before i decided what college i wanted
to go to i wanted to be a glassblower
when i decided not to do that i applied
to schools for a linguistics major and
if i hadn't chosen either of those paths
i might have gone to community college
and transferred to a four-year school
later there are no wrong choices but
there are a lot of choices and that can
be overwhelming when it comes to
choosing the right school for you it
starts with picking an institution
that's truly committed to supporting
your success as a student that includes
helping students get good grades but
it's also about offering programs and
resources that empower you to excel
inside and outside of the classroom hi
i'm erica rozowski and this is crash
course how to college a study hall
series presented in partnership with
arizona state university and crash
course
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as college students we want to be
somewhere that prioritizes our success
that means finding a place that will
support us from start to finish and that
support might look different for
everyone so finding the right school
starts with advocating for yourself and
one way to start the self-advocacy
journey is to think about yourself as a
learner maybe you're someone who likes
to hole up and read everything you can
about true crime or maybe you're someone
who likes to meet up with friends and
binge the latest docu-series or both
another way to advocate for yourself is
to identify your priorities maybe
getting a job is the most important
thing to you ask the alumni office at
your potential school about job
placement rates and whether the school
has a good relationship with local
employers if you're interested in a
skills-based job like a mechanic or an
electrician or a medical assistant you
might find that a community college or
maybe a trade school is the best fit
you'll get specialized training for a
specific job or industry or if you're
interested in a job in law or medicine
or teaching those careers tend to have
education or certification requirements
you'll want to make sure your college
can satisfy some schools are for-profit
which means they want to enroll as many
students as possible to maximize the
money they earn in some cases they don't
have enough resources in place to
support students so it's important to
use caution when considering these types
of schools you should also be aware of
whether a school is accredited
accreditation is important because it
tells you whether the school's academic
and training programs meet quality
educational standards thinking about
your goals and researching a school
before you commit to it is another form
of self-advocacy you can also advocate
for yourself by exploring useful
resources before you enroll at a college
by checking out college websites or even
specific programs they offer you can
look for useful resources like tutoring
mental health counseling or whatever you
think you might need based on your
learning style and priorities one of the
most effective ways to learn more about
these resources is to talk to a current
or former student admissions offices are
usually happy to connect prospective
students with current students many
schools even have ambassadors whose job
is to talk to new and prospective
students talking to other people can be
helpful too before making your decision
contact schools of interest to speak
with an admissions counselor an
admissions counselor can help you learn
more about the school and assist you
with scheduling a college visit if i was
touring a college campus i'd be
interested in asking questions about the
student life clubs and the food on
campus prepare for your visit by making
a list of questions you want answered
create a checklist of things you want to
accomplish at each college be sure to
pay attention to things like what the
surrounding community is like whether
there are nearby attractions or
landmarks and whether the campus isn't a
small rural town or a big city even
asking about the weather can really help
inform your decision can't make it to a
campus in person that's okay many
schools offer virtual campus visits and
websites like youvisit and campus tours
compile online campus tours in one place
speaking of online resources you can
consult reputable websites and databases
such as college boarding capex to find
information about admissions rates
demographics graduation rates
accreditation class sizes and more you
can also use the college scorecard which
is a tool created by the us department
of education to help prospective
students compare colleges this data will
help you understand the type of
experience you might have as a student
at the college for example according to
the carnegie classification a school is
classified as small if it has less than
5 000 students so if you attend a small
school chances are your class size will
be small too smaller class sizes usually
mean more one-on-one time with your
professor for learning support if this
is important to you you may want to take
note of this information when it comes
time to research colleges now that we've
talked about some ways you can advocate
for yourself as a prospective college
student let's look at the types of
colleges you can choose from with nearly
4 000 colleges in the united states
we've got a wide range of colleges to
consider if you're considering a trade
school the type of institution we talked
about earlier you can expect to complete
your diploma or certificate program
within two years or less and once you
complete your training you may go into
an apprenticeship that allows you
additional hands-on job training another
type is a community college where you
can pursue a certificate within one year
or less or you can get an associate's
degree which can be earned within about
two years for some people it may take
more time and the third option is a
four-year college which offers
bachelor's degrees in a range of
subjects some go straight to a four-year
school after they graduate high school
others may go on to attend a four-year
school after completion of their
associate's degree in addition to
bachelor's degrees most four-year
colleges and universities offer
certificate programs master's degrees
and doctoral programs if you attend a
four-year school you'll have the option
to live at home say an on-campus
residence hall also called a dorm or
live in off-campus housing that last
option is usually only available to
juniors and seniors though this varies
between schools even though we refer to
these schools as four-year colleges the
time it takes to complete your degree
may vary keep in mind that you can
complete your certificate or degree at
your own pace but it's important to know
any restrictions the college may have
some four-year institutions require
students to complete the degree within
seven to ten years and just like there
are different types of trade schools
there are different types of four-year
colleges for instance a four-year
college can be public which means it's
usually larger and gets funding from the
state government or you can choose a
private four-year college which means
the school relies on endowments and
tuition as a result private colleges
usually cost more but many of these
schools offer substantial financial aid
packages and scholarships which we'll
talk more about in a future episode with
all these options you might be wondering
how you can narrow them down
you may want to consider the time
commitment the financial cost and how
you want to learn prospective college
students choose colleges for different
reasons some people focus on where the
school is located other people choose a
college based on the type of degree they
can earn there as a prospective student
you might choose a college based on
several factors such as admission
requirements academic programs costs and
other key factors and one of those other
key factors may be the structure of the
course itself in this day and age
courses are delivered in multiple ways
or course modalities the most common
course modalities are online in person
and hybrid online learning can be
synchronous or asynchronous synchronous
learning is when you and your peers all
attend class at the same time
asynchronous learning is where you and
your peers access the course at
different times
instructors sometimes include both
synchronous and asynchronous sessions
into the class in-person courses are
delivered face-to-face in an in-person
course you your classmates and your
instructor come together at the same
time each week in the classroom in a
hybrid learning environment some classes
are delivered online while others are
delivered in person your instructor will
create a schedule that will outline when
you need to attend the course in person
and when you need to attend online
ultimately there's a lot to think about
when it comes to choosing the college
that's right for you the tips that we've
talked about today can help you learn
about your options and ask the right
questions start researching potential
colleges and the resources they offer
ahead of time for most people this will
be at least three to six months before
the deadline to apply to the college
identify at least one person who can
support you as you take this step this
could be a family member friend guidance
counselor or another person you trust
keep track of your findings in a
spreadsheet word document or notepad app
on your phone and last but not least
remember that each step you take in this
process gets you closer to finding the
best option for you thanks for watching
this episode of crash course how to
college this series is part of an
expanded program called study hall crash
course has partnered with arizona state
university to launch study hall on its
own channel check out youtube.com
studyhall where you'll find more tips
about navigating college choosing a
major plus foundational courses
connected to college credit courses that
students struggle most within their
first two years we hope to see you over
there