How did you decide which college / university to attend?

[GarlicGuy]

My daughter is trying to decide now..... anyway it brought back memories of how I not only picked my college but why I decided to attend college at all.

First off, I had no plans at all to attend college. I was a machinist right out of high school. I rather enjoyed it until someone else' mistake nearly cost me my eyesight. At that point I knew I wanted out of being a machinist.

Anyway, one weekend I went to visit a buddy at a college about 60 miles from home. We went inside a dorm that was only for women. This was 1982, so things are surely different now. Anyway, we were inside his friend's room. Two girls lived there. They needed to get changed so they asked us to step out into the hallway while they got dressed.

Back then, each floor had just 2 phones for the whole floor. While we were waiting, the phone rang, and women came running out of their rooms wearing only lingerie.... that was the start of it.... throughout the weekend I had lots of "close encounters" with several women, but no actual sex of any kind.... but I had an absolute blast. By Monday morning I knew that I was going to apply to attend that college ( now a university ).

Sure, it was a super stupid reason to pick a college, but it served me well. I ended up working in my field for 22 years, and was able to retire before I was 50 years old.

So, how did you pick your college or university?

[Spectral]

Stayed close to home for undergrad because I was excessively young.

Went with the best school that was within driving distance of home for graduate research.

Frankly, for undergrad, any old reason will do if you're planning on grad school. They're all basically fine. If someone's not planning on grad school, base it on cost and reputation, because again, they're all basically fine. I've worked with Harvard Ph.D.'s and Whodat College B.A.'s, and once you're in the workforce, no one knows the difference outside of a couple niche areas.

[breadisfunny]

i never went to one. can't afford it.

[Ave07]

Near me and was the only one that accepted me after finishing CC.

[Korgoth]

Applied to as many as I could that were good, went to the one that I got into that was the best fit. So I guess I took a shotgun approach, and saw what I hit.

[Reg]

Reputation.

[Beartastic]

My mother told me "You're going to college as soon as you're out of high school or we're kicking you out." Provided I was making 5.15/hr at McDonald's and could never have afforded life alone, I covered my eyes, pointed at a major and started college at SVSU's CSI program. Didn't last 2 semesters.

[grimsanta]

Went to a big party school because I wanted to get away from my area and experience something completely new and different. I decided that it wasn't for me after 3 semesters, dropped out, and went to a smaller, more focused school that was for me.

[Radio]

Proximity, family member experience and a bunch of my friends had the same idea.

[Miyani]

Didn't fancy architecture in the end and went with my first choice of marine biology, had two offerings from the two different uni's i applied for and after touring them i chose the one i preferred. On a side note i lived in http://www2.hull.ac.uk/student/accom...the_lawns.aspx AKA the lawns, so there were lots of parties and summer BBQ's. The block we lived in had 27 people in our section and were divided into quads (was a retired army camp, they still used it during summer vacation though). Our block unfortunately got the name chlamydia block since most of the people i lived with slept with the same people and all caught it, think out of the 27 only 7 of us didn't catch it from other block mates -.- people are idiots and i'm glad i only entered into relationships with people of other blocks.

[draganid]

school of life. ive had a whole variety of construction jobs and ive found something i like doing that pays good now (windows) im 23 now and getting overr 20 an hour at a trade i have like 6 months experience in and it can only go from there. fuck student loans. ive got lots of buddies from highschool who envy my financial situation now

[fluffhead]

The college I went to was the best out of the ones that I got into for the major I wanted. I visited the campus and ended up loving the area.

[taliey]

Convenience. Room and Board is virtually eliminated when you commute.

[Crissi]

UW in Seattle based on a guy. guy decided to cut off contact before I started, but I dont regret going but the lesson for girls should be never let a boy influence your choices. Transfered to UNT to be closer to family and restart my piss poor grades.

USC for grad school because it offered a lot of flexability while also being a highly regarded school. Also, TCU rejected me

[Independent voter]

Many places in the US have "community college", small two year institutions. You can get 2 years of your college out of the way when you go there as most of them have deals with the large 4 year colleges to accept you. They are also somewhat remedial so that boneheads like me can go there and catch up. Then for my junior and senior years I went to a 4 year school which I sort of picked randomly. All of these were instate schools as going out of state is much more expensive. So I guess cost and ease of entry were my deciding factors.

[belfpala]

Stayed close to home for undergrad because I was excessively young.

Went with the best school that was within driving distance of home for graduate research.

This, pretty much. For undergrad, I went to a State U for convenience and price (also happens to be a top research U, but I wasn't thinking about that when I was applying at 16.) For grad, I went to the most respected school in my field that accepted me (and ended up using neither of my degrees in real life, but I do not resent the experience).