If I Knew Then What I Know Now...

For the next few weeks, we'll be posting advice from current college juniors and seniors, as well as recent graduates, about creating a list of schools where you will apply. We've had some terrific responses from those who know best about this step in applying, including the choices -- and mistakes -- they made, the things they wish they had thought about, and their recommendations for today's high school juniors. Take advantage of the 20/20 hindsight of these students and recent grads about what they learned after they arrived on campus.

Valerie Kuznik from Cleveland, Ohio, now attending Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN, looks at the characteristic that many students often start with -- the size of a college -- and provides some insight into what that meant for her:

What does big/medium/small really mean? While I am happy that I guessed correctly that I'd want a "medium" school (around 7,500 undergrads), I certainly didn't understand what this meant as I applied. What I love about a school this size is that it means I always see friendly faces on the way to class, and our dining hall is the hub of social activity on campus--you're always guaranteed to see friends. However, there are still opportunities to meet new people, and you're sure to see unfamiliar faces out and about. While this medium size made for an easy adjustment from a large public high school, I sometimes wished I had chosen a slightly larger school. Between the smaller size and the incredible level of student involvement in organizations on campus, everyone seems to know everyone, which can sometimes make the rumor-mill resemble high school.

Gillian C., from northern California, a graduate of San Francisco State University, has some great advice for students who may not be quite ready to commit to a path:

I attended an elite private high school, and the assumption was that all students would attend top-notch universities. If I could recreate my college path, I would have started at a community college instead of a four-year private liberal arts school because it would have given me the time to figure out what I wanted to study, saved my family a lot of money, and better prepared me a for a four-year university. Once a student has one or two years at a community college, they can then create that (transfer) college list with the strong knowledge of what kind of academic program they’re searching for, what size suits them best, and where they want to live, etc.

We'll be back with more next week…