North Dakota State University-Main Campus Top Questions

The decision to find the 'right' college can be extremely stressful. Hours and hours can be spent on the decision. Here are a few tips. First, decide on what major you or your student would like to pursue. A good idea would be to have a few in mind and find a college that has all of them, because once you enter a program you may find it is not for you. After this is done, you have to decide on your other requirements for a school: cost, distance from home, size of population, and just overall feeling you get from visits to the campus. Hopefully, you will find a campus that meets all or most of your requirements. After that process, you begin your experience. Get a feel for how much is required of you and prepare yourself for that committment. Work hard and meet people that will help you succeed. As your doing all this you also have to find the balance between friends and school. Focusing solely on one will lead to places you do not want to be, failed from school or alone. The balance will help you remain happy and ahead in your studies.

Finding the right college and making the most of the college experience is probably the first major decision in your life. The phrase that gave me the best advice was "Don't be afraid to try something new". Don't go to a college close enough so that you can live at home just because you've never lived away from home. Don't major in something that everyone in your family majors in just because that's all that you've known. Find new hobbies, sports, activities, interests and friends, then get involved in these new things, because this is the last chance you have to explore and figure out what you will be doing for the rest of your life. The one thing that you don't want to change, however, are your values. Stick by your values when making these life changing decisions because they can be counted on to guide you through these decisions. Values will keep you out of trouble that could screw up your life. To wrap it up, college is an experience just like high school was an experience, the only difference is this is your last experience, so make it worth while!

I would tell parents and students that the student should make sure they tour plenty of schools that they are interested, do not just settle on a college that is close to home. Most importantly, however, the student needs to apply for as many scholorships as possible. During my first year, I did not think that this was a very important part of college, but now in my fourth year, I realize how important scholorships are to college life. Without scholorships, the student may have to get a job outside of school, and that cuts into their schoolwork time. If you have enough scholorships, you have one less thing to worry about and can focus on buying the right textbooks, study guides, and spening your time on studies.

Advice is usually a tricky thing to give. Every person's life is different and each individual goes through different challenges in life. There are a few pieces of advice that I can give, though. The first is for the parents: Don't push any certain school on your child if that is not their first choice. This happened to me and I spent one schoolyear in a place that I did not want to be and it was a miserable experience. My second piece of advice is for the prospective students: Apply to as many schools as you want and choose your favorite. There's no use in going to a school where you really don't want to be. And don't worry about making friends, there will be friends for you at any school you attend.

You need to visit the schools that you are looking at in all weather conditions. Take the tours and talk to actual students, not just the student guides. Walk around the campus by yourself and sit in on a lecture. Start looking for colleges early so you have time to think about your choices and revisit the top ones. If you want to make the most out of your college experience then you need to leave your dorm room and get to know other people. Get involved.

I believe the most important thing one can do when choosing the "right" college to attend is to make an appointment to visit the campus. A campus tour shows the prospective student what life is really like for people attending that university. Not only will one get a feel for the social, academic, and living situations on campus, he/she will also get a feel for the distance between the campus and their hometown. Distance from family sometimes plays a big role in deciding which school to attend. Once getting to college, I believe one should take full advantage of any oganizational "fairs" the college puts on. They may look "cheesy" or "boring", but they are really good for reaching out to students and getting people involved. Joining one or two groups can make all the difference in the first years of college. Students with the same interests join similar clubs and can become great friends.

The main piece of advice I would give students is to trust themselves and not be afraid. Going to college is a big step in life, and there is a lot of pressure on students to choose the right school, the right field, and the right activities. Choosing the right school out of those that accepted a student can be difficult, but often, the student knows which school will be right for them and have gotten overwhelmed with details of all the schools combined. A student needs to trust him or herself and make the decision on their own. Do not be afraid to try new things in college. There are many exciting courses, organizations, and ways to get involved on campus that can open new interests. Also, do not be afraid to make mistakes. Mistakes are learning tools when used the right way. Finally, college can be the best years of your life. Stay open to opportunities and new ideas, and live in the moment. As the band Relient K sings, "it's funny how you find you enjoy your life when you're happy to be alive."

First figure out what you want to major in, or at least what your interests are. By doing this you can find a school that has classes that will fulfill any of your interests, so you won't have to attempt to transfer credits. Also, make sure you tour the campus that you're interested in, because even though it may sound perfect on paper, it may be completely different than what you want. In the end though, the main thing is to make a list of your interests and find a school that can cater to most if not all of you're interests, because then chances are that you'll be able to find someone with the same interests as you and it will make your college experience that much better if you're not missing something that you enjoy doing.

I encourage students starting at NDSU to stay in the freshmen dorms, and to get involved with some organization that interest you as soon as possible. Consider taking a class that interest you each semester that doesn't really relate to your major, unless you are already overloaded. It is nice to have a change of pace, and it could lead to minor in something. "Non-required" homework really should be done because your teachers will expect you to have gained knowledge from that material and test you on it.

My advice to parents and students about finding the right college is find a college that best fits your needs. Pick out the qualities you want to see in a school, such as cost, class size, how big the campus is, is it close to home, ect. As for making the most out of the college experience, get involved on campus, find something that you really enjoy and stick with it. Most campuses have tons of clubs and usually you can find something that fits your interests. Be involved on campus and get to know people, in the long run it will pay off.