From a senior in high school

Here's What I Want To Tell You About University / College

From What I Have Learned to Understand

Step 1: Scholarships & Other Financial Aid

Internet scholarships: Fastweb, Unigo, Cappex, SuperCollege, Niche, CollegeXpress, CollegeBoard

Good grades sometimes gets you money, such as Kentucky's KEYS money.

Step 2: Searching for Colleges

  1. Finding What to Persue
    • What are you interested in? Can have multiple answers.
    • What are you capable of? What do you know you can learn?
    • Anything that can meet both requirements?
    • Does a career in the field have a constant salary you can thrive off of?
    • Do jobs in the field look to be increasing or becoming more in need in the future?
  2. Specifying What You Wish to Pursue
    • Sift through programs of interest.
    • Sift through majors of interest in those programs.
    • Think about the many concentrations of a major (pathways of a career).
    • Intern places of interest, shadow people of interest.
  3. Specifying How You Wish to Pursue it.
    • Basics: Study--higher scores, sleep well--better mental state, etc.
    • Make clear what you want to earn (certificate, degree, doctorate, etc.)
    • Unfortunately I'm no help with the process to get into trade school
  4. Finding Colleges With Your Interests (if the top 10 / 20 / 50 / 100 articles are not really helping)
    • Most scholarship websites have a college search engine, or they recommend you schools to go to based on your account's personal info. Search by state or major.
    • For a start, go to Unigo or Cappex.
  5. Identifying Colleges Fit for You
    • Years of study available?
    • Private or public?
  6. Tips of the Real World, particularly relevant until 2024-2030 (4 to 10 years from now).
    • Get a degree in a general and needed area of study, and take a minor in your specific interest.
    • Example: I want to go into game developing / motion graphics; people that companies are in need of can have a major computer science / digital media with my minor being game development.
    • When specifying what you wish to get into, concentration majors and classes exist.

Amidst the College Search - Differentiation is Important

When you go on a college website looking for what you want to study

Program - Subject of study (if not referenced in the context of a major).

Major- A large-scale and in-depth topic of study (not always called a program).

Minors - A small-scale, more general topic of study; think of an elective in high school or enrichment in middle school.

Concentration - An specified area of focus part of an area of study.

Course / Class - One class that may or may not need to be taken (depending on major/minor) often in order to earn a degree; think of periods or blocks in high school in one subject needed to be taken in order to graduate.

Colleges / Schools of Study - a section of a university; a smaller school part of a bigger school; a smaller campus part of a bigger campus; think of a food chain and apply that to a university.

Undergraduates - Students (including incoming students) who have not yet gotten their degree.

Associate - 2 years - completing earns you a certificate.

Bachelors - 4 years - completing earns you a degree.

Masters - 8 years - completing earns you your masters degree.

Doctorate - indefinite - completing earns you your Ph. D (doctor of philosophy) and the respectful title of doctor.

Step 3: College Specific Scholarships

To Be Updated since I'm still figuring that one out, but the experienced have told me that colleges house scholarships that pertain to them on their school website.