Episode 168: Why the College’s Community Location Matters

Today we are going to talk about Step 5 of your kid’s summer homework.  If you have forgotten, this summer homework is based on our workbook How To Explore Your College Options: A Workbook for High School Students.  Get one from Amazon for your son or daughter before they are all gone!

In the last episode, we asked your kid to do some research about the history and mission of each college on his or her Long List of College Options (or LLCO, for short) and to answer the first four questions on our College Profile Worksheet.  Well, there are only 48 questions to go, so let’s knock a few off in this week’s episode. 

1. College Location and Type of Community 

All three of today’s questions on the College Profile Worksheet can be answered easily by looking at a college’s website.  The first one, Question 5, is really simple:  It’s the location (that is, the city/town and state) where the college is located.  I am just going to say that your son or daughter should have already known this, but maybe didn’t.  We have actually worked with kids who were convinced they wanted to go to a certain college and yet had no idea where it was located.  I mean, they knew might have known the state, but had no idea what the town was.  That’s really not okay.

And, that brings us directly to the next question, which we wrote about this way:

The type of community a college is located in might be very important to you and your parents, but for very different reasons.  Some students can’t wait to get away from the type of community they grew up in, while others can’t imagine being comfortable in a new physical and cultural environment. 

You need to know the community setting for each college on your LLCO so that you can decide whether the setting makes a difference to you.  How will you think about that decision? . . .

Are cities great?  They are.  Urban centers offer a general sense of excitement, along with many cultural opportunities (museums and theaters and concert halls and so on).  They have ethnic, racial, and cultural diversity, which is a plus for many families.  Many cities also have good public transportation, which is a plus for college students who don’t have their own cars.  Finally, many cities have more than one college (and some have a lot more than one college), which gives students an opportunity to meet all kinds of students and make all kinds of friends. 

But are the suburbs great?  They are, in a different way.  Suburbs are relatively safe, for one thing, making them a good choice in the minds of lots of students (and lots of parents).  They are also likely to be cheaper in terms of everyday living expenses, including movies, drug store items, groceries, and off-campus meals.  They also might offer convenient commuter transportation options for getting into a nearby city, so that you can have the best of both worlds.

But are rural communities great?  They are, again in a different way.  Similar to suburbs, they are likely to be safe and low cost, when it comes to everyday spending.  But, maybe more important for the students who are attracted to rural colleges, many rural communities offer a scenic and unspoiled environment, which lends itself to loads of outdoor sports and recreation, like hiking and biking. 

But are small towns great?  They are, too, in a still different way.  Small towns are not really rural themselves, though they might be set in a rural area.  They are not really suburban themselves, because they are not right outside a bigger city.  And they are certainly not urban in terms of size, though they might have a substantial downtown, with cultural and social activities readily available.  But, whatever they are, small towns are the locations of many of our nation’s colleges.  Many of these small towns are “great college towns,” according to the students who go there and, interestingly enough, according to the people who live there.

Question 6 asks students to check off the type of community the college is located in. 

2. What About the Community?

The final question in this step looks at what we call “cool stuff about the community.”  Here is what we mean: 

We can’t tell you exactly what to look for here, but you will know it when you see it.  In fact, as you do your research, you will see that some college websites have whole sections devoted to talking about the community that surrounds the college.  For example, colleges in beautiful rural settings often talk about the nature walks, biking paths, hiking trails, waterfalls, lakes, forests, and so on that the college’s students have easy access to. 

Some colleges boast about their ranking on one list or another, like “the best college towns in America” or “the most affordable college towns,” published by various magazines and college-oriented publications. 

Are there great college towns?  There are, but do you care?  While none of this matters to some students and their families, others find the attributes of the community to be decisive.  And what appeals to one family does not appeal to another family at all.  Just talk to kids who are dying to be in the excitement of New York City and others who can’t wait to be in the splendor of Boulder, Colorado. 

While we don’t recommend choosing a college based on its surrounding community, some communities will likely be more attractive to your son or daughter and to you than others.  So, it doesn’t hurt to have the information available when deciding where to apply. 

Question 7 asks your kid to jot down information and advertising claims about the college’s community and surrounding area, including natural beauty, historic sites, entertainment venues, restaurants, recreation opportunities, and so on.  Really, whatever interests your kid--just in case it turns out to make a difference.

Well, that’s seven questions down on the College Profile Worksheet--and just 45 to go.  This was an easy week.  Call it an early Fourth of July celebration!  Next week might be a bit more difficult.  Stay tuned!

Find our books on Amazon!

• How To Find the Right College: A Workbook for Parents of High School Students (available as a Kindle ebook and in paperback)
• How To Explore Your College Options: A Workbook for High School Students (available in paperback)

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