By Jay Carroll
Staff Writer

Junior and senior years are big, not only for grades and standardized tests, but for picking colleges – not just any college, but the right college for you.

Often, students pick colleges that they can brag to their friends about, saying “I got in to UT” or “I got into Northwestern.” Some students end up being in over their heads and wind up either transferring to a less prestigious school or coming home.

Coppell High School counselors work with students to select the right college.

“We encourage students to take their college visits,” counselor Stacey McNeely said. “Sometimes you don’t really know if you like or dislike a college until you visit the campus and take a tour.”

Although they hope most students pick the right college for them the first time, McNeely does not think transferring is a bad thing for everyone.

“It is not necessarily a bad thing for students to transfer, because that is a part of life,” McNeely said. “Sometimes it takes you five or six jobs until you find a job you actually like.”

Even though counselors provide guidance for students in deciding what college to go to, students still pick the wrong college.

“You have to make sure that you like a college, between the academics and environment other wise you will be miserable for four years of your life,” University of Pennsylvania freshman and 2011 CHS graduate Adam Warner said.

Warner wanted to see a different side of the country, so he chose to attend Penn over University of Texas and University of South Carolina. Warner also said that one has to make sure they pick a college where they will have opportunities when they get out of college.

“I also picked UPenn because the Northeast provides a lot of job opportunities for bioengineering,” Warner said.

Travis Huffmaster, a 2011 CHS graduate, now attends Tarleton State University. Huffmaster says he put a lot of thought into his college choice.

“I was not looking for Ivy League schools, but I was looking for a college that could provide me with job opportunities later in life,” Huffmaster said. “A good amount of graduates from Tarleton have gone on to intern at Lockheed Martin in California.”

Senior Max Ginnell applied to Harvard, Northwestern, SMU, UNT and MIT. Ginnell has MIT listed as his top college choice, but not only because of the academic prestige that comes with it.

“MIT is my top choice because I love the environment and the Boston community,” Ginnell said. “Plus, I have family that lives up there. So I can visit them as well.”

One of Ginnell’s main fears is that MIT is a very tough school, and he is afraid it might be difficult to maintain his desired GPA.

The problem is that a lot of students, even if they think a different college fits them best, will go to a college simply because it has a high academic rating.

Even though some students would not like to go to a small, local college, sometimes community colleges are a perfect for students. Community colleges provide a small environment with small class sizes and some have sports teams that draw smaller crowds than those at larger schools.

“We try and get as much information now, before they make their college choice.” McNeely said.