How to Research a School

Today we’ll be talking about how to research a college. Research is one of the most important aspects of preparing for college applications - it can help you narrow down your college choices, help prepare you for essays and interviews and most importantly, get excited for the next few steps of your education!

Getting Started - what schools should you even look at? Where should you go on their website?

• Consider your major! Which schools are really good for CS? For business? Whatever your interest, do a preliminary Google search and then dive deeper.
  

  • Make sure to include schools with diverse range of exclusivity/admission rates!

• Scope out their departments. When you find a school you are interested in, go to the department you are interested in and consider some of these questions:
  

  • Academic: Who are the professors and what kind of research are they doing? How does this research tie into something you are interested in? What kind of classes are offered? What programs? What makes these programs/professors unique and/or great for you specifically?

  • Social: This is the fun stuff - consider: What kind of traditions do they have? Famous alumni? Unique extracurriculars that you want to take part in? How does housing work?

• Use social media! Researching through social media - current students’ Instagrams, the school’s Instagram, current students’ Youtube vlogs - can be a great tool to learn of more niche (and applicable) programs and allow you to get a glimpse of a day in the life of a student at this school.

Next Steps and Reminders

• Store this knowledge somewhere! These details can be time consuming to find but are extremely useful. Consider using a Google Doc or Google Sheet to easily separate your research by school.
  

  • When it comes time to write those “Why Us” essays or to prepare for an alumni interview, refer to this document!

• Get started early - this process can take a lot of time but is very important: it showcases to the college that you aren’t just picking colleges at willy nilly, but have invested time and research into these schools!

• You don’t need to become the “expert” on a school to demonstrate interest. Admission officers/schools are never testing whether you know everything about a school - they probably don’t know everything either!

• Instead, they want to see whether you are interested in their school and can see yourself there - what would you make of their resources, programs, teachers, environment in the four years you are at this school?

Getting to know a school can be one of the most exciting aspects of a college application - you might see yourself here for the next four years.

As usual, RRA is always here to help - speak with current students of top universities for their experiences researching (and attending) these schools!