Kimberly
When trying to find a college that is right for the student it can be a very frightening and stressful event. While looking for the right school for you or your child just remember to do what feels right. Not all schools are going to work for you. Make sure the correct support system is available to make the student the most successful they can be. Choose a college is not an end, but a beginning to a new and exciting adventure. Keep in mind this adventure is one the student must venture down and so the school must be right for them, and not just what the parent wants. There are many choices when it comes to picking the right school for you, but once you step on campus of the school you are supposed to attend, you will know it. You will feel as though you were at home with your family, and in truth it will become your home away from home.
Lora
Make sure it feels like home. Make sure it's somewhere you feel safe and confident leaving your child. Mount Marty definately is. Make sure as a parent that you too try to talk to the teaching staff. You can learn a great deal about the school from it's teachers, and most first impressions are pretty accurate. As a student make sure you know what you're getting into. What is there to do? What is most common on the weekends? Colleges will tell you anything to get you there, but you have to remember that college is just as much social as it is academic. Make sure you get some of the social information as well as all the academic. It really helped in my college planning and hopefully it will in yours too!
Maggie
The advice I would give to parents and students about finding the right college is find a college that suits you. That may sound obvious but it is a difficult thing to do. If you learn better in a small classroom than obviously you would want to find a smaller college. If you want to do athletics in college than you need to find a college that has a team that you click with. But the number one thing to keep in mind when choosing a college is whether or not they have a good program in the field in which you are going into. To make the most of your college experience I think you should get involved in lots of activities that you are interested in. For expample, I play on the volleyball team here at Mount Marty and I found my closest friends on the volleyball team, and have made some life long memories with the volleyball team. I think that if you find an activity you are interested in, you will find people like you, that you can hopefully become life long friends with, and make the best out of your college experience.