Honestly, with this kid I’ve relied more on google searches than on College Niche or similar websites or books like Fiske.
The Arabic need was the first cut. I literally have a legal pad about 125 school names written down. I googled the name + Arabic to see if they offer the language, how many courses they offer, and the names/types of courses (Lit in English? Not good. Modern political thought in Arabic? Good) I read the course catalog. I searched through course schedules to see how often courses were offered (each semester, each year, every other year, once in a blue moon).
Many, many notes on this legal pad!
And then I moved onto the international relations/studies offerings in the same way.
We had 20-25 schools on The Big List after all my searches. Dd eliminated some because of location. We eliminated others after running NPCs.
We are down to 10 schools on the SLoP: three of the four Arabic flagships, Ole Miss (those 4 are tops for Arabic), three in the DC area, Ohio State, our state flagship, and one Ivy. D is not certain about the Ivy (it is the only one with an affordable NPC result). I don’t know how many applications will ultimately be written. Right now I see 2-4 being very good fits.
We’ve only used the school’s websites, Fiske guide, Naviance, and this site to figure out some matches.
My son used the supermatch feature a while back and it helped us. He has a small list right now, so I really don’t have to do a lot of research. He wants to study business, so I didn’t have to figure out a lot of the things many of you folks are going thru.
I’m sorry @Mom2aphysicsgeek to keep you awake. ^:)^ ^:)^ ^:)^
I should be careful about after hours posting. I-) [-X #:-S
I hope he gets enough publicity so that a journalist do a piece and we can read and decipher his story better.
In any case, CB stinks to me.
I am beginning to wonder if David Coleman is hired (by ACT? by fairtest.org? by students/parents/CC united?) to bring down SAT. :))
QOTD: " what other resources for data that is of interest to you or “insider” perspectives are you finding helpful as you & your students build your college lists?"
We filtered by location (since CS is offered at most every school), Naviance, common data set, and the school counselor. But since S is not looking at elite schools, it is relatively easy and the common data set is used more for general info rather than to remove schools. We also are using potential NMF scholarships as filters. So far the visits have been the biggest filter for S. The schools S is interested in are schools D15 wouldn’t even touch. It is definitely interesting to have two with such different processes.
I also use Princeton Review and Forbes (for financial stability, esp at LAC’s) and the Economist. What I like about Princeton, rightly or wrongly, is it may give me a snapshot of something important to S, not quickly found on Niche.
For example we had one school on the list that popped up as one of the 10 most LGBTQ unfriendly schools. That was a deal breaker.
So for us, I do track Fiske, Princeton Review, Niche, Forbes, USNW and chart grad rates, average median salary and loan default rates. And then acceptance rates from Naviance and other sources (though get really annoyed when they vary a lot from different sources) as well as % chances looking at Niche and Prep Scholar. Niche is self reporting though so I try not to get hung up on that as it is super depressing. LOL!
It may well be overkill but between S’s areas of interest being harder to find solid fits, his specific requirements for geography etc, my budget constraints and his average at best stats…I need to dig to make sure he has options. The big list stands at 20 at the moment. I expect we will be somewhere in the 5-10 range when all is said and done. Lots of work to do this summer and the data helps, especially in the absence of tours.
Good lord on the SAT. I am SO grateful we have only focused on the ACT so far. And that none of S’s schools seem to care about the writing. In fact I am debating whether S should bother with the writing for the Sept test or not.
S just updated his Naviance school list and he has only 4 schools on the “applying to” list and three schools on the “considering” list. I am going to have it way too easy with him! :))
@eandesmom I hate it when the same data doesn’t match at different sites! I saw this when I was looking up weather data! I mean, c’mon!
I like Forbes, too. I just started looking at that one. I like the different rankings they give, not just an overall. I’ve been trying to find a source for ‘Happiest Students’, which I’ve see before…but I can’t find it.
Is there a site that aggregates multiple rankings? I don’t put a lot of weight in them, so I’d like to go one place to find them without wasting time.
Let’s not forget College Essay Organizer, although it’s not too useful now.
@CA1543 – Re: the weather.
“I have actually looked at weather sites as it is totally relevant re freezing days, amount of snow (hard to love Rochester, Chicago, Ithaca, Michigan etc.) but for good schools may have to deal!”
I had no real opinion on winter until I attended Cornell, and I grew up in the Northeast, but our snowfall seemed to be tempered by being close to the water. (Opposite at Cornell with the lake effect snow, although nowhere nearly as bad as some other parts of upstate NY.)
The quantity of snow in Ithaca is not so much the issue as the duration of winter. I found Boston winters just a bit too long to tolerate compared to the NY metro area. The cold weather started earlier and lingered into what should have been spring. Ithaca is much the same.
This past winter was mild with almost no snow accumulation in Ithaca—just somewhat constant flurries. Gray skies, if that troubles anyone. I think my son went to class wearing shoes most days, whereas the year before, he lived in his Timberlands. We had more snow in CT this winter than they had in Ithaca. Every year is different, and I still recall a freak May snow storm during finals.
I have not read all these SAT threads and think I will avoid. Son took old SAT and we are not looking back.
Thanks so much for the responses to the QOTD! Really great info and sharing of your processes too! For
engineering - here is another helpful site: https://www.asee.org/
American Society for Engineering Education
Online profiles of specific colleges - includes students in each major & by gender & ethnic groups etc. http://profiles.asee.org/
@CT1417 – thanks so much for the weather report - appreciate it! I know some schools have internal / enclosed pathways or corridors (like MIT’s infinite one) - we’ll need to see what it is like to navigate Cornell, RPI & WPI as well as Case Western, UMich, CMU. Could not bear to go in Winter and Spring break was too busy with projects so summer it is though pushing ome to late August when classes resume. We are in the NY Hudson Vallley (Southern part fairly near water) so although we get snow and very cold temps, it is moderate compared to some other places.
I also use college data, dramatically easier to parse though than the actual CDS!
I left out the actual college websites lol, guess I thought that was a given. We go there first for program validation, if it makes that cut, then to google to look at pictures of the campus. S17 cares a LOT about building aesthetics and overall campus look. If it makes those cuts, I run the NPC. And then, and only then, do I start digging up the rest of the data.
@2muchquan ugh on the essay organizer. I LOVE the concept of that, but you can’t remove schools from your list and now with this new whateveritiscalledcoalitionthingyapp… ugh. What I do want to figure out is if any of the schools on the list were unique app only (not common) but now are coalition and then somehow we can reduce the total number/type of apps?
I just don’t have the heart to do it until we cull the list some more. We will look at weather once the list shrinks.
I do track diversity and “green” schools specifically per S’s request.
I am a bit skeptical of the happiest students list. WSU? Not that I expect they are unhappy but…top 20 happiest? In the country?
@mtrosemom Congrats on your son culling his list down! I’m in the same boat. It’s actually a great feeling! Applying to 4, thinking about 2. I’m thinking about trying to find a real reach for him ( but I know he’s not interested in that) , and and another match or 2.
4 is too low, but I’m fairly certain he will be accepted at 2 schools on his list.
@eandesmom with college essay organizer if you have a gmail account you can ‘spoof’ your own address and create multiple accounts with same email. Something like change “myemail@gmail.com” to “my.email.com”. Same email address, but looks unique to CEO.
@CA1543 no walkways at UMich or Case. At least, very few, if any.
@itsgettingreal17 …we just got back from a visit with OU. It is on my S’s “plan A” list also if he gets MNSF. He really liked the campus and the Engineering Dept.