What good colleges can I apply to?

How can I help my friend, who is struggling deciding what colleges to apply to and what to do with her life?

• My friend does not know what she wants to do in the future. She says she hasn't had enough experience with things and doesn't even know what exactly she is interested in. She's pretty smart, with a 3.8 GPA. She is interested in art but doesn't think she can make a career out of it. She is also considering biology and psychology majors, but also doesn't know if she can make a career out of these. She is hesitant to go in as undeclared, and doesn't know which colleges to go to as undeclared. She's looking for something affordable, but good. Time's running out for sending in applications, and she doesn't know which colleges to apply to. I want to help her, but honestly I'm not all that well off myself. Luckily, I know what i'm interested and chose colleges according to that. But what should she do, how should she decide on colleges and majors?

• Answer:

  First it is important that your friend understands that is perfectly normal to not know exactly what she wants to study and that enrolling as an undeclared is a really great starting point (even though she may be against it). This is because enrolling as an undeclared will give your friend ample time to explore a variety of different courses and have the access to join bunch of different organizations. These courses and organizations will teach her new concepts which might lead her to some sort of direction and career path. And if truth be told, even those who enroll into college with a declared major end up switching majors mid-year anyway because they take some course as an elective that rocks their world. But if you want to give your friend some solid career choices that are expected to do fairly well within the next decade tell her to check out this article: http://www.onlinedegreeprograms.com/blog/2010/10-emerging-majors-for-a-cutting-edge-education/ According to the article, some lucrative career choices will be in healthcare and nursing ( which if she's interested in biology is a good thing because she will be required to take a bunch of science courses) and the technology field. As far as what school she would like to attend, she can eliminate her choices by asking herself the following questions: what is my budget? Do I want to attend a large school or small school? Do I want it to be out of state or in state? Do they offer financial aid at this school? What is the student- teacher ratio? What kind of programs are offered? Etc.