Researching Yourself
Understanding what you want and need is a process
Early in the college process, a typical conversation between a Year 12 student and the university counsellor will often go something like:
Counsellor: “So what are you looking for in a college?”
Student: “Oh, a good school, someplace nice and fun.”
Counsellor: “Can you help me understand what you mean by the words good and nice?
What’s How do you define ‘good’ and ‘nice’ ?nice to you?”
Student: “Oh, you know, a good school…someplace warm and friendly, with a pretty
campus.”
“Warm and friendly is good. Have you thought of other factors?”
“Like what?”
By the fall of Year 13, a conversation with the same student will have changed quite a bit,and may go something like this:
Counsellor: “So remind me what you’re looking for in a college.”
Student: “I’m really interested in schools that offer a strong __________ program. I’m looking for universities with a campus feel, suburban setting and flexible degree programs. Ideally, I’d like a strong personal attention, a low teacher-student ratio and a diverse, international student population. Weather doesn’t matter too much to me, but campus size is important.
I don’t want to feel lost in the crowd, and I certainly don’t want it to be hyper-competitive. A strong study-abroad program is important to me as are opportunities for internships. And believe it or not, I’m even looking at how students rate the food. No sense starving my way through college!”
“Wow! Sounds like you’ve done some digging. Can I ask you how went about figuring out what’s important to you?”
Witnessing your personal growth through your college process is one of the more satisfying aspects of our work as university counsellors. It’s amazing to see how much students develop a deeper understanding of themselves, and become so much more articulate and confident in during the process of researching schools. in just a few months time.
As year Year 12 and 13 students, you are more than ready to take on this process. If your early teenage years are about fitting in, the later teenage years are more about differentiating your identity from the crowd. Developmentally, you are learning to improve your introspective and reflective skills and to employ them in better understanding your identity, your wants, and needs.
Seen in that light, the college process can help you figure out what’s important to you not only in a college, but also where your academic and personal strengths. lie.
Students like those in the above dialogue develope a clearer understanding of themselves and what they want in a college/university experience by both looking within themselves, exploring resources and reaching out to those that have an understanding of specific institutions. and didn’t simply arrive at a clearer understanding by locking himself in a room and engaging in months of meditation, prayer and fasting. In addition to looking in, you will obviously want to reach out.
Through everyday conversations with friends, parents and teachers, you can better understand where your personal and academic strengths lie. Researching individual universities will help you to understand the options available and how a particular institution might meet your needs.
Start compiling a list of their qualities that appeal to you. The more you read and research with this intent, a picture of the fit will gradually emerge.
Visiting universities (even local Hong Kong based campuses), will without question provide you with insights. Virtual or taking virtual online tours are recommended if actual tours visits prove to be impossible, can help you gain an understanding of resources you desire and campus setting that might best suit you.
Conversations with visiting university representatives during visits, webinars or virtual visits can obviously help you to better understand other qualities that mightbe important to you, even if you aren’t necessarily that interested in their institutions.
Discussions with friends and CIS alumni can also aid you in assessing how a school might fit your needs.
Finally, our university counsellor is especially interested in helping you find the schools that fit can provide what you are looking for. Take full advantage of our knowledge and experience. skills, and make that one of your college process goals.
In summary, there’s no real mystery to figuring out what’s important to you in potential colleges, it just takes a little conscious effort and research. and it can happen almost anywhere and at any time. Be open to this process of self-discovery and the reward will undoubtedly be a more satisfying and richer college experience.