Making a List of Colleges

Draft a tentative list of colleges that interest you. Your list may include schools in your area, schools that have a particular major of interest to you, or schools you know very little about.

Your list may be long but in the early stages you don’t want to eliminate any school you are curious about. It is very important that you look at the school for its academic programs as well as its athletic programs. Your academic experience in college is what will provide an important foundation for your chosen career path after college. Not many players plan to be professional athletes. In addition, it’s not uncommon for an injury to happen that could end your college soccer career. You want to end up at a place that you will enjoy attending even if you never play athletics there.

Here are some questions that may aid you in your college selection.

• Would I choose this college even if I am not playing on the team?

• Would I be happy sitting on the bench and not playing much?

• Would I still select this college if there is a different coach?

• Was I comfortable there both academically and athletically?

• Did the staff and team seem to get along and care about each other?

• How does the coach motivate the team?

• Were the coaching team and staff friendly? Enthusiastic? Honest? Supportive? Sincere? Caring? Or hospitable?

After you have created your list of schools, research the schools. Read everything you can find on the school. Look at their Web page, read their press releases on their Web page, check college resource books, talk to your school counselor, read the teams homepage as well.

Guides you may want to look at include: Peterson’s Four-Year Colleges, The Big Book of Colleges, Fiske Guide to Colleges, The Best 366 Colleges, The College Board College Handbook, Official Athletic Guide to Soccer.

Make sure and talk to your Club and High School Coaches about various college programs.