Decision Making Model for Choosing a Graduate School Program

College education is significant in shaping one’s future. These critical factors to determine selection of right college are important. Every college is not equivalent to one another. They can differ in terms of quality of education, accreditations, flexibility and convenience, job placement rates, campus facilities, cost of admissions and many more. You need to find the best college or university that fits your personal needs. It will be perhaps the most important decision in your life. According to a recent survey published in Chicago Tribune [1], students and parents are changing the way they select the colleges. They commonly prefer to quiz admission staff and department heads about job prospects. Choosing a college isn\u27t as easy as it used to be. U.S. News and World Report and The Princeton Review are well known for publishing college rankings that may affect students’ choice of school. But a recent study shows that at the time of actually choosing a college, students rank the college rankings pretty low on their list. A right school, college or university at national or international level will definitely have a long lasting impact on your personal and professional life. There’s a lot to consider when choosing a graduate school, and it can be an overwhelming task if you don’t know what you’re looking for. It\u27s such a big investment of money, time and energy that you want to make sure that you choose the program that’s right for you. Selecting the right graduate school is not only one of the most important decisions an aspiring student has to make but a really tough one as well. There are tons of great schools and programs in the country and abroad, and finding the one that is right for you will require careful consideration of a variety of factors. Most students do think hard before they commit to a school, but are they using all the right criteria for their selection? In my experience, the answer would be no! This study aims to assess the selection of right graduate school by taking into account the factors that might influence the choice of students while choosing amongst the different alternative available. A hierarchical decision model (HDM) is used for solving this decision proble