Jump to content

Menu

Where do we start with choosing a college?


profmom
 Share

Recommended Posts

I chose the local university because I didn't have help and it offered me a full scholarship and the honor's program.  I guess dh chose it because of a band scholarship.  So, we do not have experience with researching, visiting, and choosing colleges!  What advice can you give us for helping our dd begin in this process?  She'll be a junior in the fall and is spending lots of time with SAT prep this summer.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ideas:

 

1. I suggest getting in a couple of visits to schools in the area or near any place you are traveling. Even if they aren't the exact schools she is going to consider start to get a the feel for different sizes and types of campuses can be helpful.

 

2. A couple of good books: Fiske Guide to Colleges and Colleges that Change Lives.

 

3. College fairs, college websites, and online tours.

 

4. If you haven't already looked at college costs do so early in the process.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've been playing around with the college search application here: www.collegeboard.com. You can enter information and preferences about location, possible majors, public vs. private, etc., and the website spits out a list of suggestions.

 

I've also found the College Chances section here to be helpful: http://www.collegedata.com/cs/promo/promo_calcodds_tmpl.jhtml

 

And I've been checking an assortement of books out of our local library. My favorites so far have been:

 

- The Fiske Guide to Getting Into the Right College (Fiske and Hammond)

- Admission Matters: What Students and Parents Need to Know About Getting Into College (Springer, Reider and Morgan)

- Crazy U: One Dad’s Crash Course in Getting His Kid Into College (Ferguson)

 

The last one is more anecdotal, funny and personal, but I thought there was some good information, too.

 

The challenge I'm finding is not to get swept up in the insanity of assuming everyone is or should be aiming at admission to highly selective, Ivy-type schools.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My guys all had an idea of what they wanted to study, so we looked for people in the field and asked their thoughts, sometimes in person and sometimes by e-mail.  All we asked were willing to give suggestions.  I also posted a couple of threads on here and/or college confidential and (we) considered those schools.  We did a college search site or two to see if other options came up. 

 

We looked at those schools to start figuring out who was good with finances for our specific situation.  We also looked at scores as my preference is to have my guys at or near the top 25% for stats (definitely helps with aid and gives a piece of mind about ability to handle classes compared to their fellow students). My guys looked at websites (esp within their major) to see if it appealed.  We looked at review sites for good, bad, and ugly keeping comments in mind.  We looked to see what graduates had done - esp recent graduates.

 

Finally, we visited...  sometimes before and sometimes after application.

 

ps  For us it was easy to not get caught up in Ivy-itis.  Around here (where we live) Ivies for undergrad are kind of looked down upon as elitist - not a trait we care for, plus, they don't offer merit aid - something we wanted.  YMMV for both.  Much of the former depends upon where one lives.  Much of the latter depends upon one's finances.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Another board member suggested 8 First Choices. I liked it and it is written to the college student. It is a fairly open ended discussion of how to research colleges and hone in on a set of 8 schools, any of which the student would be happy to attend. 

 

The College Board also has a search engine where you enter what you might be interested in and it turns up colleges. https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/college-search

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Calvin's list went something like:

 

- location: city/small town; near/far; campus/in town

- size of university or college within university

- reputation of the course for his particular subject

- reputation of the university

 

This produced a short list for open days.

 

All the universities that he was looking at charge £9,000 a year, so money wasn't a factor him.

 

L

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As they say on College Confidential, "Love thy safety." I would start by identifying two safeties. A "safety" is defined as:

 

a school where you know you will be accepted

that you know you can afford

that you would be happy to attend

 

I like having two so that if other choices do not yield acceptances, a student feels as though they still have a "choice." My ds is applying this fall and will have three safeties on his list. Our in-state flagship, and two out-of-state flagships that are generous with merit money.

 

I would try to visit three or four different *types* of schools - a Big State U, a mid-sized Uni, and a small LAC. Also, try to visit a variety of types of locations - a large urban city, a small city, a town, a rural area. How important is a "true" campus to her? How important is it to live on-campus for all four years? Does she want a school with big-time Div I athetics or does that not matter? Greek or not Greek?

 

If your dd has an idea of what she wants to study, look for specific schools that are strong in those programs.

 

I second 8 First Choices, The Fiske Guide, and Crazy U. The Fiske guide has a survey in the front that helps one define the type of school where one might be happiest.

 

Good luck!

 

ETA: Run numbers and know both what you can afford AND what you are willing to spend. Those two numbers might be quite different.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've been playing around with the college search application here: www.collegeboard.com. You can enter information and preferences about location, possible majors, public vs. private, etc., and the website spits out a list of suggestions.

 

I've also found the College Chances section here to be helpful: http://www.collegedata.com/cs/promo/promo_calcodds_tmpl.jhtml

 

 

 

We started with the College Board website also.  We visited several colleges within a few hours' drive to get an idea of what my dc would like.  I bought her College Board's Book of Majors which was also helpful to her, as she knew what field interested her.

 

Love, love the College Data website linked above and found their Chance section spot on.  The other website I used for info was collegeconfidential.  It's not for the faint of heart, and it wasn't one I suggested to my dd.  It's packed with very competitive students, so you might get a feel for it first before you decide if you want to suggest it to your dd.

 

Oh, visiting colleges was one of the most fun things we did over the past few years! It was scary before we did it the first time, but they all ended up just being FUN!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Rent all the "college and school" movies you can think of and watch them all, eg. we liked Legally Blonde and The Paper Chase and the "Bonzo" movies and DaddyLonglegs.  Discuss what was attractive about the schools and the social and learning situations.....  That way kids and parents can decide what is important.  Then just start looking....let parents and child follow their intuitions.  Talk, talk, talk to each other and then go on some fun visits together.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...