Choosing what to do after high school is a big decision every student has to make. Students commonly choose to attend College as their post-graduation pathway; this comes with the challenge of choosing the right college for yourself.

“I recommend that students start doing a self-inventory to find what their interests and areas of strength are, so we have career resources here,” Camas High School (CHS) counselor Leontina Liebe said. “A good resource for exploring colleges in specific is College Board’s My Big Future.”

Additionally, Liebe advises students to consider several areas to identify a college that will be a good fit.

“It needs to be the right academic fit, it needs to be the right social fit, and it needs to be the right economic fit as well,” Liebe said.

CHS junior Beau Harlan, for example, explained that his decision will be primarily influenced by the school’s respective athletic program, specifically football.

Harlan explained that he generally searches for division one schools. 

“I would want to go to Eastern Washington because it’s division one,” Harlan said. “But I feel like athletically, it’s more of what schools want you.”

Divisions are a method the National Collegiate Athletics Association uses for classifying the competitive level of a school

CHS senior Felix Chen, who is going into engineering, provided another perspective.

“I really wanted to go into big colleges like MIT, Stanford or Berkeley,” Chen said. “I considered what will look the best on my job application, and what will earn me the most money in the long run.”

CHS senior Nhan Truong, who is pursuing computer science and cybersecurity, has a similar approach.

“My direction is to go to the University of Washington for four years and just get an internship in cybersecurity,” Tuong said. “Other universities I was considering were just everyone’s basic top-ten universities.”

CHS counselors have numerous resources to help students with this choice, and they are always ready to help students with any questions they may have. For a well-tailored decision, it is recommended that students talk more with counselors and visit the CHS counseling website.