College: How to Decide

As the deadline for mailing in that deposit check approaches, here are some tips for making an informed choice

by Francesca Di Meglio

The deadline to decide which university to attend—and therefore which undergraduate business program—is quickly approaching. It's the biggest decision of your life so far, and you're feeling the pressure. You want to choose the right college, and your parents want to know where they'll be handing over their life savings.

Rather than flip a coin, make your decision by asking yourself these questions:

1. Which school will provide the coursework that interests me and will provide me with the skills necessary to get a job in my field of choice after graduation?

Most schools make their course books available online. Peruse each to see the specialties within the major and check out the core requirements and elective courses available to undergraduates. You should look for specializations and courses that appeal to you and will help you in the field you'd like to enter. If you're not yet sure what field you're interested in, come up with your top three choices and make sure all are pretty much covered among the available courses. Finding out about the professors you might have wouldn't hurt either.

2. Which school will help me the most when I'm ready to snag internships and jobs?

You're going to school to get a degree, so that you can eventually find a job in a field that interests you. Finding a job, however, is the hard part. It helps to go to a school that offers both advice in the way of mock interviews, workshops, and résumé critiques, and networking contacts in the form of alumni and recruiters. To get more information on campus recruiting, you should look at the career placement section of a school's Web site, or you can contact the office directly to ask questions about its services.

For business programs, you can also check out the BusinessWeek school rankings and profiles to get stats on career placement (not to mention admissions stats and student comments). Specifically, you should seek a program that demonstrates its career placement office helps students find internships and jobs in the line of work that is most appealing to them.

3. Where is the school located?

Aside from the obvious considerations such as weather and distance from home, geography also plays another important role in your decision. Many business schools offer more job opportunities in the community just outside their doors. In other words, if you want to work on Wall Street after you graduate, you might not want to go to school in the Midwest, unless you pick a school that has a strong connection with New York recruiters. Look at each program's career placement stats to see where their students usually end up.

4. What do students and alumni really think of the school?

You can start with the student comments and the rankings, which rely on student surveys, put out by BusinessWeek, as well as College Prowler's report cards. Then you should try to talk to students and alumni. The clock is ticking, so the Web would be best. Many student organizations at various universities post contact information, such as an e-mail address, on their Web sites. Find business-related groups at a particular school by searching for them on Google and drop an e-mail to the student leader associated with the group.

Read online articles the student newspaper has written about the business program because they often include quotes—or even accompanying editorials or letters to the editor—that are candid. Head to MySpace or Facebook to find groups associated with the business program at the school and start asking questions.