to attend. Remember: If you are offered loans as part of your financial aid package, those funds should be considered “out of pocket” because loan funds will need to be repaid.

Example

If the total cost of attendance of a public university in your home state is $25,000, and if you were offered a $5000 Pell Grant and $2000 in university scholarships, then the balance owed would be $18,000. Let’s say you also earned $3000 in external scholarships, bringing the balance down to $15,000. If you were then offered $5500 in federal student loans, and your parents were offered the remaining $9,500 in a Parent Plus loan, your financial aid offer would show a balance of $0 – which looks great at first glance, but remember that loans are burdens on you and your family that must be repaid with interest. So the actual out of pocket costs for you and your family for this college would be $15,000 plus interest. And this would only be for your first year of college. If your family’s financial situation remains similar for the next three years, then you would be taking out more loans of similar amounts, equating to about $45,000 plus interest that you and your family would be responsible for as out of pocket costs.

As such, for each college that offered you admission, you’ll want to compare the financial aid offers you’ve received, and compare the out of pocket costs associated with each one, and you’ll need to include loans within those out-of-pocket costs.

University merit scholarships

If you were offered university merit scholarships, be sure to read the fine print to see if there are parameters on those scholarships. In many cases, the scholarship will be renewable annually, provided that you meet certain requirements – renewable scholarships are especially common for private and out-of-state colleges. For example, you might be offered a renewable $20,000 scholarship as long as you remain enrolled as a full-time student, and as long as your GPA is at least a 3.2, and as long as you live on campus. If you were a strong student in high school, those terms might seem pretty simple – but college classes are more challenging and more competitive. You might well be able to meet those terms, but you also may struggle. I know several students who ended up on academic probation at their college AND who lost their renewable scholarship. So be sure you understand the terms of those scholarships, and have a back-up plan in case things don’t work out the way you hope.

Remember – one option for an affordable path to college is starting at a community college and then transferring to a university. Vast numbers of students do this every year to avoid having to rely on student loans to make up any gaps in need-based aid and scholarships. In addition to their low starting cost, students can also receive need-based grants and scholarships as well as merit scholarships to attend community college, making this option even more affordable! Community colleges are always a smart choice, and one that all students should consider.

Cultural fit and personal priorities

You might be wondering how to know if a college is the right fit for you on a more personal level. Let’s start with location, which is of significant importance. When we talk about a campus location, we are talking about a number of things:

Proximity to family and friends is a huge consideration. You want to be able to visit family and friends with ease. If so, you’ll want to focus on campuses that are within a reasonable drive back home. On the other hand, you may want  to live far enough from family and friends that you feel a real sense of independence and freedom. If you are looking for a campus that is far enough away that you only plan to return home for Winter and Summer Break, you’ll want to choose a school that is farther away from home. Or you might not yet be quite sure how you’ll feel. In general, I recommend that students aim for something in between a campus that is perhaps 2 to 8 hours away by car, making it possible to return home by car, bus or train, if needed, and also making it possible for your friends and family to visit you by car, bus, or train. Plane fares add to the cost of attendance, whether the flights are taken by the student, their family, or both. So especially if cost is a factor for you, avoid choosing a campus that requires a plane ride for travel.

Location also relates to the setting of the campus itself, as well as its immediate surroundings. Some campuses are in an urban area, enabling students to enjoy shops, restaurants, and nightlife right next to the campus. Other campuses are in more natural settings, like the mountains, the coast, rural environments, and more. Think about where you want to call home for the next few years – what setting excites you or calms you?

Have you chosen a major where location is important? For example, if you are majoring in marine biology, you’ll want to choose a campus near an ocean or at least a large body of water!

And what about campus culture? Are you an extrovert, who loves to socialize and get involved? If so, a larger campus with numerous clubs, a busy event calendar and an active Greek Life might be a great fit for you. On the other hand, if you are more introverted, and perhaps not as interested in joining clubs or participating in Greek life, etc., then a smaller campus might be ideal.

These days, there is a lot of uncertainty related to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs. If you want to attend a college that values these programs, you’ll want to investigate the views of the colleges you have applied to. And you’ll also want to find out how recent moves by the Trump Administration might impact these programs. If attending a diverse campus is important to you, focus on colleges where diversity has been strongly valued in the past. Even if the colleges you are considering have removed specific DEI programs and services due to requirements from the Trump Administration, colleges that have previously valued a diverse student body that is welcoming to students of all backgrounds will likely still hold those values.

You’ll also want to do some research about each campus to determine how well your personal values match the mission and focus of each school.

Access to internships and jobs

Having access to relevant internships and jobs is a critical aspect of your admission decision.

To help pay for college and to reduce reliance on student loans, students should work part-time during the school year. I typically recommend that students work 10 to 15 hours per week – that schedule is something that can usually be easily managed while you are a full-time student. This is where the campus location really matters – you need to choose a campus that is close enough to places where you can get a job. Now of course, many students do get jobs on campus, so even if your campus is further away from downtown, you might be okay, especially if you have chosen a campus with a large student population. But if you are counting on income from a job to be able to afford college, I would recommend that you choose a campus that has easy access to an area where jobs are more plentiful, in case you are unable to obtain a campus job.

Availability of internships in your field is so important, whether these opportunities are paid or unpaid. To find out about each college’s track regard regarding internships, you’ll want to check with your major department to inquire about internships in your field, either on-campus, or nearby in off-campus locations. Ask what the policy and perspective is about internships within your major department – are students largely expected to find and procure their own internships? Or is there a designated staff person who helps find relevant internships for students? Ask approximately what percent of students participate in a major-related internship before they graduate, and how challenging it is for students to be able to secure an internship related to their field while they are still an undergraduate. While talking with your major department, also ask about paid employment related to your major, and how easy or challenging it is to find those opportunities on or near campus. Are many students able to find paid work experience in the area? Or do most students have to leave the area to find paid experience?

Some parents are not as concerned about the availability of internships and jobs, feeling that while their child is in college, their “job” is to get good grades. This view is a bit short-sighted, because while a student is in college, the student’s job is to acquire the knowledge, skill and experience necessary to be able to graduate and immediately get a job in their field. Yes, you should try to get good grades – that’s a given. But if you graduate with a 4.0 GPA and have not yet worked in your field while you were an undergrad, you will struggle to find a paid position in your field after you graduate because you’ll be competing against recent college grads who do have work experience in your field. You’ll also be competing against those who already have a few years of work experience under their belt, along with their college degree. So make yourself competitive for the job market you’ll soon be in, and get paid or unpaid experience in your field before you graduate college!​​

Other considerations

There are some other things you’ll want to consider as well:

• Overall graduation rate, as well as how long it typically takes students to graduate
• Reputation of the college
• Average starting salary for students who graduate with your same major at each of the colleges you are considering
• Your personal impressions when you visit each campus

Graduation rate

The undergraduate graduation rate is something you should definitely look at for each college you are considering. The graduation rate refers to the percent of students who actually graduate from a college after enrolling. If a college’s graduation rate is 75%, that means that 75% of the students that enrolled at that school graduated.

There are several reasons why a student might enroll but not graduate – in some cases, students transfer to another institution. And some students exit college with plans to return later, perhaps because they have family responsibilities or because the cost of college keeps them from completing. Of course, there are also students who leave the school without graduating for other reasons – maybe their college experience was too stressful, or perhaps they were unhappy at the campus. So you need to keep all of this in mind when looking at graduation rate.

What is really key here is to understand what data is being reported – many campuses report their “6-year” or “8-year” graduation rate rather than their 4-year graduation rate. If you use the College Scorecard Website, they report the 8-year graduation rate, meaning the percent of students who graduated within 8 years of enrolling. Eight years is a long time; however, it does account for those students who enroll part-time while working. It also helps to show students who might have taken a year or two off to save for additional schooling, and then return to finish their degree.
What’s great about the College Scorecard Website is that you can easily compare and contrast all of the colleges you are considering, and see their graduation rates.

The average graduation rate across all colleges in the U.S. was 62.2% in 2023. So if you are considering schools that have a graduation rate that is less than that, you might want to look more closely at your options.

How long it will take to graduate

​It’s also important to look at the overall time it will take for you to graduate with your degree. Just because colleges are often reporting a 6-year or an 8-year graduation rate doesn’t mean that you want to take that long! You’ll want to focus on colleges where you are more likely to earn your degree within 4 years. For those of you who are enrolling in a college that uses the semester system, that would mean you should plan to enroll in 15 credits per term, which is 30 credits per year. If you do that for four years and pass all your classes, you can graduate in 4 years. If you enroll in less than 15 credits per term, it will take you longer to graduate, unless you take classes over the summer or have credits from other sources, such as AP or IB, college credits you earned through dual enrollment while in high school, etc.

It’s one thing to know how many credits to take each term to complete a bachelor’s degree within four years, or within 2 years if you are transferring in as a junior; but it’s another to be sure that you get all the classes that are actually required for your degree. This is also an important consideration, because colleges that are impacted with students may struggle to accommodate everyone in their classes. And sometimes, colleges develop a “word-of-mouth” reputation for not having enough sections of classes available to meet student demand. With that in mind, it’s well worth it to investigate how hard or easy it is to get the classes you’ll need.

When it comes to college, time is literally money, so you’ll want to choose a college that has developed a reputation for graduating students within 4 years vs. longer. The best way to find out if impacted classes are an issue at the colleges you are considering is to search online for student reviews, and also to ask students who are currently attending, either in online communities or forums, or in-person while touring the campus. You can also call the admissions office and ask questions – some colleges literally prioritize getting students out within 4 years and they will talk about it if you ask.​

College reputation and rankings

​Many students and families prioritize the reputation of a campus when making their admission decision. A college’s positive reputation can certainly help confirm your decision, but it shouldn’t be the leading factor. Most colleges showcase some of their top rankings on their website. Rankings might relate to the college as a whole, or they might relate to a particular major, or they might relate to student outcomes.

If you are interested in checking out some of these rankings, visit the websites for the colleges you are considering, but also look at other less biased websites that offer rankings. Here are some examples of websites you might want to look at:

• College Scorecard
• U.S. News & World Report
• Niche College Rankings
• Research.com Rankings

Starting salary after graduation

Outcomes data is really important when comparing admission offers. Certainly the graduation rate is part of that data, but salary data is also key. When you graduate, you’ll want to know that you have the ability to transition from school to work, and that you can do so while taking care of your basic living expenses. When you graduate, you might still have a roommate or two to help share the cost or rent and utilities, but you’ll likely need a decent starting salary to be able to cover your share, as well as your food, transportation costs, insurance, and more.

The PayScale website has an annual College Salary Report that you can search to get an idea of what you might earn for both early career and mid-career salary from each campus. You can also see the percentage of STEM degrees earned within each school so that you’ll see how much STEM degrees have influenced the salary data.

The College Scorecard website also has some salary data, so you may want to look there as well. ​

Personal impressions after visiting the campus

Once you have whittled your options down to perhaps two or three top choices, it’s a really good idea to visit and tour the campuses, especially if you haven’t visited the campuses before. But even if you’ve already visited, it can be helpful to visit again. While it is possible to get a sense of what a college might be like by checking out videos and online commentary, it’s simply not the same as visiting in person. This is because when you visit in person, especially when you are trying to make your admission decision, your visit is more than just an exploration – because now you know you might actually enroll. You might actually live in one of the dorms. You might actually socialize with the students you meet, and you might actually attend the classes taught by the faculty. When you visit this time, you’ll be more discerning as you wander the halls and take in the aesthetics. You’ll sniff-out the subtleties, like how welcoming the students are, and how much time and care you sense from the faculty.

When visiting campuses, be sure to plan these visits in advance so that you can get the most out of your experience:

• Call your major department and let them know that you were accepted for admission, and that you’ll be visiting the campus. Let them know the date of your visit – which should be on a weekday, when classes are in session. Let them know you would like to sit-in on a class being taught within your major department, and ask for their help in determining which class would be best on the date of your visit. Be sure to write down the name of the class, the name of the professor, the location of the class and the time it will be taught. Also ask for the email address for the professor so you can send an email in advance to alert them that you’ll be sitting in on their class and why.
• While still on the phone with the person from your major department, let them know that you would like to schedule a meeting with a faculty member from the department, and for recommendations on who you should meet with. Then get the contact information for that person so you can reach out to schedule the meeting.
• Call  the admissions department to let them know when you’ll be visiting, and ask to schedule a campus and housing tour.
• On the day of your visit, in addition to auditing a class, meeting with a faculty member and taking your campus tour, also be sure to eat a meal in the dining hall, chat with students you encounter, and visit the downtown area to get a sense of the shops and eateries that are near campus.
• Spend time lingering in campus gathering places, visit the library and checkout study spaces.

Before you leave the campus, ask yourself: “Does this campus feel like my home away from home? And could I spend the next four years here and feel supported, confident and excited about my future?” If you can answer yes to these questions, you’ll know this college would be an excellent choice for you!​

I’m ready to make my admission decision! What should I do now?

Make your admission decision official

Once you know which college admission offer you would like to accept, go into that college’s portal and accept your admission offer. Follow the steps required, as indicated within your portal and/or within emails you receive from the college. Typically, that will include providing an enrollment deposit as well as selecting a date/time for your orientation, which typically will happen during the summer before college begins. You may have to pay for your orientation as well.

Apply for housing, if you will be living away from home

If you plan to live in on-campus housing, you’ll also want to apply for on-campus housing, choose your preferred dorm, and then pay your housing deposit. Housing is often granted on a first-come, first-served basis, so you’ll want to get your application and housing deposit in as quickly as possible once you have accepted your admission offer. If you will be looking for off-campus housing, start your search right away as it can take time and housing availability may be limited.

Decline other admission offers

Next, login to the portals for the other colleges who offered you admission, and decline those offers. By declining, you’ll be opening up spots for other students who want to attend those schools, so it’s always a good idea to formally decline admission to schools you know you won’t be attending.

Prioritize applying for scholarships and jobs, not loans

Now that you know for sure which college you’ll be attending, make sure you have the funds to pay for it!

• Prioritize applying for scholarships with ScholarshipOwl. Apply for scholarships all summer long, and throughout the school year.
• Work part-time during the school year and full-time during breaks. Save your earnings to use for your college education.
• Don’t “fund your gap” with student loans – use debt-free sources instead.

There IS an affordable path to the college you’ve chosen – for further information, and to start applying for scholarships, visit www.scholarshipowl.com.