<p>It also depends on how picky your student is. Mine did not have strong opinions about size, location, geographics, etc. I had to go by comments to come up with what he did seem to prefer, and personally, I think he would have been fine at most of the colleges we toured even though he did not like some aspects of them. There was no perfect candidate, by the way.</p>
<p>We have no real list. D has 2 reaches (one super reach and one high reach), the state flagship (which is a bad fit for her, but cheap and close and has a good rep) and that’s it. Not exactly where I was hoping to be right now, but D is “in love” with one of her reaches and that’s that!</p>
<p>Both my children changed their criteria for college picks quite a bit in the course of visits that began in February of junior year (they only looked at schools while they were in session which I think helped). They also did one or two overnights early senior fall. Having seen a bunch of schools that fit their intial sense of fit, by the middle of senior fall they had gravitated towards particular types pf schools—for my first child, urban, larger, for my younger child, smaller, liberal arts, rural. By mid senior fall they knew more about the different kinds of college climates and opportunities and what they liked, for example service learning, and didn’t like, e.g. frat-oriented social life. Information from college websites was really helpful as well as visits—looking at course catalogues, team pages, on-line student newspapers, course evaluations. My tip for junior parents is to be non-judgmental, ask questions about what our children like/don’t like about particular schools, and help come up with additional schools to look at that meet the emerging set of positives.</p>
<p>Our D is a senior, but up until March or April of last year refused to talk about “college” at all. I found I had to push a bit to get her signed up for the appropriate tests (she did the SAT and SAT2s last spring). After APs last spring, the students had to do a “college research” project, and at that point she came to me and said she didn’t even know what to look for. I gave her a list of about 5 schools to check out: a variety of kinds of schools, in different geographic areas, with a good probability of admission and/or merit aid. Since then, I think we’ve added 2 schools to the list. I think a longer list to research or think about would have overwhelmed her. We visited two schools this summer (here on the west coast), and will visit two in November. The rest we will probably visit after decisions and financial awards are in if they still remain in the running, since financial support will make a big difference in her final choice. </p>
<p>Some kids seem to grow up knowing where they want to go (here, in SoCal, it’s often USC or UCLA or one of the UCs or an Ivy); or have an awareness of the whole college scene. Our D did not, and still doesn’t. But she seems satisfied enough with the schools we’ve suggested to her. I guess we’ll see in the next months how it all turns out!</p>
<p>S had no clue as to what he his criteria was for the longest time. It seems so much easier for younger siblings who have seen the merry go round from a distance. D has been thinking about college for a couple years. S wasn’t sure it was the right thing to do until he got to Orientation.</p>
<p>DD viewed college visits as “vacation ops”. We looked at schools in the southeast, Texas and California. I kept waiting for her to ask to see U of Hawaii. Each trip was a week or so long and was combined with a visit to some family member (we have family all over the country). Our trips were fun.</p>
<p>Cur…our kid dissed U of Richmond. We hadn’t even driven into the campus (we were right in front of the main college gate) when she said “I hate it here, I won’t get out of the car.” Politely I asked, “What is it that you don’t like…the pink flowers or the red brick buildings?” (since we hadn’t seen or heard anything else). Oh…she did get out of the car and in the end none of us liked the place. But still…</p>
<p>I’ve read so many posts over the last two years about kids that wouldn’t get out of the car (usually afte a considerable drive to get there, too). Blows me away! I would think it would be worth it, if only to be able to subsequently articulate in precise, excruciating detail Every Little Thing that annoyed one! 
Seriously, S2 learned things about himself and schools even at the schools he didn’t like.</p>
<p>Thumper1 - That sounded so familiar! We encountered a few of those “I hate it here” visits with the older kids. One kid wanted to get up and walk out of the Welcome Session at Vanilla-ova when the Speaker said “We know we’re wonderful, and of course you want to come here. When you’re writing your essay, your job is to convince us that we should consider you.” Actually, I thought it was an honest statement, but S’s mind closed instantly. Oh well, not a good match.</p>
<p>The only heartbreaking experience we had was when one kid fell in love with a school that admitted him but didn’t offer financial aid. The cost would have been prohibitive. We’re talking about an out-of-state public U, not HYP. That kid’s GF was accepted by a top 20, with minimal financial aid. Her parents ultimately refused to sign for the kind of loans that it would have taken. Both of these kids still whine a little about the fact that they are attending their second choice school.</p>
<p>I’m going to be more cautious about visiting any schools that are out-of-reach financially with the last kid, by making it absolutely clear if it’s a reach even if it’s an academic match.</p>
<p>cptofthehouse - I don’t know if a lot of options quite describes what my daughter wants. She has two strong requirements, an Environmental Sciences/Studies major (FWIW I think she could do about as well with a minor) and an equestrian team/club. She is a potential member of the Society for Creative Anachronism and wanted to indulge those interests preferring schools with some combination (but not all) of a non-language based classical studies, medieval studies, fencing sports club/team, and archery club. Kendo (East Asian fencing) is now viewed as also potentially interesting. She is wondering if long term she should become a veterinarian, so schools with animal sciences, animal behavior, equestrian sciences, etc are also of interest.</p>
<p>It sounds like a lot of requirements, but hundreds of schools have equestrian programs, many of them are very good schools, and most of the good ones have Environmental science/studies majors. Individually her other interests are rarer, but as none of them in and of themselves is a requirement, I think there are 50+ schools that on paper look good for her.</p>
<p>I don’t know what to do about the reaction to admissions etc. It was worse for us as she visited most of the schools in the summer when few are in session. All we had to go on was the appearance of the school and the behavior of admissions/tour guides.</p>
<p>This would be a good time for juniors to start to try to find two educational/financial safety schools that they like. We visited Ohio State in early January of my daughter’s junior year (the OSU kids were back in school and my D was still on winter break) and it was a pleasant surprise to all of us (two moms and two daughters). After touring the campus and looking at programs in their intended majors, both girls thought OSU was a great safety school and both would have been happy to attend there. That way, in the fall, when the OSU letter of acceptance came (I think it was the first one), it was so nice - a real fall-back - the pressure is off a bit - “I have been accepted at a school that I like!”</p>
<p>I agree with MidwesternMom. We looked for one of those too. Our mistake was not making sure that it was also a “financial safety”. This is so important! It ended up not mattering in our case, but we would have been hard pressed to send our son to the first school that accepted him bc they ended up offering nothing in aid. It was an OOS public U., and public Us often do not offer aid to OOS students. My son was accepted within 10 days of applying, and we were thrilled at the time! That acceptance still took the pressure off bc we did not realize that they were not going to offer any financial or merit award. After that my son had 9 additional acceptances.</p>
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<p>That could be a description of my kid.</p>
<p>Her attitude is like it is when she shops. The first thing she finds that is “fine” is as far as she really wants to look. She’s seen one college that’s “fine” and doesn’t understand why she has to do more than that.</p>
<p>zoosermom - My daughter checks for more than one item. Perhaps because she realizes that she needs more than one college on her list, and that means she has to compare several colleges. She wants one other sport than equestrian, and prefers to have at least two of her academic options. Myself I think her sports criteria are fine, but have some concerns about her academic ones. In particular I want her to spend her first year or so exploring academic options that can settle on a major with a serious avocation that she’s happy with, and consider classical/medieval studies a distraction in her search. What she could get out of those fields of study I think could also be found in archeology/anthropology/sociology/history/Middle Eastern Studies/Asian Studies. While I think that Environmental Science/studies is a reasonable nominal major for her, there’s a better than 10% chance she’ll change her mind. Given her interests I want her to also explore biology/animal science/animal behavior/zoology, geology, English, psychology, and computer science. </p>
<p>Then again it sometimes seems that arbitrary criteria are useful just to get the list down to a manageable size.</p>
<p>It is, Nmparents, and I can tell you that trying to get depth in some subjects offered is often in vain because you are doing so on the likelihood that the student will want to continue in that vein, which as you know, is small. I know so many who threw out schools because of that possibility only to find their kids got interested in some major not even in their minds when they were undergoing the process. The comforting news is that if a kid truly develops a strong interest in a field, the possibility of transfer to a school that is strong in that field is high. That is the most compelling reason to a college for a kid to transfer. That he has outgrown the school that he is in academically. My neighbor went to a small Catholic school and then developed an interest in the graphic arts which was not well supported at her college. NYU snatched her right up even though she applied well past the due date for apps. She was told that reason is one that really perks up the ears of transfer admissions officers. They could not care less how unhappy a kid is at a college or anything else. It is the academic focus that turns them on.</p>
<p>Transfer admissions may be easier with a strong academic reason, but transfer FA won’t be.</p>
<p>Wow, I’m late to this thread–I’ve been spending too much of my CC time in the Parent’s Cafe political sub-forum. ;)</p>
<p>D2 has been thinking about colleges for quite some time, mainly by osmosis while her older sister was going through the college admissions process a couple of years ago. Also, she’s had enough friends who were HS seniors in the last year or two, so thats also been an influence.</p>
<p>Okay, I’ve taken D2 to visit a few schools, but not as many as I would have liked. She was busy volunteering this past summer so we couldnt get away too often. She does have a list of about ten other schools thats shes interested in, but they are scattered geographically (Boston area, Vermont, upstate NY, Pittsburgh PA, Ohio and Illinois) and not anywhere near our home. Another complication is that her HS doesnt seem to have that many teacher in-service days off this year. You folks who have a three-day weekend with Columbus Day are fortunate. Instead we have a slightly longer December break, but thats not exactly optimal college visiting time. So it looks like well be cramming a lot of visits into spring break (possibly a brief VT-NY tour, followed by a Ohio-Illinois tour). Were going to try to squeeze the Boston schools into a weekend this fall, and well save the Pittsburgh schools for next summer. </p>
<p>D2 is planning to major in Creative Writing, most likely coupled with English. To determine which schools she wants to explore, shes been studying the guides (Fiske, PR, Insiders Guide to the Colleges, etc.). Also, whenever its available, shes looked at a schools undergraduate literary magazine, to see a sample of the creative writing there. (By doing this, shes already ruled out one school that initially sounded promising.)</p>
<p>One thing that Ive insisted on is that she needs at least two safeties. And I mean financial, as well as academic, safeties. The only state university that shes really interested in is U. Pittsburgh. We will probably also visit SUNY Binghamton, but thats because I suggested it and shes just going along with my idea. Its hard to find public universities that are strong in creative writing at the undergraduate level. Im also hoping that she still keeps an open mind to other schools. If D1s experience is any indication, D2 will be changing her mind plenty of times before April of 2010.</p>
<p>^^^ I agree. I also have a D that has been dragged along to colleges (some in California more than once) with two older siblings and also has had classes with older kids forever so she has gone through the process with four groups of seniors so far. Because of this she has a list of about 15 schools by now. </p>
<p>Having gone through this process before I also realize that things could change right up until the last minute. We will try and visit the eastern schools during spring break and like others mentioned, make it a family trip. I know how busy things get during senior year! There are four places that we will probably not be able to visit and she will have to make up her mind whether to apply or not sight-unseen. It would mean a couple more flights and more time off of school and of course more money! We certainly don’t have an endless supply, especially with the looming prospect of a third child in college (and two more to follow)!</p>
<p>I also know that thoughts about a place that looks perfect on paper can go right out the window when you pull up to an actual campus! D already had one place where she refused to get out of the car…just didn’t like the surroundings and she does know herself very well. She always thinks things through and has solid reasons, even if it seems to us at the time more of a gut reaction than anything else.</p>
<p>Right now I admit that what keeps popping into my head is the fact that we are actively helping her to decide where to go where she will be happy and thrive…but ultimately she will be away from us! She is the adventurous type. If I had my way I would probably (sefishly) prefer that she went a few hours away to the state flagship U so we could see her more often! (But then I wouldn’t enjoy that because she probably wouldn’t really be satisfied…and I can’t say much because she gets her adventurous spirit from me!) Does anyone else see the irony in the whole process?</p>
<p>D was seriously thinking about college choices by this time in 11th grade. S is now a junior & all he knows is that he is going to college - where, what for, etc. are not even in his realm of thinking at this point. I figure he’s taking the right classes & he has great teachers who will help push them in the right direction. Hopefully, he’ll come up with a list sometime in the next year!</p>
<p>Wow, I didn’t even make my list until July. I knew Stanford in late-May, but had nothing else before the end of my junior year.</p>
<p>Of course, that was based on my philosophy of only visiting after I was accepted, so it might apply differently to different families.</p>
<p>We are looking for financial safties also because for us, it’s not “where will I get in” it’s “how will we pay for it”. I know that there are colleges that will accept them that are fine, solid colleges, most students aren’t left in the cold unless they applied to all reaches, but it’s hard to figure out what would be a good pick. Unfortunately all my children have personalities geared to smaller universites/LAC’s than large state schools, but I told them UConn has to on the list. I know one daughter would be lost there, hates crowds, noise, parties, etc. but she can find a group of like-minded people and if she keeps her grades up and scores well on the ACT/SAT, might have a chance at the honors college.
They have the knowledge from seeing their brother go through it, that getting acceptances is great and exciting, but unless you saved enough or inherited a large amount of money, paying for it is a problem. I didn’t hide the ups and downs from them so they would understand it’s not just picking where you want to go for some students, it’s finding a place you can afford and feel a fit.
As we have seen on this site, that can fluctuate so much and there can so many surprises, joys and disapointments. At least there is company for the ride! : )</p>