The Big Choose.

• Author: ALTSCHULER, GLENN C.

How to decide where to go? You could follow friends or fashion, but there's a better way.

When Sasha Kramer from Sherburne, New York, visited Reed College in Portland, Oregon, her favorite flowers--forget-me-nots --were blooming everywhere, small classes were meeting on the lawn, and a fountain filled with fresh water for dogs marked a place where her "best friend" would feel welcome. The combination of a full library on Friday night and a sizable number of students with purple hair made Reed feel right. She chose it over Brown, which her parents had recommended for its excellent curriculum in the sciences and outstanding record for sending undergraduates on for Ph.Ds.

When high school seniors decide among the colleges and universities that have accepted them, many, like Sasha, let their gut reaction cast the final ballot. Do undergraduates talk more about designer clothing or digital music? Are interracial couples visible? Do students eat in pajamas?

One factor, sometimes significant and sometimes silly, invariably acts as the decider--even with applicants who pore over guides and Web pages and develop a weighted system for teacher-student ratios, departmental rankings, and class size. No one is more aware of the importance of personal fit than college and university administrators. That's why "hosting weekends," with prospective students visiting classes, listening to choir rehearsals, and talking to lacrosse coaches, have become rites of spring on every campus.

After a post-acceptance trip to the University of Richmond on a humid day, Dominick Pangallo of Marblehead, Massachusetts, realized he was not a warm-weather person. He made his final choice of Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, after a luncheon with 50 other prospective freshmen and the president of Bates. "It made Bates much more human to be able to say I met the president," says Dominick.

That students follow their feelings in choosing a college is not surprising. Adults, too, often have two reasons for doing things: a good (that is, logical) reason and the real reason. Prospective freshmen have a rare opportunity: to discover something about themselves by becoming aware of their true motivations. Those who do will be less likely to find out in their junior year that they were following current fashion, foolish passion, or someone else's agenda when they chose a college.

DOS AND DON'TS

The process begins with learning about the power of peers in college selection. Did you...