Another thing that many students and parents consider is travel accessibility to the college.
For residential attendance:
For commuter attendance:
Have a column for short notes, things that you want to remember, programs that looked interesting, etc…drop in links to websites.
Location is good, but also add how long it will take to get home or someone to get to you from home. With flights and proximity of train stations or airports, two colleges 600 miles from you may take 4 hours to one and 8 hours to the other.
One of my kids had a “chicken soup” category- how close we had a family member or friend who would bring her soup if she got sick. She started counting some grad school friends we had not seen in 25 years to make a few work in her rankings - lol
Which leads to - Add a simple rating system of your choosing for some categories so you can resort the list as priorities change.
Add additional sheets and Use the tabs across the bottom to keep yourself organized. You can have a tab for each college with extra info if you want, you can drop in screenshots, etc…You can also create links from cells on the different pages to connect to your main sheet.
All good stuff people are saying - dependent upon how in depth you want to get - we also had a rank for likelihood of admission - so in addition to cost, we had an idea. We used 1-5 vs. a Safety, Target, Reach - but whatever works - because when it’s all done, you want to ensure you have a definite yes - or 1 in our case - on your list.
One note about Colorado Mesa. It has WUE for the first two years, but if you continue that rate doesn’t apply for jr and sr year. Why? Because the engineering diploma will be issued by U of Colorado (and U of Colorado Boulder doesn’t participate in WUE). There are probably other FA options at that point.
One of your columns should have dates of important (EA/competitive merit/special programs) deadlines so you can sort by date and see what deadlines are coming up.
You’ve already gotten a number of great suggestions already. Some others that you could add (if the metric is important to you) are:
Probably better would be to look up each school’s class schedule to see what the actual class sizes are for lower and upper level courses in your most likely majors, since they may be significantly different from the distribution given in the common data set for the overall school.
Remember that with a given class size distribution, a specific student is more likely to have a large class than the percentage of classes that are large, simply because the large classes have more students in them. For example, if a school has two classes, one with 10 students and one with 90 students, then 50% of the classes are small, and the average class size is 50, but 90% of the students are in the large class while only 10% of the students are in the small class.
This is good advice, and I also think it’s helpful to see if classes fill up with overflowing waitlists (which can indicate potential issues getting into classes you want) or if classes seem to have enough room for everyone.
Looking at the class schedule can also tell you more about how these classes are structured (with labs, discussion section, etc) and if any are taught online.
Thanks for all the helpful replies!! I’ve been working on a template on Google sheets and have been doing a deep dive on schools. I’m really liking what I’m seeing at RPI and WPI especially, so thanks for those that recommended it!
Also, I WAS ACCEPTED TO MITES SUMMER OH MY GOD!!! I still can’t believe it, I’m beyond THRILLED and cried!! Can’t wait to spend my summer at MIT!!!
Good luck and do look into the RPI medal.
To add to this - if you think RPI might be interesting, and you think you might want the RPI medal scholarship (it’s a great one - worth $40k/yr - more info here The Rensselaer Medal | Admissions) your school has to nominate you and it’s due by May 1 of your JUNIOR YEAR. Our HS had no idea that this was a thing, and the college counselors weren’t even asking Juniors for school choices at that point. So if you want it, reach out to your counselor ASAP and see if the school will nominate you.
If you are not opposed to living in winter in the northeast for a few years, RPI is worth an early action (last year it was free) application. You will know roughly whether it is worth a visit in terms of net price by early February and the application is common app with 1 or 2 very short response type additional essays, so not a pia like the ultra-reach schools. Keep your grades up, if you get an SAT >1400 (perhaps even >1300) you can almost certainly expect very generous merit money (I’m not sure how they are with need based aid) After our visit we had exactly 0 doubts that if you make it through their curriculum you will receive a world class engineering education. The kids my son met in his major were great. It is a pretty intense place, but in a good way (kids interested, excited in what they are learning, struggling together to succeed. It seemed everywhere we went on campus there were groups of kids working problem sets in various rooms, student union etc… So if you are interested in learning… a really great, intense but non-toxic atmosphere.
It is a very undergrad-focused institution but not small. Also undergrad access to research is widely available starting freshman year. IMO Troy, NY dramatically exceeded my expectations because what I remember about it is 35 years old now, but it would be a huge change from SoCal as it is from NorCal. The location is also convenient because it is a 3 hr train ride from NYC, Bos, and Montreal which are all different and great cities and an hour or two from places of spectacular natural beauty in the adirondacks, berkshires and vermont. We thought the only major negative for RPI (besides cost) is that for a west coast student it is at least 8 to 9 hr travel time from home because of no direct flights to Albany. Travel costs will be significant compared to somewhere in-state. Note, RPI seems to be terrible at marketing itself, don’t even bother visiting until you are an admitted student have a sense of the cost and are able to sit in on a class, meet with faculty, and students in your department. We thought the general campus tour was meh.
Our school gave the RPI medal to the first kid who asked (several years ago, worthy kid), so ASK!
Congrats on mites!
Attending MITES definitely will help your application to MIT, so that’s a big advantage for you.
This summer you should spend the time looking at the websites of all the schools suggested, to get a first deep dive into what each one offers. After awhile, things start to look the same! But there are differences (research opportunities for undergrad, club culture, studying abroad, etc.). You won’t have time in senior year so this summer is the best time to do this.
Then, whittle down your list. When you are at MIT, take the time while in Boston to do tours of other schools in the area. Super important to get a sense of a campus. Now, summer is not a great time to tour since official class is out, but it’s better than nothing. You want to get a sense of how getting around Boston can be - remembering that there are four seasons and if you’ve never experienced snow, it’s a thing. Also, if you can, try to visit other campuses while you are on the east coast. Perhaps others in your program would be willing to travel with you to make it affordable.
Also tour any schools that are near where you live now. This will help with whittling down your college list as you start to figure out what you like or don’t like about campuses. (Large campuses mean more time just getting to and from class - throw in weather, and it’s a different experience than what you have in high school.)
Your mom’s YOLO list of reach schools is just a list of names - so many parents want the name recognition for the kid but what fits their kid would be much better in the long run.
Really look at reach schools to see what interests you and what doesn’t. CalTech is less of a fit for you than Stanford or MIT would be - for tech reaches focus on the latter two.
Also, think about what you really want from the college experience. Sometimes, a slightly less rigorous school, that allows for research and club time outside of class is a better choice.
A lot of students have studied way more math than you to get into STEMMY schools. So even though there is no limit to what you can learn math-wise in the future, you want to be in a cohort of students that you can be challenged by, but not overwhelmed by. This might mean a school that is less reach and more fit. That’s what researching schools is about.
You’re at a phase where it’s exciting to look at all of the possibilities. Eventually, you will start to see what is best fit for you. That’s when the search is harder but more rewarding.
Also, there are so many top schools in California that are great admits, and you won’t have to travel far to get back home should you gain affordable admittance.
TL;DR:
-draft your oversized school list/spreadsheet
-click deep into their websites (a couple a day) to see what they offer in set categories
undergrad research, student support, relevant clubs, studying abroad, etc.
-work with your mom to figure out the cost of attendance (COA) on each school’s calculator
-visit some SoCal schools while the school year is on locally, if possible
-visit schools while at MITES; go with other students to make it cheaper
-test during the summer (scores are helpful to schools that look at them)
Good luck!
Kind of bummed rn bc I was talking to the school principal about the whole medal thing around the beginning of April and they publicized it to the rest of the student body and they ended up choosing to nominate someone else after interviewing us 
(really chill dude, no hate he deserves it, I’m just a little sad.) On the bright side, it’s certainly a good wake-up call that I need to practice my interview skills.
I’ve been researching RPI and it does seem that they offer merit scholarships outside of the medal, so I’m planning to keep it on my list (as a target?). Hoping I can raise my SAT score and apply with a test score to maximize any possibility of receiving merit aid.
In terms of college visits, I’m (supposed to be) going on a four-day trip to the Bay Area colleges (Santa Clara, UCB, Stanford and UC Davis) through my district, there’s talk of canceling though because of fear of the recent protests. We’ll see. The recent situation has actually made my mom a bit more hesitant of the idea of me going OOS (which is weird bc there’s tons of these types of protests going on in CA Campuses?), she hasn’t said a hard no yet, but I’m definitely trying to find CA colleges to fall in love with just in case…
I was under the impression that there were not SAT dates offered in July or June (minus the June 1st date, which unfortunately is completely full for me within a 100 mile radius)? My initial plan was to test again in August and October dates when they are announced. (Quick side note; can you take the SAT in December and use results in time for RD college applications? I’m not sure if it will be different with the SAT being digital and all…)
This actual is something that I’ve been thinking about. My high school, although I love my teachers dearly, apparently does a fairly poor job of preparing students for academically rigorous situations (according to friends who have gone off straight to 4-years after high school and I guess my SAT score compared to my GPA.) I’m going to be honest I’ve gone to title 1 schools with heavy ESL populations my whole life where the emphasis is in trying to decrease student drop-out and repeat classes rates, and someone with a better understanding of the US public education could probably explain the consequences of this much more elegantly than me, but basically I’m worried how I’m going to respond to being surrounded by people who are have been exposed to academically intense courses and become the person who just needs to constantly hustle and fill in the gaps. Will I develop imposter syndrome and burnout or become a stronger academic/engineer as a result of these struggles? I’d like to be optimistic and say the latter but it’s one of those weird things that I really won’t know till I’m in it. I know MITES is going to be intense and am hoping to use that experience to gauge more if I would even fit at the reach colleges in my list or would prefer something less intensely ‘stemmy’
Great point though! And thank you for all your thoughtful feedback!
The medal is nice, but not necessary imo for a good scholarship. Have a thoughtful answer for their “why RPI?” short answer question on the app. I wouldn’t let the current protest movement dictate in-state/OOS. I would try to get the august date for the SAT just to get it out of the way, and know what your score is by October so you can refine your college app list then. College apps will take a lot of your spare time in the fall.
Life Update: whoop whoop! Got my AP Scores back and got a 2 on AP Physics 1, 3 on AP CSP, a 4 on APES and 5’s on AP English Language and AP US History 
In terms of colleges, MIT has shot up on the list and is def my top choice at the moment! Depending on what I get on my SAT’s this fall, I would really like to apply EA there, but plan to apply RD for sure if I run out of time 
Interestingly enough, Yale and Northwestern have gone up a fair amount on my list! I like that Yale is very interdisciplinary, has a young but pretty decked out Engineering program and am interested in possibly minoring/double majoring in either Rhetoric/Creative Writing/Science Communication writing, since I feel it’s really important to be able to communicate the findings of scientific research especially to more disadvantaged communities so that they are aware of the technologies currently available (and I’d also like to help make aid technologies more affordable :3) I also have a budding interest in Electrica Engineering which I gained here but am not 100% convinced between either of the two. I also enjoy Northwestern’s first year engineering program and emphasis on hands-on, and how they pair you with a company your freshman year to try and innovate a solution to a problem using knowledge of engineering design.
In terms of scholarships, I definitely want to apply to Amazon Future Engineers and Jack and Kent Cooke as well as Dell Scholars and possibly Edison Scholars. I’ve noticed a lot of local scholarships in my area pertain only to colleges within California. Maybe the bigger ones will open later but, as for now I’m torn on if I should apply for them or not (they usually range from $250 - $1200). For Amazon Future Engineers specifically, I’ve heard whispers about it it being necessary to have a fairly strong coding background? If anyone had any experience/background with that scholarship I’d really appreciate it!
I’ve slowly started working on my essays and have had some AMAZING feedback here. The goal is to finalize my Common App essay while here, so far I have 2/4 UC essays drafted down and feel there pretty solid. I’ve answered the challenge PIQ about something fairly personal but have gotten a lot of positive feedback about and the academic subject that inspires you about the broad subject of engineering and connecting that with a desire to utilizes it to help communities like my own. Currently awaiting feedback on that one. :3
But yeah! I thiiiiiink that’s everything rn? If there’s anything I should probably be doing right now please let me know!!!
I guess short update haha (kinda forgot abt this).
Uhhh I’ll give a more detailed update later, but essentially applying to a fair amount of reached/high targets because we’ll Cali CC is so good anyways and why not just try and shoot for the stars (especially considering said stars give full need and I fall under the threshold for receiving aid at all of em anyways?) Applying to bama and a few local commuter CSU’s as financial back ups yeah!