As a high school student, there's a lot of pressure on you to choose the right college or university to go to. You feel the pressure of your parents, your teachers, yourself and even your friends if they are competitive. This is four years of your life and you need to figure out where the best situation is for you and what type of place you want to be at.

The first thing you need to decide is what type of level school you think you can get into it. It's always good to apply to a bunch of schools with a few where you're reaching and may get in, a few where you should get in and a few safety schools that you should definitely be able to get into. Be realistic about these choices and only select schools you'd be interested in going to. Academics are part of the decision, but there should be other factors as well.

Next is location, which can make or break your time at college. If you want to be in a major city or if you want to be in a rural or suburban area, that is a big difference. There are plenty of schools located at all different points along this spectrum so you definitely have a lot of options to choose from.

Finally, you need to decide whether you like a smaller or bigger school or somewhere in the middle. There are gigantic state party schools with over forty thousand people and there are small liberal arts schools with only a few thousand. Each experience is very different and talking to current students as well as visiting is a great way to figure out what you like and don't like.