None of the categories on the spreadsheet I suggested are quantifiable really – it’s just supposed to be how ideal the school is in the particular category, on a scale of 0 to 5.
For instance, the dorm category at a school where my kid could get a single room and only share a bathroom with one other person, plus the dorm is close to classes and a fairly new building on a low floor, might rate a 5. On the other hand, if the option is a triple room with no a/c and a gross hallway bathroom in a building that’s a long walk from everything, that might rate a 0.
Then there’s triple weighting for the categories that are most important at the top, and very small weighting for insignificant things like school colors and mascot at the bottom.
If you rate everything between 0 and 5 just based on how “good” that category is at the school, you should get a total number for each school – which, in theory, could help with decision making.
The kind of spreadsheet you’re making is just another way to do it – but I think this method might help my kid more than gathering all the data in one place. (Or maybe I will do both!)
Gotcha. Ranking. Thanks for reminding me to be mindful of how happy students appear, if they’re walking together, laughing, talking or walking alone, quiet…We will pay attention to that on our accepted student visits!
I’ve seen pics of U Chicago’s library. Gorgeous! Good luck to her on her grad school apps!
Ah, I see! I like how you’re doing it. Knowing me, I’ll need to create a rubric (teacher in me). I appreciate your sharing this. Makes me want to add more columns to my spreadsheet!
D24 survived the frozen tundra of north TX and made it home via the Dallas airport yesterday for a 6-day break in between her Jan Term and start of spring semester. It’s nice to have her home for a few days.
Learned through a U of A parents group on Facebook that if your kid is an honors student, wants to live in honors housing w/someone who is NOT an honors student, you’ll have to pick non-honors housing. I assumed that already but thought it was helpful for somebody to post the information about it.
At the moment, D26 is thinking of going with a roommate who she does NOT know from high school. I think this is a wise decision on her part. It’ll be good for her to get outside her comfort zone. It’s nice to see her being willing to try new things.
D26 said the NHS meeting after school yesterday took “forever” because they were doing officer elections for next school year and everybody was making “promises they can’t keep” and everybody was “taking forever to get through their campaign speeches.”
D26 put in her 2 wk notice at Wally World so she now has 2 more weekends of gathering other guys & gals’ groceries.
I’m excited for all of our kids’ opportunities coming up in the future. The world is their oyster!
Yes, the “fun” part begins for most of us! S26 still has 4 more decisions he’s waiting on, but the bulk of his top pick schools are in. Out of those last 4, S26 is in the running for a full ride scholarship so it’s hard to ignore that one. We’ve created another spreadsheet as well to help us “quantify” his top picks. Thanks to @SpreadsheetMom for sharing her spreadsheet!
Anyone else as excited as me to create a new spreadsheet to help with decisions? Haha! I just can’t keep up with all the different offers, honors college, dorm types, etc. My DH thinks I’m overthinking and overdoing this.
Food is important! My D22 goes to UCLA, where the food is amazing. She moved off campus her third year, but she still loves it when her friends who live on campus swipe her into the dining spots on the hill.
I don’t think I realized how much great, healthy food contributed to her well-being, especially when she was getting hit with all the dorm plagues throughout winter. The dining team at UCLA deserves a huge shout out.
I keep a spreadsheet for all of the schools that D26 is interested in. I removed them if she didn’t apply and then added acceptance/deferral/ rejection info as it started to come in. The fields were mostly practical- location, cost, major availability, size, and notes. Now that we have it narrowed to two, D26 wants to do a pro/con list which will include more of the nebulous, “feeling” categories.
D26 is very indecisive so part of me wonders if we should go visit them again- I feel like that might make it harder for her to decide. Her father has only seen one of them and while I think he should see the other- he doesn’t think it’s necessary because the one he’s seen is “perfect”. (The irony is that before we visited, he was pretty against it for many reasons but wound up loving it there.)
The one thing we did not do with the one currently in 2nd place was tour the surrounding area. That would probably be the main reason to go.
Sounds like VT. I enrolled DD as VT is top 3 for her and she has very strong opinions on dorms since older sister is a current Hokie and has been advising her
Yep. VT! He loves the school, and understands why, but he felt pressured a little. He still went through it, however, because VT is in his Top 3! Can I PM you with housing questions?
I am pretty sure one of the reasons my daughter liked UD so much is because of all the food options nearby. Main Street there has every type of food you may ever want - great coffee and breakfast spots, Italian, Indian, Thai, Ramen and Boboa, Burgers, etc, etc. And there are a bunch of options on campus as well. Not super high reviews for the cafeteria food, but she’s not picky at all. She’ll be happy to be able to eat as little or as much as she wants whenever she wants. She’s a huge grazer.
Speaking of food options in college, I know for a fact that even if we get D26 the top of the line, all you can eat meal plan (which we will), we will STILL be saving money next year on our food bill (e.g. yesterday’s requests of Trader Joe’s Everything but the Elote dip, Jo-Jos and sardines (!) The food consumption/expenditures in our house, mostly by the two teen girls who like their niche items from Sprouts and TJ’s, is through the roof.
