Many of these choices are the same, the cost, location and the type of style one will be learning, will affect your decision. Now with regards to cost beware of long term contracts or large up front sums. A good teacher will let his or her skill, style and training habits be the motivating factor for a student's continued training. Also, too many people make a bad decision and join the nearest school available for convenience sake alone. And for those of you already training, remember that the masters measure their knowledge not by what they know but by what they still have to learn.
Few schools can offer good teaching.
So be selective and don't be afraid to travel. The next set of factors are whether to practice sport or traditional martial art systems. This can be your hardest decision and one that will affect you on the spot. For those of you that are just getting started on your martial art training journey, you will have to decide which is more important, and this can be very confusing. Serious thought must be given concerning the type of training you will get involved with, though in my opinion, through many years of training various systems, traditional martial arts may be your best choice.