Colleges: Narrowing down the search

Narrowing down the college search

Alas, the college hunt is upon us, and it is time to begin narrowing down the college search.  As I am most fastidious about researching and organizing and planning, I thought I’d pass along the process by which we began our hunt.

When I first started, I basically started with a google search of all the colleges that had the major my kiddo wanted. Then she started giving me parameters with regard to locations she was not willing to move to. Then I started asking her other questions: 

• What areas around the country would you like to live? Are there any areas you aren’t willing to move to?
• How big of a campus did she think she might like?
• Does she prefer smaller classes? or the anonymity of large classes?
• Did she want to participate in sports or XC activities on campus? 
• Was she looking for more flexibility with being able to choose which classes to take?  Or did she want to have a more well-defined curriculum so that she could just go, take the classes she was supposed to take when she was supposed to take them, and then she'd graduate? 
• What was the average GPA, ACT and SAT scores for admitting students in this year's class profile? 
• Will she meet that minimum standard? 
• Did she want a conservative campus? or a more liberal one? Something that was LGBT friendly? 
• Did she want something that had a religious component to it?
• Does the school offer financial aid? How much? What was the average financial aid package? 
• What was the school's endowment? 
• Did the school have 100% meet of the kid's financial need? Was the school need blind? 
• Did the school offer merit scholarships? 
• Is there an active Greek life on campus? Did she want that?

From there, I took my list of schools, and crossed off the ones that were in the areas she didn't want to move to. Crossed off all the ones that were too big. Crossed off the ones that didn't meet her "desired" or "ideal" campus. And then I got to work.

I went to each school's website and read about their academic program in the major she was interested in. Then I went to the US News & World Report website on colleges and gathered information regarding class sizes, endowments, financial aid packages and so forth. Then I started compiling lists, and narrowing down the field.  

Over the course of the next six months or so, I put together a portfolio for her “short list” of colleges.  Each college has its own section. 

 The first part of the college’s section contained the following information:

Yale College , New Haven, CT

New Haven, CT 06520

Phone: (203) 432-4771

Tuition: $47,600

Room and Board: $14,600

Books & Misc:

Avg Aid: $ 45,710

EFC for this college: $XXX

SAT: 690-800 per subject

ACT: 32-35   GPA:

Students: 5,477 (Total w/grad: 12,336)

74.6% of classes under 20 students

2014 Endowment: $23,858,561,000

3.2% accepted 

Tuition PLUS Room and Board: $63,250

Meets 100% of financial need with scholarship grants and on-campus employment

Estimated family contribution: $xxx

Then I read the book, “Fiske Guide to Colleges 2015”  and took notes on that particular college, first highlighting information that I felt might be relevant for my kiddo, then going back and typing information into my portfolio for each college.

Next, I went to each college’s academic website for the major which she wishes to pursue.  I copied / pasted the requirements for the major, included a list of all possible courses that could be taken for that major, and included any additional information (such as courses that are cross-fields applicable).  I included all this information in her college portfolio.

When I had a running list of 20 or so, I did more in-depth research regarding each school. I narrowed the list down further to 8.

I came up with a list of questions to ask on college tours, and she took it, along with the college portfolio, with her on a whirl-wind tour of 7 college campuses in 8 days.  

She now has her list ranked in order of preference.  

We can still open the list up again to the remaining 12 that we couldn't fit on this college tour if she's interested. 

We'll be able to have a better idea as to whether or not some of the schools will be too far out of reach once we get her ACT scores back. We have a rough idea, based on PSAT scores, the number of AP classes she will have taken by the time she graduates and her current GPA, but a lot comes down to those darned test scores. 

A lot of schools are ACT / SAT optional now, particularly with the new SAT that came out this year giving many schools a bit of a headache. But yet, we still found during the college tours that they ARE looking at those test scores -- even if it is just ONE piece of the puzzle. So many schools are looking for LEADERSHIP qualities, so she wants to make sure she boosts those up from this summer's job / volunteer time. 

During my search, I came across this online "book" and it has been helpful. 

http://www.morrisschooldistrict.org/...whitesbook.pdf

For those of you who want to know how crazy-detailed I got in this whole process, here is what her portfolio contains for each of her colleges:

Inside each college’s mini portfolio is the following information:

• General information about the college (see below)
• General information about the major
• Questions asked during the college tour
• First impressions based upon the college tour
• Answers to the questions asked during the college tour
• Questions to ask during the interview (usually the minor questions that didn’t get answered during the tour, or that have come up since)
• Links to detailed information regarding each of the professors in her major, and the research that each professor in the department is working on.
• Eventually we’ll add in: 
• Due dates for application, application requirements, fees, etc.
• A check list to mark off all application materials (including letters of reference) that have been sent and received
• Estimated Family Contribution for each college, based on the school’s EFC calculator
• Acceptance letters and each college’s financial aid package

Hopefully all of this information will make the college hunt easier for her.  So much more is available online on the college websites than was ever available back in the dark ages when dinosaurs roamed the earth and I was on my college hunt.

But honestly, getting into college seems so much more competitive now than it was when I was in school.  And with all the time she is spending in AP classes, doing homework, extra curricular activities, volunteering, and having a social life, there is too little time left over for her to be spending the detailed time and effort to thoroughly vet the colleges she may wish to attend. Whatever help I can lend along the way to make this process easier for her, will help all of us in the end.

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