philosopher4life

How do people make their list of colleges they'll apply?

Here's what I think I'm going to do...

Use the rankings (specific to my major) as somewhat of a template and research everyone of those "Top" Universites and see if they're a fit...

That's all I have.

Any suggestions?

ricegal

The rankings are mostly by graduate degree so I don't find them that useful as a measure of undergraduate instruction quality. Use Rugg's Recommendations because he has groupings of schools, rather than a strict ranking. I think too much emphasis is placed on some of the rankings. There are certain careers like investment banking where it is important to be from a top 10 school just to land a job in the area, but for most careers there are many paths to a good job. For example, if you want to go to med school does it really matter if you graduated from Dartmouth or Emory or JHU or Carleton? All four are good schools; they just happen to be in different areas of the country. Why bother to rank them?

slipper1234

It depends on what you want to do. Major and departmental rankings are mostly irrelevant, you're better off going to the best overall school. The best finance and consulting firms recruit mostly from the top 10-15 schools OVERALL.

But in a few select areas where undergrad training actually is more career focused (film, accounting, art, nursing, etc) it matters.

Roger_Dooley

Instead of starting the list with the top USNews colleges, look at a few fairly obvious groups:

- in state schools where you may receive preferential admission, lower tuition, and special in-state scholarships

- schools with personal ties - legacy connections, well-networked acquaintances, etc. where you may have special access, preferences, inside knowledge, etc.

I don't see a problem with looking at schools with programs noted for strength in your intended major - that helps focus attention a bit. But, the points about choosing a college with multiple options is indeed important. I'd recommend a school like Harvey Mudd only for someone who was really confident that they wouldn't change majors in a year or two.

Once you have a core group of safeties and ballpark schools, then look at your reaches. Too many students focus exclusively on long shot schools, and end up with too few choices.

aristotle1990

U.S. News 'n World, folks.

09xoxo

If you fit in well at your school, look at where students from previous years have gone. If you are almost a carbon copy of another student (same interests, similar personality, similar stats), chances are that the school they chose will be a good fit for you as well.

Lori1122

1. top arch schools, design intelligence
2. double checked if they would let me double with civil eng.
3. size, location

davnasca

The colleges that sent me mail! I'm old school, I read at least the first paragraph of my college mail I get and if it strikes my fancy I'll research the school online, get on their mailing list, visit their CC forum ect. I discovered University of Chicago this way and its my top choice!

That being said, rankings, both general and interest-specific, do help roughly get a list going, Wikipedia is a good source of random, unbiased info on Unis, and actual college websites are great too! Also, try using PR's Counselor-O-Matic (completely ignore their safety/match/reach recommendations though). And finally, and I can't stress this enough, TALK TO PEOPLE! People who have gone through the process are treasure troves of information. I have an aunt who's eldest son was going through the admissions journey three years before me, and shes been the go-to person for questions and has also opened my eyes to other schools that she deemed would be a fit for me. This is how I discovered Swarthmore, another school I love. People who know you well, have gone through the process (especially with an applicant with similar stats and aspirations as you) and who know you well are the best sources.

beanieboo

if youre friends with people that have the same academic interests and acheivements as you, look where theyre applying. one of my good friends had NO idea where to apply cause her GC or parents didnt really offer her much to go on. so she asked me where i was applying, and without me knowing, just wound up applying to most of the same schools as me. and then when she wanted more schools than i listed.. i let her borrow my book of 361 best colleges and she made huge lists and just kept on narrowing them down.

whoever said it before was right, look to the people around you. she wound up applying ED to NYU which was my former second choice and most of her backup schools if she didnt get in were schools that i was waiting to hear from.

in my guidence office we have a list of every school and every student that applied and their stats and if htye were accepted/denied/deffered. something like that would be very useful. and look to see where past classes as your hs wound up going

mikenthemaddog66

Well, the first thing you do is you check your SAT score. A low score (below the 25th percentile) will keep you out of the college unless you are an extreme case.

You want to find schools where your SAT score fits. My rule of thumb, if you are about 100 points above their 75th percentile, then there are good chances for merit money, if the school offers it. Apply to a safety that is likely to give you some money and/or a full ride. Since I was from NJ, and Rutgers cut their program, I applied to Pittsburgh to satisfy the safety school.

Now you want to find match schools, Schools where you are near the 75th percentile, I recommend 2 or 3 of these, depending on how much you like your safety.

Then find your reach schools as schools you like where you fit their 25-75 percentile.

From a big list, then start eliminating schools, for arbitrary reasons. Visit the schools that are within reason financially, and attend classes, because you can get a good feel for the university by sitting on classes. Good Luck!

burnitblue

I heartily agree with beanieboo.

For example, the University of Chicago is near the very top of my college list to date. I would not have known about it if a student director of mine wasn't actually going there. He told us all about his studies, and I was really interested, so I did some more research. It turned out to be a great match.

Mr Payne

1) Cost.
2) Strength of program.
3) Location.

Those were about the only things I looked at.

MuTiger12

I'll go ahead and answer for ParentOfAnIvyHope:

"http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/rankings/brief/t1natudoc_brief.php
and then I disregard anything ranked anything outside of the top ten."

pgtori

For my start up sophmore list I took any college with average math & verbal SAT scores 700 or more for each subject. Looked it up in one of those big college books, are wrote all that applied.

Narrowing it down by excluding schools with characterists I loath. Such as unisex, very small or just small-can't stand the idea of going to a college smaller than my highschool, annoying locations-such as Texas or overly red states.

I figure I'll start ranking them or making tiers or schools I'm most into.

Calcruzer

I suggest the following:

1. Start with your parents’ wishes. Choose only schools that offer the majors they want you to specialize in, then make sure that there are few other majors to choose from—that way you won’t end up taking classes that might tempt you to switch to a major you consider “fun” or for which you have a “passion”.

2. Ask your neighbors what they think are the most “prestigious” schools and be sure to apply to all of them. That way, if you somehow manage to get into one of them you are sure to make the neighbors envious.

3. Check out where your friends are going to school. If the school matches them, obviously it will definitely match you. After all, if your best friend is going to major in dance and if the school has a good dance program, it will probably have a pretty good microbiology program also.

4. Don’t bother with a “safety school”. Nobody wants to go to one of those anyway—and let’s be honest—that’s what community colleges are for.

5. Pick a school with the really important things that an educational institution provides. Things like a good football program, a great fraternity and sorority system, and lots of political protests and on-campus concerts will help you forget about the lack of academic or career counseling, honors programs, or student-run programs like TV, radio, musicals, plays, debate competitions, research opportunities, or internship recruiting. These last things are for the nerds that care about the real world—and let’s be blunt, you’re going to be away from home for the first time in your life—so playing video games or watching MTV are the most intellectual things you’ll be doing for the next four years.

6. Don’t pick a school where you have to fill out those stupid financial-aid forms. They are so confusing, and you have better things to do with your time, don’t you. Besides, you know that the schools will love you so much and you’ll love it so much that the cost to attend will not even be a factor in your decision.

7. Don’t bother visiting any of your colleges once you are accepted. That will only confuse you and make you have “buyer’s remorse”. Just pick the one that is farthest away to attend. You know you will adapt to the school you choose no matter what it is like.

8. If you somehow fail to get into any of your colleges by getting an acceptance letter from them, just sneak into the dorms through an open door or window the following fall semester. After about six months, people will feel sorry for you and let you go to the school anyway—and if they don’t, you can sell the movie rights to a Hollywood studio—once you get out of jail, of course.

9. Don’t choose a school in an area where you would be interested in working once you graduate. You will have years to live in or near that area and you know you’d rather spend all your time in a different part of the country now, rather than find out if you actually like that other area. Besides, recruiters for the companies that interest you don’t mind traveling across the country to you to do the interview—after all, how many qualified candidates can there be where they are at?

10. The last—and most important point to follow is: don’t choose a school where you think you might actually learn something or meet new people. Those qualities are greatly overrated—and everyone knows that “networking” is worthless once you leave college and enter the real world.