Yes, all very important. I think S25 is trying to decide if he’s a city mouse or a country mouse. 
He’s very outdoorsy but loves seeing bands and hanging around music stores. It’s a tough decision.
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I’m not sure I’d focus on starting salary for the major. It seems like highly flawed data when trying to compare one school to another. IMO, it’s highly dependent on the kids that enroll there versus the quality of the program.
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I agree it’s a tough thing to really quantify and you have to take a lot of factors into consideration but if you’re looking at 52k vs 80k for the same major, it probably indicates something.
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What freshman orientation opportunities are there (i.e. is it a half-day thing, or a hiking/service trip, or taking a class for a few weeks before school starts to acclimate to the campus, etc)? Especially for kids who are shy and/or won’t know anybody on campus, how easy it is to start forming a social network from the get-go can really make a difference that first semester (and potentially beyond).
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Percentage of classes by size
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Distance/time/methods/cost for getting to airport
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Cost of flights home
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Number of nonstop flights home per day
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Distance/time/methods/cost for getting to personal essentials (whether a drugstore, a lively downtown, whatever)
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Special opportunities/perks that have been offered (via honors, fellowships, funding, LLC, etc)
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Study abroad opportunities of interest
A HUGE agree on doing a 4-year plan for coursework and also for looking at the clubs of interest.
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Edit - just re-read your post -
I get what you are saying now. I actually think that matters greatly for reputation and who recruits there. Ivys have companies recruit there in great part because of who they enroll, not quality of the program IMO. It is their lazy way of weeding out kids…
(original)
My spreadsheet is for engineering FWIW, I think it would be totally meaningless for many majors (especially w/o taking geography into account), but less so for CS and engineering where most kids go on to fairly similar roles…these programs also seem to have a fair bit of data…
That said it is pretty useless becuase because very much tracks to their rankings / reputation, so doesn’t actually help decide:) Not because I think it is completely in accurate, but because it adds no additional value.
Also, what IS useful is WPI, for instance has very detailed data - by year, by major, most common employers, average and median. % who responded, etc. You can see year after year dozens of data points. Not useless if you know what you are using it for…Looking at most common companies kid goes to is very interesting and illustrative - is it smaller local orgs? or big national ones? etc.
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Where do you find that for WPI (asks the parent of a WPI junior who feels like she should know this, but had no idea it was available)
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Have fun! it is addicting IMO
I was looking at random majors and years! lol
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Another area to explore in college datasets is the distribution of GPA by major, especially if you are looking at the minimum needed to retain a scholarship. We had zero concerns about D18 needing a 3.5 GPA given that her college’s average GPA for her major was ~3.6 and the scholarship went to the top <1% of students (they actually told us no one had ever lost the scholarship due to grades).
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I feel like Greenville might be a really nice compromise. Lots to do in the city but it’s quite close to the mountains as well, right?
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Hey everyone! Just found this chat and needed a place to freak out a little. I can’t believe my kid is going off to college soon. Still waiting for acceptances and visiting campuses before officially deciding, but wow - I shed some tears today. How’s everyone doing?
Lots of great ideas for helping decide which school and whatnot on here 
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I’m sad for me, but thrilled for my daughter. She is so ready to go and to enter this next stage in her life. Where we live—there is no future for her here. It’s 30 years behind the rest of the country and that is not an exaggeration.
I am so excited for all that she has ahead of her: the friendships, the study abroad, the intellectual growth, the memories. Yes, she will have some hard times, but that is part of it and I know she will grow through them. She has worked very hard for the opportunities ahead of her and I could not be happier for her.
But I am going to miss her every dang day. I had a really big cry about it about 2 months ago and I know I’m going to be bawling come August when we drop her off at college.
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@octoberkate, re housing near cranberry, sometimes a room in a home will show up on airbnb for sewickley. Have had some success with that in past. It’s not an awful commute, nor is it a weird area.
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I like this idea, as the school that is highest on D25’s list as of this moment requires a 3.25 to maintain her scholarship. How did you find these datasets? (A quick google didn’t help me, but I confess I did not do a deep dive.)
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The amount of data made available varies by college, look for something like “institutional data”. This was D’s detail, the relevant info is in the datasets called “major profile” (four year profile) and “course grade summary” (helped with first semester courses, which may be the hardest due to the adjustment to college level work expectations).
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Are we the only one with “has Jewish a cappella group” as a spreadsheet column? 
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I love a kid who wants what they want and has specific interests!
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My spreadsheet is a template I downloaded to keep track of financial aid awards. I categorize all costs, including unbilled. And I differentiate between grants, scholarships, and loans. My child is up for some outside awards, so keeping track of stackability is also there. Beyond that I am pretty useless in helping D25 decide. I helped her put together the initial list which already included a list of characteristics. There is a clear winner at present. And they just sent her a hat, which made her totally giddy with excitement. I guess maybe one of the colleges she has yet to hear from could change things, but unless that happens my spreadsheets are useless. We only have a few left to hear from.From what she’s said, I’m not sure if she even likes the target/low reaches on that list more than the bird she has in hand now. Can I just say how great it is to see her so happy? She wasn’t unhappy about the other college acceptances she received, but this one has her over the moon.
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You’re right! If I remember all the growth and joy that is destined for my kid, it does ease the sadness.
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Thanks for the suggestion of sewickley! I started putting some feelers out there last weekend for places he could stay and then I found out my mom’s former carpool buddy’s HS best friend’s son (if that can be followed) works for the same company, but at a different PA location. Mom and carpool buddy encouraged me to reach out to the young adult worker to see if he (a) knew anyone looking for a roommate or (b) could tell me where most interns live so I could at least locate my son nearish to the others. So far, I haven’t heard back, but I’m hopeful, so I’m pausing a bit until I do. Nonetheless, this gives me another area to look in, so thank you!
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I’m trying to focus on this for my S25. He’s clearly leaning towards one school over the others and I think, for a variety of reasons, that it’s the wrong choice. I’m struggling to get happy for him. It’s not that it’s a BAD choice, I just think there is a clear BETTER choice. Anyway, I’m afraid that some of my preference for the other school (I don’t talk about it, but I’m sure he can tell) is dimming his excitement. Well, that plus the fact that he got in in early December, but since they still haven’t announced merit aid yet, he can’t count on it being in range cost wise yet.
I want to see him feel excited and light hearted and happy. And to do that, I suspect that I need to get myself to a place where * I * am excited about this choice too because this kid, more than my other, is really sensitive to the emotions and feelings of people around him.
So even though I don’t really love what I think is going to be his top choice school, I’m going to try to find my joy in focusing on his happiness and excitement. Basically a little fake it till you make it and a little “I’m happy because you’re happy”.
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