Can someone walk me through the college search process?

[Daria]

We're just starting this process, and I'm finding it pretty overwhelming, to be honest.  I would love to know how other people worked this out.  How many schools did you look at?  What questions did you ask?  Did you go see all of them?  If you did, did your kid ever go alone, or did you always go with a parent?  Did your kid apply to any schools sight unseen and then visit if accepted?  

 

So far, we've seen two schools.  DS said he liked the first one, but LOVED the second one.  Now that we've seen his reaction to #2, I'm pretty sure that #1 is off the table.  

 

[Mom22ns]

The process is different for everyone.

 

For both of my kids we started with geographical area. Ds wanted to stay local, that took us down to about 10 schools and really it was easy. We narrowed the field by major, then we visited the U that dh and I attended (not local), the local state U, and the most academically rigorous Private U in the area. Our U was too far. He hated the large State U (he had done DE there and already knew it wasn't for him) and loved the small LAC option. From there it was just a matter of could he come up with enough scholarship money to make it work. He did. He'll be starting his sophomore year in just over a week and is happy there.

 

Dd drew 2  circles on a map. One at 2 hours away (minimum) and one at 6 hours away (maximum) and began searching. Next we narrowed by school size and major. She had a size range in mind and tossed out the schools that were too large or too small. She also knew what she wanted for a major, so we looked for schools that had a really good reputation within that major. Price, stats of applicants, setting, scholarships etc, were considered after that. She visited 3 colleges, and her favorite got knocked off the list by the meeting with the department head. She came up with a new choice, but then class size made her re-consider. She ended up at what was originally her third choice, but ultimately was her favorite for many reasons. 

 

[Daria]

Thanks!  That's super helpful.

[bettyandbob]

My dd saw a school that she wasn't thrilled about early in the process--fall of tenth grade. That school had the best admissions presentation and the best tour. It was great. But it was very big. And it didn't have a focus on what dd thought she wanted at the time. Then summer before senior year dd reevaluates to a new career focus. Turns out the school tossed aside in tenth grade is what she wants. I taking her there to start next week.

 

If you know a major use that as your guide to start a list of schools. If you don't have a career or major in mind, pick a region and start visiting. For someone who is not sure the visits can help provide a focus. We knew we were staying at in state public colleges. So we just started visiting. Luckily, our state has a mix of very large and small, urban and rural, liberal arts, fine arts and tech oriented and beach versus mountain settings (all kinds of weather). On a whim we saw two schools in ninth grade. She requested to see more the next year so 5 more that year and more junior year. By junior year she had a better idea of what she was interested in and what she liked.

 

Most people say to start looking at schools junior year. However junior year has a lot going on with several weekends blocked out for SATs, SAT IIs, ACT. Plus my dd had started a part time job that was weekends. It really was better for us to have started looking early. By the time she was ready to do applications she'd seen all the schools and had a good feeling what each could give her even though she was thinking of a more liberal arts field at first and now is definitely going to be heavy science.

[katilac]

We're just starting this process, and I'm finding it pretty overwhelming, to be honest.  I would love to know how other people worked this out.  How many schools did you look at?  What questions did you ask?  Did you go see all of them?  If you did, did your kid ever go alone, or did you always go with a parent?  Did your kid apply to any schools sight unseen and then visit if accepted?  

 

So far, we've seen two schools.  DS said he liked the first one, but LOVED the second one.  Now that we've seen his reaction to #2, I'm pretty sure that #1 is off the table.  

 

We looked at a bunch of schools, as far as listing them and researching them and so on. dd was undecided on some things earlier in the process, like distance, and changed her mind about other things, like size. 

 

We did full tours on about six schools, with return visits to I think three. The school she wound up at, seven hours away, she visited three or four times before committing, plus a local presentation and reception. Another school on the short list, five hours away, got 2 visits and she went to a week long summer academy there, plus a local presentation and reception. The third repeat visit was thankfully local! And some of the visits to the far away schools were combined, because you basically pass one up to get to the other. 

 

We did more casual visits, no official tour, to about four schools. These were mostly done while in the area anyway. Had they remained higher on the list, we would have done official visits/tours. 

 

She did apply to three schools sight unseen. She was accepted, but decided against them, so we never visited. 

 

She didn't have a driver's license, so one of us was always with her. We didn't necessarily do everything with her, particularly on second visits, but going alone wasn't workable. 

 

I'm a big fan of lots of visits whenever possible. People are always saying to decide if you want big or small first, etc, but it's kind of hard to make that decision in a vacuum. My dd had to see various campuses and walk around them to really get a feel for what she wanted. If you can't get to his top choices on paper, visit local schools even if they are not on his list. We learned something with every visit, and it became more and more clear what she wanted in a school. 

 

Plus, some schools wind up being worth giving up some things on your list. dd wound up deciding that 2 to 3 hours would be her ideal distance, but the overall situation at her final choice made it worth sacrificing that preference. 

 

We did spend a lot of time on it!

[JanetC]

The early part of college shopping is hard - you have three cats you're trying to herd

 

Affordability - Have you run EFC and NPC calculators yet?

Admissibility - GPA, test score fit

Personal fit - majors/programs of interest, and also campus location and feel and ECs that fit your student

 

Eventually you'll get a handle on all of these, but at first you are just kind of wandering around trying to figure things out.

[Daria]

Thanks everyone, "wandering around" is exactly how I feel.  

 

I think one thing I'm confused about is knowing how many schools to apply to, and how to figure out his odds at each school.  The fact that he wants a major that will require a portfolio review makes that particularly hard.  

[KarenNC]

It might be helpful to check and see if there's a National Portfolio Day event in your area http://www.portfolioday.net/

 

Here's the process we've done so far:

 

9th grade:

• drove through the campuses of a variety of schools we could easily get to so that she could see a range of campus types--probably hit a dozen
• attended a couple of college fairs with the instruction that she had to go up to at least three schools to ask for information, so that she would know what to expect and it wouldn't be quite so overwhelming.
• took a practice PSAT in addition to yearly ACT test
• I started diving head-first into as much info as possible on college admissions and financial aid

 

10th:

• Attended local presentations from some schools, open houses at several local schools and some that were a bit farther afield in which she'd expressed interest (so far all have been within 2 hours of home). Individual visits at a couple of schools that seemed interesting but had open houses that conflicted with other schools.
• Back to the college fairs with a better idea of questions to ask, as the type of school (size, atmosphere, etc) is beginning to solidify
• another practice PSAT, ACT, and looking at where those scores and her GPA put her in relation to the admissions stats and scholarship stats at schools in which she is interested, checked the schools for availability of good merit aid. 
• late in the year she changed her mind on her likely major (from English to tech theatre), so the criteria changed
• I kept exploring and learning about the process.

11th (current):

• starting dual enrollment, which will hopefully help her further clarify her desires in a college.
• plan to do more in-depth individual visits to some of the campuses where she's attended open houses, as well as a few additional open houses. The major switch means some schools will need to be re-visited to get an idea of their theatre programs. She hopes to talk to department staff and maybe sit in on classes.
• back to college fairs with even more targeted questions, including some that are aimed at her specific interests.
• Aim to have all major testing done by the end of the year in order to have scores ready for early action applications.

12th:

• overnight visits at top choices
• continue dual enrollment and any required testing

 

 

 

Edited August 15, 2016 by KarenNC

[Julie of KY]

Like many others, we started with schools in a day's driving distance. We made a big list and talked over several schools. We picked a couple to visit. The first couple of visits were ho-hum, but then he found a school he really liked. From there we narrowed the list significantly based on size of school and other factors he decided were important.

 

We also pulled out a list from college confidential of schools with great merit aid based on ACT/grades. When we first looked at that list, nothing jumped out at us as being better than our big state school, but now that he knows a little more what he wants, there is one school that really looks good and we are driving there this week.

 

Get a feel for a couple of different schools.

Look at the major departments if you know what you want to study.

Don't completely knock out pricey schools if scholarships are a possibility, but make sure your student knows xyz school isn't a choice unless you get a set amount of $$..

Go back and revisit lists that have schools listed by great financial aid and see if anything new pops out at you.

 

[JanetC]

My two pieces of advice are

 

Find some affordable choices first, probably in-state public, as colleges of art and design aren't known to be generous with need-based aid. It doesn't have to be the state flagship: there are often strong art departments hiding in surprising places if you look.

 

When adding schools to your list, look very carefully graduation rates. Some of them are pretty terrible.

[GoodGrief]

College Confidential gets a bad rap here, but I think the "Parents of Class of XXXX" forum can be helpful, as can the financial aid forums, and even the basic Admissions and Search and Selections forums. Just ignore all "chances" posts. The CC parents are a touch intimidating, but very well informed.

 

My most recent high school grad cast a wide net, applying to many schools. Schools were chosen based on availability of programs that interested her (she had some specific interests that aren't available everywhere, which helped narrow the list) and the possibility of either automatic or competitive scholarships that would cover, at a minimum, full tuition costs. She was a likely National Merit Finalist, so special attention was paid to schools that had good scholarships for that particular award.

 

In the end, many schools were eliminated because money didn't come through. She wasn't admitted to a couple of schools. She had to eliminate the remaining schools based on preference; visits to the schools helped in those cases. I actually think spring visits are more helpful than fall visits, though sometimes one doesn't have a choice (and some schools do consider previous visits as an indicator of "interest" which can impact admissions decisions in some cases.)

[Guest]

We're just starting this process, and I'm finding it pretty overwhelming, to be honest. I would love to know how other people worked this out. How many schools did you look at? What questions did you ask? Did you go see all of them? If you did, did your kid ever go alone, or did you always go with a parent? Did your kid apply to any schools sight unseen and then visit if accepted?

 

So far, we've seen two schools. DS said he liked the first one, but LOVED the second one. Now that we've seen his reaction to #2, I'm pretty sure that #1 is off the table.

We started with some particulars that we knew for certain, for example, how far of a radius from home. This is different for everybody, but I knew I was not encouraging DD to go farther than reasonable driving distance. Also, it is a factor for consideration if the child is interested in a very specific major or if it's a dime-a-dozen major that most all schools carry. I personally am not interested in expensive private schools that we can only afford if we get miraculously generous scholarships, so that narrowed the field as well. We did tour at all schools that I thought were good possibilities for DD and there were no schools she applied to sight unseen. I know many people do that but that seems unimaginable to me!

 

Now that I have done this with DD, I expect it will be simpler with DS. I have a better idea of what to expect and I know certain schools are not worth the effort. I do think it's not that meaningful which school they think they like during a tour because a lot of external factors can influence that. One of the schools my DD liked just fine when we toured I now think is extremely far from the right thing for her and imagining her having gone there is laughable.

 

I like using the school search feature at College Confidential to compare a bunch of facts about the schools we're considering.