According to collegeboard.org, you have almost 4000 colleges and universities to choose from the in United States. Sorting through which options would be right for you can be a challenge given the seemingly unlimited possibilities.

If you’re a student or a parent trying to help a student pick a college, use the

Career à Major à College

approach. Using these steps:

1. Determine who you are through your talents, passions and values.
2. Use this information about who you are to determine what career fields would be a match for you.
3. Vet these matches by their marketability and in-demand outlook.
4. Determine college major(s) that match with these fields.
5. Determine which colleges have your major(s), and then which colleges are a good fit for your personality, budget, type of school, distance from home and extra programs they offer. You can download a guide to walk you through this using collegeboard.org’s great tool.
6. Utilizing the download, use the chart to map out your options. Once you get everything down in black and white on paper, you’ll be surprised how clear the decision may just become!

Interested in having a tool to help you map out your path to college and career? Order our Beyond Ready^TMinteractive workbook for $19.99.