How to Enroll in College in the United States: A Practical Guide
By Dr. Lisa M. Wisniewski
Enrolling in college in the United States can be an overwhelming task. There are many schools, majors, and opportunities to consider. It can be difficult to analyze and approach the task of navigating the early stages of this process. When I began looking for colleges, I was unsure of where to begin. Not only did I have to consider where I wanted to go to college, but I also had to examine what I wanted to major in and how I was going to pay for college. In addition, I did not have the basic understanding of resources and terminology that is needed to understand the college application and enrollment process. This made me only apply to a few local schools without doing considerable research on all my options.
For each of my degrees, I went to colleges in my area that were within driving distance. I knew that I was not going to move away to college due to the expenses associated with this, and my family was not supportive of this. I needed to find a college that I could commute to daily. This impacted the way in which I experienced college because I was a commuter student. The drive to and from school kept me from participating in activities on campus or meeting new friends.
I also did not consider all of my options. I did not narrow down my choices based on the majors offered at the college and my future career goals. As a result, I did not seek out additional career supports such as working with my professors on research, studying abroad, or engaging with student clubs. These opportunities could have expanded my network, understanding of opportunities in my field, or places to visit. I believe this slowed down my career progress.
The steps that lead to change
However, I did learn to navigate all parts of the college process because I had to learn it on my own. This required me to ask questions of the employees at the college, understand the system, and learn what I needed from it. While I am grateful that I have learned to navigate these systems, this energy could have been spent on my studies or engaging in activities that would have benefited my career.
I am sharing some of the best practices that I have learned to navigate the entry into college at selective admissions colleges in the United States:
- Research Colleges
- Review and consider the following factors: majors available at the institution, the location of the college, the size, tuition costs, and the campus environment.
- Visit the campus to meet staff, faculty, and students.
- Make a list of the top schools that you are interested in applying to.
- Take required exams
- Find out what exams are required for admission to the college.
- Take the exams and send the results to each college through the official channels.
- Develop all of the application materials
- Review all the required materials for the application. This can include school transcripts, letters of recommendation, and personal essays focused on a topic provided by the school.
- Develop these materials and have someone look at them for review and feedback.
- Submit the applications
- Find out how the college would like to submit the application and submit all the materials by the deadline.
- Apply for financial aid
- Review and complete the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid). The application can be accessed at this website: https://studentaid.gov/h/apply-for-aid/fafsa
- Review and understand the different types of financial opportunities through FAFSA.
- Review opportunities for scholarships and grants through your community.
- Review admissions decisions
- When schools respond with admissions decisions, review their offers, financial aid packages, and scholarships or grants that accompany the offer.
- Examine all admissions offers
- Develop a list or table of the different offers and review them to make the best decision.
- Send in a notification of acceptance
- Once you decide on a school, respond to their offer in the way that they request. This is typically through a financial deposit.
- Submit any remaining documents
- The college may request additional documents; make sure to submit them in the time frame requested by the college.
- Sign up for classes
- Sign up for classes as soon as possible. Meet with an advisor at the university for guidance on which classes to take and develop a class schedule.
What to do next
This entire process is a lot and can take a lot of time. If you are in high school, I would recommend starting this process in your junior (third) year. This will provide enough time to research schools, visit them, talk to parents and teachers, and be prepared to develop the application during your senior (fourth) year in college. It will minimize the stress of this process and give space to make the best decision possible.
If you are not in high school but considering returning to college, I would give this process a few weeks or months. This will give it time to review, understand, and get any questions answered by the employees of the college. By providing this time to the process, it can lead to greater satisfaction with your choice of college, major, and eventual career.
I hope these tips and strategies were helpful. This served as an outline of the key steps of the process.
I have also created a shorter guide to help with this process. Please feel free to access it here:
