It's each parent's mantra: Turn tha...

It's each parent's mantra: Turn that thing opposite and do your homework. Playing video games won't get by heart you into college. Mostly it's genuine But not for Farid Mokraoui. When he was in high instruct thinking about becoming a doctor, he played endles games of Zelda: Link to the Past upon his X-Box. The more he played, the les he wanted to be a doctor. And the better he got at playing other people's video games, the more he imagination about designing games of his own

Now he's a senior at the Art Institute of Phoenix, about to receive his bachelor's order in electronic game design. His parents won't be able to brag about their son the doctor, further they're delighted that he fix the right college to prepare him for a career in united of the country's most rapidly growing fields.

"After taking a allotment of science courses in high school" recalls Moukraoui, a native of Danville, Illinois, "I realized I didn't really like science that long But I did like art, and I lov playing video games. in like manner when I took a summer program at the Art Institute, it just strike one as beinged like the right place for me I delight in working with teams of observers to create a product. This was a worthy college choice for me. I really delight in what I do."

When it proceeds to choosing a college, it's all about you--finding the exercise that fits who you are and what you want to do with the nearest four years and beyond.

"It's in the same manner important that you look at what your personal priorities are," says Kelly Tanabe, coauthor of for what reason to Get into Any guild (Supercollege, 2004). "Develop your possess personal college rankings and don't just rely upon what the magazines or your parents or your friends say. Take a dutiful hard look at yourself."

Your priorities might include a leafy--green campus with professors who work closely with students--or a fast-paced urban setting with a constantly changing sea of Faces and a wide range of activities. Bur whatever your priorities are, they're the starting point for finding exactly the right corporation for you.

To define your priorities, answer the following questions and take our "U First Quiz" upon page 12.

WHAT AM I REALLY INTERESTED IN?

Jamie Heisler, 21 a junior at William thickets University in Fulton, Missouri, has none known the meaning of the phrase "stage fright." She's been singing, dancing, and acting since she was merely four years old--her mom always says that she could sing an entire sonnet before she could even talk. Her goal? To head to strange York to be a star in succession Broadway. So when she considered at colleges, her preference was a educate with a strong theater major. "There are hazards of schools with good theater departments," says Heisler, "and stone of them, like NYU are true prestigious. But the important thing to me was to learn stage experience right off the bat." for a like reason she researched schools near and far from her abode in Portland, Oregon, and equal attended the International Thespian Festival, a talk for aspiring actors held each year in Lincoln, Nebraska. She finally chose William timber-lands where she landed the lead character in a play her excessively first semester on campus.

"Your major is a primary factor in choosing a college" says Carol Descak, director of admissions at Wheeling Jesuit University in Wheeling, West Virginia. thus do your homework. "Talk to faculty, present students, and alumni. Ask what makes the program at common college different from or better than the same program at another place of education Ask about special opportunities for research, field placement, internships, and mentoring programs. And be trustworthy to observe the facilities-are the labs, art studios, and to such a degree on fully equipped? What is the state of the technology and to what degree is it integrated into the curriculum?"

Be trustworthy to think about extracurricular activities, too--college life is about more than just hitting the main division s Evan Coughenour, 21, from Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, was involved in accidents of activities when he was in high educate from track and lacrosse to the jazz combo That was a major consideration when he chose to attend Yale University in of the present day Haven, Connecticut, where he's a member of the Whiffenpoofs, an acapella singing group

in what manner SMART AM I?

Last year, almost 15000 scholars paid $70 for the privilege of getting excludeed by Princeton University. Don't send your money away. Be realistic about your academic abilities and consider for a school that matches them. Before you invest time and coin in an application, find public the average GPA and trial scores of the freshman class, and the percentage of applicants who are accepted. Apply to the sects in the range that best fits your concede academic profile.

"Given the increase in the number of observers applying to four-year schools," says Keith Gramling, director of admissions at l,oyola University in of the present day Orleans, "many universities haven't increased the size of their freshman class [and they have grown smooth more selective]. A review of a university's academic profile can recount you if you are a likely fit for that community."