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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