Choosing the Right College for an Overachiever

Selecting a major, let alone a college can be mind boggling to any high school student. But for an over achiever, it can be overwhelming. So how an over achiever selects a college beings with finding out what makes your heart skip beats. Where does your passion lie? The last thing an over achiever wants to become an uninspired graduate and joining others in a work force who have no love for their studies or work. It is equally important to find a college that is both a good fit academically and offers challenges and opportunities.

Talking with teachers in your chosen field of study is helpful and so are working professionals in the field. To pursue art or music, it is important to recommendations for colleges from working artists or musicians. Their experiences can help select or eliminate choices.

More student friendly campuses welcome prospective students to visit, attend classes in their field of study, personally meet with professors, and stay overnight in a resident hall as the guest of another student.

Small private colleges have high academic and admission standards resulting in classmates who are equals in terms of academic caliber. The smaller class sizes offer personalization. Faculty members know the students individually. Students have a better chance to know each other. Additionally, they offer a wide range of opportunities to participate in extracurricular and other activities. Class sizes are smaller.

A small private college is a great place for an overachiever to flourish because it is possible to pursue new activities and interests, such as student politics, or theater, or sports. These activities can be added to a student regimen in addition to maintaining a full academic class load. These extra pursuits offer advantages that compliment classroom studies. As such, an over achiever can undertake a variety of new challenges which can be both invigorating and intimidating. A business major can participate in a theater class and production, thereby learning and enhancing public speaking skills. Gaining additional confidence in front of crowds and audiences is important to success after graduation in business.

Students can also maintain other skills and interests, such as playing a musical instrument, by participating in college orchestras. For example, a student may audition for and be successfully accepted into a college wind ensemble, which may also count for academic credit.

Although many state universities can offer competition in the form of numbers of students against whom to compete, the overachiever may find a small private college more satisfying.