<p>Well, tokenadult, we did not use *U.S. News * rankings either (do have it, I admit, and subscribe to the premium service purely for the easy access to all kinds of data – including sometimes such factors as % of students who have cars at school – it provides).</p>
<p>We perused many guidebooks (found Fiske very helpful), and school websites. My kids both wanted small liberal arts schools within a certain geographic range. At least that limited things to some extent. We did lots of college trips merged with vacations. (I always say I like shopping for schools the way some people like shopping at the mall!) I can recally visiting one school which my D did not care for at all but thinking it would be a great match for a friend of hers. </p>
<p>D did want to be at a challenging school where she would be somewhere in the middle of the student body academically. She wanted to be someplace where the other students would inspire her, yet where she would not be struggling to keep up. That did lead us to focus on some more selective schools but we looked at several that were less selective as well. </p>
<p>Son wants an engineering program at a liberal arts school with small classes so that limits his options. He does not want a Tech school, but one where people major in all kinds of things. </p>
<p>Neither of my kids wanted a heavy frat or drinking scene. They both wanted diversity. They both wanted to be someplace with lots of faculty interaction/support. </p>
<p>D found a great match for her. Still working on it for S and his search has been more of a challenge. Some of the liberal arts schools with engineering for which he may be in the running do have frats and little diversity. He may have to choose his own compromise. </p>
<p>Naturally, CC has been a great resource!</p>