What Do Kids Want to Be When They Grow Up?
by Dirk Lester
How to Research and Choose a College as an Online High School Student
byConnections Academy
6 min to read
This article was originally published May 2023 and has been updated November 2025.
Choosing the right college can be one of the most exciting steps in a student’s post-high school journey. For online high school students, the process may look a little different, but the opportunities are just as rich and the goal remains the same: finding a college where you’ll feel challenged, supported, and inspired. Today’s students can explore campuses, meet with admissions teams, and discover their perfect fit, all from the comfort of home.
A lot goes into choosing a college or university.
Does the school offer a program in a career path that interests you? What do you need to complete a college application? How do you decide between colleges? How do you apply for financial aid?
The checklist for picking a college can take a lot more time than many families think. Fortunately, finding affordable college options is easier than ever with this helpful guide to help you narrow down your top college selection criteria.
How to Pick a College: What to Consider
Many factors go into determining whether a particular school is right for you. Some basic yet important questions to consider as you start making your college list are:
- Location – Is it near my home? Far away? Can I commute there?
- Degrees Offered – Does this college offer the major or degree that I am interested in? Or, if I’m unsure of my major, does it offer enough options for me to make a viable decision?
- Size of School – Do I see myself attending a larger or smaller school? Does this matter to me?
- Campus Aesthetic – How important is the campus look and feel to my college experience?
- Extracurricular Activities – Does this college offer extracurricular activities (sports, clubs, Greek life, etc.) that I might be interested in pursuing?
- Tuition – Is this college affordable for me?
- Financial Aid – Does this college offer financial aid?
- Realistic Acceptance – Am I likely to be accepted into this school, or does this college fall into my reach or safety categories?
- Internships – Are there opportunities for internships as part of this college experience? How robust is the career services department?
Once you have asked yourself these questions to help you learn more about what college you should go to, you’re ready to start your search.
How to Choose a College: 9 Different Ways to Narrow Down Your Search
According to college application support resource Admission Sight, there are nearly 4,000 colleges in the United States alone. So how do you decide which colleges are right for you?
1. Choosing a College by Major
If you have already selected a major that you know you want to study in college, MyMajors.com has a 15-minute quiz to help students pick a major based on their interests, academic achievement, and aptitude.
2. How to Choose a College for Liberal Arts
Liberal arts schools offer a broad education by focusing on the arts, natural sciences, humanities, and social sciences. The benefits of a liberal arts education can be substantial. One of the top websites that helps students explore liberal arts schools across the country is Colleges That Change Lives (CTCL)—a nonprofit organization dedicated to the subject of higher education access and college choice.
3. How to Choose a College for STEM
For students interested in a STEM degree (science, technology, engineering, or math), it makes sense to seek out schools that have strong programs in those fields. Exploring the best colleges for STEM majors is a great place to start.
4. How to Choose a College for Business Degrees
If a student knows they want to pursue a degree in business, a great option is to explore the top business undergraduate programs in the country. There are numerous lists that can help you find this information.
5. Find College Rankings
Every year, U.S. News and World Report provides an annual ranking of colleges across the nation. Examining this list can be a great way for you to familiarize yourself with top colleges and find ones that may appeal to you.
6. How to Take Virtual College Campus Tours
While nothing can compare to getting a feel for the school through an in-person tour, if traveling to the school is not possible during your search, you can take a virtual tour through CampusTours, which provides online tours of more than 1,700 colleges and universities.
7. Find Online College Fairs
College fairs are an efficient way to gather information from many different schools in a single event. Want to attend a fair virtually? College Fairs Online enables students to see live streaming video presentations from admissions representatives and visit virtual booths to ask questions.
8. Hear from Current Students
Often asking the people who’ve been there and done it can be the best way to decide what college is the right fit for you. There are two platforms that allow current college students to post information you may find useful:
9. Find Financial Aid, Student Loans, or Scholarships
School can be expensive, and you might find yourself with the college of your dreams, but with a tuition bill that leaves you wondering where you’ll find the money to pay it. So, it’s important to include “Do they offer financial aid?” as a question that you must ask yourself in the process of choosing a college.
There are multiple resources that can help you narrow down your list of schools by confirming that they offer financial aid:
- Most colleges require the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) to provide grants, scholarships, loans, and work-study opportunities.
- College.gov, a U.S. federal government site, gives families government assistance information, and helps them find available financial resources, like scholarships, grants and loans.
- American Education Services (AES) is one of the nation’s leading providers of student financial aid services and can help you understand the process before, during, and after college.
- AES also offers great resources to help think about, choose, and pay for college at EducationPlanner.org.
- FastWeb.com offers thousands of scholarship opportunities, arranged by category, such as by college or major, for high school juniors or high school seniors, and more.
- Scholly is a subscription service that shows you different scholarships from around the country.
How to Decide Between Colleges
If you reach a point where you like multiple schools but aren’t sure which one should be your final choice, it may be helpful to compare the pros and cons.
BigFuture’s College Search tool allows you to build a list of your favorite schools and compare them across several important criteria, including graduation rate and cost. Plus, when you create an account, you can save your search results and reference them as you get deeper into the process.
Or you can try a program created by the U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard, which makes it simple to search and compare colleges and offers data on cost, graduation rates, employment outcomes, student loan details, and more.
What Is a Typical College Decision Timeline?
A lot goes into researching colleges and programs, sending applications, studying for standardized exams, and waiting to hear back. While there is no one specific time to start looking into colleges, there are many handy checklists that can help you get prepared throughout the four years of high school.
Typically, though, you will want to explore colleges around the summer between your junior and senior year, with a solidly narrowed down list of schools created the first month of so of your senior year.
During the spring semester of junior year through the fall semester of your senior year, you’ll want to take standardized exams like the SAT or the ACT. You can often take these exams multiple times to help improve your score, so give yourself time to not only study but try again if you didn’t get the score you were hoping for.
By the start of your senior year, it’s time to work on those college applications. Many schools have due dates for applications, so be sure to keep those deadlines in mind while writing your essays, building resumes or portfolios, and asking for those letters of recommendation.
By your spring semester of senior year, you should have heard back from each school you applied to, as well as any financial aid or scholarships you are eligible for. At this point, you can make your final decisions and notify the school you intend to enroll in.
How to Get Started Applying to Colleges
Applying to multiple colleges can be tedious and time consuming. CommonApplication.org streamlines the process by allowing students to use one application for multiple colleges. The Common Application is accepted by more than 1,000 schools nationwide But check to make sure the schools you want to apply to are included.
Your Next Chapter Is Waiting to be Written
Choosing the right college is one of the most important decisions you’ll make at this stage of your life. For many Connections Academy students, their school counselor can be a valuable resource during the college admissions process and is available to answer questions and provide help as you work to find a college that’s right for you.
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