Let me paint you a picture. It’s a nice fall day. The sky is sunny and the air is crisp. You are following a friendly tour guide past beautiful brick buildings. You see smiling students walking around campus or sitting on the grass studying, and you can picture yourself here.

Suddenly, you feel it!

This college feels like the right one for you! In fact, this one just became the front runner in your mind.

You are not alone. This is actually the single most common way colleges are selected. But is it the best way?

Consider these facts about the freshman class that you just decided to join on this beautiful campus:

• 14% of your new classmates will eventually drop out of this school and never return to college.
• 22% of your new classmates will eventually transfer to a new school and lose the credits for many of the classes they have taken.
• 32% of your new classmates will graduate in 5 or 6 years from this school with much more spent on tuition than planned.
• Only 32% of your new classmates class will graduate from this college in 4 years.

Perhaps this "sunny day walking tour" method of selecting a college is not working out too well?

Did those numbers shock you? Colleges (and loan providers) don’t want you to know the facts. They can profit off your ignorance.

Maybe you already know EXACTLY what you want to do and consider yourself in the 32 of out 100 students that will graduate in 4 years. Even if that’s the case, it doesn’t hurt to be sure.

That’s a big reason why College Factual exists, to help students make the right choices about the major, their college and their future.

Keep thinking about it and I’ll continue this discussion in the next blog post!