We are not close to a decision. 4 of D26s top 5 will not give decisions until March, some later part of March historically. So, we wait like you. I suspect there are a ton of folks in that position, we just see posts more from those deciding because they have more pressing things they are working through.
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Since we have so much time until RD decisions roll in, I’ve been working on a little ranking spreadsheet. Thus far, we have very generic categories because my kid has been too busy with midterms and extracurriculars to “personalize” the list. But these are the categories so far: Cost/Affordability; Strength of Major; Vibe/Fit; Academic Support; Safety; Overall Academic Excellence; Campus Beauty; Campus Location; Pre-Health Advising; Prestige/Selectivity; Getting to Campus; Internships/Research; Study-Abroad Program; Facilities/Library; Housing (How Long Guaranteed); Food Quality (On/Off Campus); School/Class Size; Community/School Spirit.
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D26 does not want to think about criteria to narrow down her list until she sees where she gets admitted in March. That said, she did fantastic work on her criteria before applying so any of the 7 possibilities would be an awesome place for her really. Because of that, I suspect that vibe, location, and weather will be the primary factors for her. I also suspect that cost will weigh in for her even though we told her not to worry about that. She likes a good deal and getting merit money does make one feel wanted so it likely will influence her psychologically.
Speaking of psychological, one of the EA schools she was admitted to, the Admissions Officer who read her file sent a really nice email to us parents. I am 99.9% confident it was a mail merge email that got sent to the parents of all of the admitted students that admissions officer reviewed. Everything in it was true, but not unique to our kid. And still, both my wife and I were moved by it to feel more positively about the school and D26 getting in. It is way down her list, and both parents were like “maybe she should give it a closer look” for a moment. They psych profiled us so accurately. Human emotions are a powerful thing. 
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I don’t know if this is a joke or not but this will 100% be a factor in my son’s college selection process.
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I think S26 will decide by gut feeling. There will be no spreadsheets 
Number one determining factor in our house is affordability. So we will be waiting a while for final packages. But only two of his schools might be over.
My gut tells me that he has made his decision and I can’t fault him. It was clear early mover advantage and great communication by that school. It just doesn’t really offer what he was looking for initially. So it’s me who is encouraging him to attend the other schools’ admitted student days to at least see what else is out there.
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My husband spent all this time making a spreadsheet. Meanwhile, I was like “have you met your daughter? She’ll never look at that spreadsheet”. I knew she was going to go with her gut as she has always done and has generally worked out quite well for her. I think the spreadsheet made HIM feel better about the process though.
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Aw this is so sweet!
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Didnt have a spreadsheet but D26 did classify schools into 3 categories:
Hope and pray
Flip a coin
Not answering those PIQs
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I would have loved a realistic UC with C26’s major, but only Cal offers it and they were not doing those PIQs for one totally unrealistic option.
We got an email from the Admissions Officer at one of S26’s accepted schools saying the same thing (Oberlin). They really do such a nice job with their communications. They also sent a personalized email to S26 that called out his specific areas of interest. I like the school for him – they’ve made it really clear that they value him and think he’d be a good fit. But I’m not sure it’s made as strong of an impression on him. We haven’t visited yet, and depending on the rest of his outcomes, we’ll see where it lands…
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D22 actually played along with my giant spreadsheet and even added a few things to it over time, though I’m not sure whether any of it truly impacted her decision-making. D26 has absolutely no interest in spreadsheets - it’s all gut and vibes for that one. D29 is going to be my spreadsheet studier. If I don’t make one, she will make her own.
Your husband and daughter sound a lot like my husband and daughter. I think making the spreadsheet may be one of my husband’s favorite parts of the whole application process. Meanwhile daughter can’t/won’t articulate why her top choices are her top choices (although I think proximity to quality ramen, boba, a cat cafe, and an insomnia are all factors). Luckily all good choices within the budget so far.
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Haha. C26 is like this about location. It must be “nice”. This includes some small college towns but not others, and some cities but not others, with no explanation other than they like it or they don’t like it 
I guess that’s vibe too.
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I need to go back and respond to posts, but I absolutely have a spreadsheet, LOL – here are the criteria on it right now:
| Academic Fit / Alignment with Goals (3x) |
|---|
| Band Opportunities (3x) |
| Gut Feeling / Excitement / Vibe (3x) |
| Reputation / Rank / Prestige |
| Appeal of Location |
| Class Sizes / Ease of Getting Classes |
| Weather |
| Social Fit |
| Dorms |
| Food |
| Campus Culture |
| Perceived Happiness of Students |
| Extracurriculars (1/2x) |
| Ease of Getting There (1/2x) |
| Distance From Friends/Family (1/4x) |
| Name Recognition (1/4x) |
| School Colors and Mascot (1/4x) |
We have not considered things like quality ramen and boba availability yet, but add my D26 to the list of kids for whom these are 100% life’s essentials.
Here is the template I found on which I based my criteria above – I really liked the weighting, and I decided to leave the formulas alone rather than build it anew. My kid isn’t going to look at it until we’ve visited a few schools over the next month, and then I think she will. Or at least, she’ll humor me and fill it in, and then pick based off vibe alone. 
My S25 only applied to one school, got in, and went, LOL – so no spreadsheet required. And D22’s final choice came down to two schools, and you can read the thread about it here 
–
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D26 got a really nice package from Clemson today, despite having told them she was not accepting their admission offer already…way back on 12/18 when she got into her ED school.
T-shirt, cup, Pom Pom, stickers. Not sure what to do with this stuff!!
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Ha! I saw this Reddit thread a while ago and already copied/adapted this spreadsheet for D26! She only has 1 school in the south on her list, all her others are in northern states. With this crazy storm (we’re still stuck at home) I think she might add in a column for nicer weather on her spreadsheet.
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Meanwhile, we live in the south, but my crazy kid only has one southern school and four cold-weather schools that she’s considering. 
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How do you quantify Perceived Happiness of Students and Gut Feeling/Excitement/Vibe?
I just started a new spreadsheet for the schools S26 has been accepted to - to include COA, COA after merit, grants, etc. I also added graduation rate, retention rate, # of AP credits that can be transferred, links to the major, # of lit mags.
Just helped S26 sign the housing contract for that college with the first-come, first-serve housing. Signing the contract puts S26 in line. There are no explicit instructions especially when we got to the part about selecting LLCs! S26 got annoyed, I got annoyed. We were both wondering if we were doing it correctly. After posting on the college’s FB group (love their FB group - everyone’s super supportive and helpful), we got clarity. I don’t know why it felt stressful, but at least we can log off for now after signing it and go back to add his preferences!
This makes me wish that we could hear from the last 4 schools sooner so that we can get to that decision phase!
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Never thought about quantifying - maybe ranking? It’s all subjective of course.
When we visited Boulder one thing that definitely made an impression on us was how happy students looked wherever we saw them - on campus, in restaurants, buying froyo, even food shopping at TJs lol (we ran inside to get a bag and it seemed to be Sunday night grocery shopping for everyone). I suspect C26 will use that as a benchmark.
Meantime, D19 is visiting a friend doing a masters at U Chicago (she’s somehow managed to get the right flights between all the cancellations the past week) and the photos(videos she’s sent of the campus are gorgeous. The library, omg. I told her if she gets in she has to go just for the library!! (D19 currently applying for grad schools)
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