School Suggestions?

The first (and often most important step) in the college search process is to figure out what kind of school you might want. Don't worry if you don't know all the answers to these questions, I certainly didn't (and still don't lol)!

Do you like being in a city, or do you want to go to school in the middle of nowhere? Or somewhere in between? Close to home (in-state tuition is awesome and much cheaper!) or far far away? Do you want a school known for academics or one where everything stops for football? What about size (want a massive school or one where everyone knows everyone)? Do you care about region of the US? What about weather? Access to beaches, mountains, snow? If you're a minority, make sure to consider the possible political environment (or if that doesn't matter to you, that's fine too, but it was one of the top factors in my list building.

I found the easiest way to build my list was to make a list of what I definitely didn't want. I definitely wanted to go to a school with my major, and didn't really care about weather, but I knew would hate to end up in the south and didn't want to go to a tiny school.

You're in 8th grade, so you've still got plenty of time, but it's great you're thinking about it already. If you make a school list now, know that there might come a time where none of those schools are still on your list because you've changed as a student or as a person. That's perfectly normal and okay! My top school as a 9th grader (I thought would be my dream school forever) isn't on my list anymore because I decided it wasn't the right environment for me.

I hope this helps a bit, and if you want some specific recommendations or website links after you answer some of those questions, feel free to reach out!