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When I was 18 years old, I tried my best to give my parents angina: I attended three colleges in three semesters--in three states. I first traveled from Southern California to a smallish public college in Virginia, but left because I was horribly homesick and the culture shock was overwhelming. Off to community college I went, where the honors program I inadvertently tested into required that I take classes I had already taken at my first college (and in high school) because I needed to take them to get into UCLA. When I told the counselor I didn't want to go to UCLA, she asked, "Then why are you here?" Long story. So off I went to Grinnell College, a very small, elite liberal arts college in a town of 8,000 people smack in the middle of Iowa. Still some culture shock, but let's just say I lived happily ever after.
These (mis)adventures, combined with teaching experiences at two big research universities and a large state university, give me a bit of an insider's perspective on classroom environments and college life. The deadline (in the U.S.) to let colleges know you'll be matriculating this fall is May 1. For parents and young people heading off to college for the first time, here are my top three tips on choosing a college. (Note: some of these will apply to older "nontraditional" students as well, but I'm gearing my advice toward typical incoming undergraduates.)
1. Visit the college. If you'll be attending a residential college--especially one far from your home--ask to stay overnight with a student in the dorms, eat the food in the dining halls, and meet the students. Attend a couple of classes, ideally an introductory course in your anticipated major and an upper-division seminar.
2. Consider size and purpose. Colleges come in several flavors, and the type of institution you choose will affect your learning and social life. At a large, research-focused university, it's not uncommon to take courses of 300-1,000 students. In these courses, typically a professor will stand at the front of the class and lecture for 1-2 hours using PowerPoint. You'll meet in discussion sections or labs of 25-50 students led by teaching assistants, graduate students who may be more or less enthusiastic about or skilled in teaching than the professor. Science classes are more prone to being huge, while your humanities classes, because they require more writing (and grading by professor and TAs) will tend to be smaller.
There may be a payoff, particularly for social science and science students, who can stand this factory farming of students. Undergraduate students who distinguish themselves may have opportunities to assist graduate students, postdocs, and professors with research in the lab and in the field. Before you sign on to a college in the hopes of doing this kind of research, be sure such research programs are available for undergraduates.
In the middle of the spectrum are state universities and colleges typically referred to as "four-year colleges," even though most of them also offer Master's degrees (but not Ph.D.s). Depending on your state, these universities may not be the most competitive, top-tier institutions in your area, but because faculty here usually are not asked to undertake as much research as those as research universities, they may be more focused on teaching undergraduates, which means a better learning experience for you. Many of these schools--even if you're paying out-of-state tuition--can be an excellent deal. For example, when I enrolled in Mary Washington College (now the University of Mary Washington), it would have been less expensive for me to attend that college while paying out-of-state tuition for four years than it was for me to attend a University of California school as an in-state student for five years (which was the time I was told it would likely take me to graduate).
At the far end of the spectrum are small, liberal arts colleges. At the best of these, professors still undertake research to keep current in their field, and the more elite the institution, the lighter might be the professors' teaching loads--meaning they teach fewer classes per term than their counterparts at state schools. For example, in the best economic times, professors might only need to teach five courses per year, which means they can invest more time and energy into each class--and each student, because classes are typically much smaller
