How might one pick a college when he doesn't know what major he wants?

Pick a region you want to live in, pick the type of campus you want (rural/urban/conservative/liberal), Asses your grades, resume and financial situation, where will you likely get in?

Do you want lots of opportunities to do research? any extra curriculars you care about? Do you want a good study abroad program? Look at dorms and food. Talk to students, see if you feel like you fit in.

Do you kinda know what you like? Are you more math/science or history/english? Look at how big the departments you are interested in and what majors are offered.

Find out how long to you have to decide on a major, what required classes you would have, how much freedom there is in your schedule.

Ask yourself these questions, then decide how important each of these things is to you. For example, class size may not matter to you, but you may want the school to be in a college town rather than a major city.

1. Do you want a college that's close to home, easy to get back to for holidays and vacations? Or does that not matter? Or would you prefer to be far away?

2. Do you want a small or large school and/or classes?

3. Intellectual campus or party school?

4. Prefer it to be located in a major city, a suburban or metro area, a college town, near a beach, or does it not matter?

5. Prefer a liberal or conservative school? Diversity or the majority should have a background similar to yours?

6. You may not have a major, but you probably prefer some subjects to others. Make sure the school you choose has good course offerings in the subjects that interest you.

7. How important is prestige? Does it have to be an elite school, or is a regionally respected school fine for you?

Check out your state universities. Visit their websites, and see what you like and dislike about them. That at least helps you know what you might want and not want.

Play with the college match on the College Board website: http://www.collegeboard.com/student/csearch/index....

And chat with others about colleges at College Confidential: http://www.collegeconfidential.com/

When you get to college, you can explore for a year or two. All students have to take certain courses to graduate, no matter what their major, so you can get those out of the way while you're exploring. You can wait to declare a major, you can change your major, you can create your own major, or you can get a general studies or liberal arts degree, where there's no major. So don't feel pressured to pick a major.

Well, the best thing for you would probably be a larger school. I don't know where you're from or your price range or academics, but I'm thinking schools like Boston University, NYU, UDel, UConn, Penn State, U Md, Hofstra, Temple, etc.

Since you don't know what major you want, you want to go to a big school with lots of opportunities. You can take some core requirements and find what you like. Your major choices won't be limited by a small selection at a small school. Choose schools with a lot of majors offered (especially ones you think you might like, since by now you probably at least know what you DON'T want) and then decide based on other factors such as location, price, and social scene.

Also, I know I said big - however, that doesn't mean that only big schools have a lot of majors. If you're not thrilled with the idea of being one of 15,000, then look for schools that offer a lot of programs that are a little smaller.

Try going to a community college first. You can take a lot courses that will transfer into almost any college for general education. You can also take various classes that you're interested in to help you decide what you finally want to major in.