The Right Way to Pick a College

Live like a student, look past the obvious, take a gap year, look in the mirror and forget about cost (for a minute, anyway.)

LIVE LIKE A STUDENT
Experience a typical day at the school you're considering. Go to classes. Talk with students (and not just the ambassadors, who only have good things to say). Boston University tour guide Kelly McCarthy stayed overnight at BU before deciding to go there. "It's great for you to know that I love it here," the junior says, "but it's more important that you do."

LOOK PAST THE OBVIOUS
Don't start your search with the same list your classmates have. Scour for a few hidden gems. James Ash, a guidance counselor at Wellesley High School, says just because you haven't heard of a school doesn't mean it's not a good match. Also, seek out honors colleges within universities.

TAKE A GAP YEAR
More American students are doing what Europeans have been doing for years - taking a year off after high school. Consider going abroad. After a year working or volunteering, immersing yourself in another culture and learning a second language, you'll make more mature decisions about college. Liz McBride, a recent graduate of Westborough High School, is heading to Africa this fall instead of college. "I definitely want to go to college and study psychology," she says. "But I got fed up with the pressures of school - some of my friends applied to 15 places. College is always going to be there - why rush into it?" She used Taking Off, a Boston consulting firm that guides young adults in the gap-year process.

LOOK IN THE MIRROR
Consider what you, as a person, need. Forget academics for a moment. Do you hate the cold? Ithaca and Syracuse might be out. Are you happiest amid a city's bustle or a suburb's calm? Big difference between Simmons and Amherst. Are you self-sufficient or do you crave a close-knit community where everybody knows everybody? Consider what makes you happy beyond resume building. You might find, upon graduation, that your degree and class time didn't have much to do with all the ways you've grown.

FORGET ABOUT COST (FOR A MINUTE, ANYWAY)
After getting accepted to BU, but with a disappointing financial-aid package, Justin Breton sold his story on eBay (called "Make a Boston University Student's Dream Come True"). He raised enough to cover three semesters' worth of books. "My uncle made a spreadsheet to show me how much debt I'd be in after graduating," says Breton, now a junior. "But had I gone somewhere else, there is no way I'd be this involved. It's a huge chunk of money that I'll owe, and it's very scary. But it's been worth every penny, because I haven't had an unhappy day here."