Thanks everyone for their thoughtful posts (and I certainly welcome more, as evidently other people were thinking some of the same thoughts I had).
I feel like I can at least give her a starting point (probably arts & sciences vs. engineering, and I can explain the difference now) and some basic focus once she’s winnowed down schools to a manageable number (look at the course catalog).
I know this seems like kind of a “duh” thing to a lot of you, but to me there’s so much info out there and there are so many schools out there that I’d like to be able to, um, quantify the data? so she’s not overwhelmed.
She’s the kind of kid that goes into a shoe store, picks the first shoe that more or less works, and buys it. I am the type that has to look at all the shoes, spend hours comparing, and eventually work my way around to the right shoe.
There isn’t a right way and a wrong way, but if she picks up a “what college should I go to” book, or “I’ll just go where Dad went” and picks the first one that she thinks fits, I will lose my mind.