<p>hey i’m sure this has been posted before but what are some good ways to start one’s college list? like factors to consider? if you have some links to previous discussions it would be great.</p>
<p><a href=“College Board - SAT, AP, College Search and Admission Tools”>College Board - SAT, AP, College Search and Admission Tools;
<p>location, size of school, rural vs urban, potential major, religious affiliation, greek life, any particular activities you want (theater, sports, etc)</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=377931[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=377931</a> (Read my post!)</p>
<p>Things to consider:</p>
<ol>
<li>Everything huskem55 put down</li>
<li>Diversity (ethnically, geographically, economically)</li>
<li>The atmosphere, the feel of the school.</li>
<li>Other things I forgot to mention, like competition level, etc.</li>
</ol>
<p>Make sure you are open to change, though. Let me give you an example. I wanted a small liberal arts school that’s really diverse and in a big city. I came across schools like Reed and Carleton. Although Reed isn’t ethnically diverse, it’s still on my list, because Reed appealed to me so much that it was an exception. Same with Carleton, which is in a rural area and doesn’t have much diversity but is another exception. So be aware of exceptions, and be willing to add more colleges to your list. Make sure you have a good reason to eliminate colleges before you eliminate them. Don’t have arbitrary reasons.</p>
<p>Make sure you visit some schools you’re considering.</p>
<p>I live in Seattle, and a few days ago I went to Reed College in Portland. Based on what I had read on CollegeConfidential and from guidebooks and the website, Reed sounded wonderful. When I went there, I found out that Reed was like a chunk of the University of Washington. Also, Portland was a lot like a small section of Seattle. After I visited, I learned that I didn’t really want a college and location that reminded me of Seattle. Even though Reed is still near the top of my list, I will take my observations into consideration.</p>
<p>So visit if you can! If you don’t think you can visit because of costs (which I thought), you can always try calling the school and asking if there are any opportunities to go for a lower price or if they’d be willing to pay for transportation (some schools do that). For instance, Swarthmore has a program (if you’re invited) where you can visit for a weekend for free. So always look for these things.</p>
<p>Also, don’t make major a major priority unless you’re certain. Lots of people change majors in college, more than once. </p>
<p>Consider how residential and how intellectual the school is. For instance, I definitely wouldn’t want to go to a school where everyone immediately goes home after class. These are some things to consider once you have a list of 10-30 colleges and are trying to narrow that list down to 5-10.</p>
<p>Again, read my post on the above link!</p>
<p>thanks everyone</p>
<p>Also, you want to make sure the school at least has the major you’re interested in even if you may change it later. For example, UofC does not have an engineering major so if you think you may want to be an engineer, you would not want to apply there.</p>