We’ve researched what feels like every college within 6 hours of us, as well as a few others that got on our radar. I’ve grouped the schools into how good a fit they are for S24’s possible academic interests. After getting rid of all the schools that the NPC indicated would be too expensive…
Best Academic Program Fit (these have all the academic programs S24 thinks he might be interested in: some kind of Industrial/Human Factors Engineering, Computer Science, Psychology with a Cognitive focus, and either Cognitive Science or Linguistics major):
RPI (bad reputation for student happiness?)
Rochester (NPC puts it on the edge of affordable, so possibly too expensive)
F&M (too Greek/party?)
Lehigh (too Greek/party?)
RIT (hard to change major, big)
UT Dallas (big, far away)
UMass Amherst (big, need honors to be a social fit?)
<These 5 are probably too selective for him to get into>
Rice (far)
Tufts
Northeastern (big)
CWRU (far)
CMU (far, too intense?)
Schools that are an Okay Fit (have access to engineering, Computer Science, Psychology with a Cognitive focus, and at least a minor in either Cognitive Science or Linguistics):
Gordon (maybe too narrow)
Connecticut College (only enviro engineering)
Vassar (selective)
Middlebury (selective)
Lafayette
U of Southern Maine (many commuters)
Hofstra (NYC)
Fordham (NYC)
(these are bigger)
Syracuse
SUNY Stony Brook (not sure anything makes it stand out from UMass Amherst)
BU
UConn (not sure anything makes it stand out from UMass Amherst)
U Alabama
And the last set of schools have fewer of the programs he is interested in, but have something (cost, location near family, a specific program) about them that is attractive that have kept them on the list:
Le Moyne
Tulsa
Clarkson
Endicott
College of the Holy Cross
Quinnipiac
Neither he nor I feel like any of the 31 schools on this list are perfect for him. And he can’t visit many of them to try to narrow down. Even if he forgets about the super-selective schools on the list, there are still over 20. I’m feeling stuck with how to help him move forward with making a list and deciding which places to visit.
Some questions we need to answer, but I’m not sure how to get better info are:
Are F&M and Lehigh too “party school” for him to be happy there?
Is the student experience at RPI as bad as I keep hearing?
And questions that would be helpful to have answers to, but are probably impossible to answer:
How far away will be too far?
How important is the school size?
Is it more important to pick schools with more of the majors he might be interested in, or more important to pick schools for other fit factors?