Share criteria important in your “in-house” ranking of colleges?

Applying to College
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If you used a spreadsheet or some kind of ranking system in your college search and selection process, what were some of the categories you ranked? Which ones mattered the most in the final decision? Did they really matter once attending and on campus?

This sparked from a thread on rankings where some members started creating their own lists which I loved. I think it is important to realize that just because a college is ranked highly it does not mean it will be a great fit for an individual. Everyone should have their own criteria that matter to them.

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For D21, she created a column where she rated proximity to someone we knew who would bring her a cup of soup if she got sick. It was important her freshman year and the help came into play…though the soup came from Panera.

For S19, after things concerning his major that he cared about, the biggest priority for him was the dorms and apartment options he would have. He eliminated colleges completely based on the dorms.

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  1. Location, location, location. S22 really wanted to be in a specific city and only applied to schools in this city, except for our state’s flagship as a safety.
  2. Majors. S22 had 3 majors he was interested in. Schools had to offer at least 1 of these 3 majors.
  3. Cost.

Everything else was not important: ranking, dorms, food, buildings, etc.

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Cost, cost, cost

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I looked back to see what spreadsheets I made. One was just a list in order of COA, with the distance from home. The other was a pretty in depth listing of the gen eds, required courses in her preferred major and minor, and other courses of interest, with COA. Dang, I had a lot of free time to do that.

But I have her wish list:
Recreation major (not totally sports based)
Other majors of interest if mind changed
Easy to drive to (no cities to drive through on her way)
Theatre minor that fit in schedule
Affordable study abroad
In budget (okay that was my wish)
Mid-sized
Walkable campus
College aesthetic (brick buildings and trees)
Nature nearby
Chick-fil-A
Plant Science as a gen ed
No one from high school there

She actually got it all except for that last one, and it did not matter near as much as she thought it would! What ended up being most important were budget, major, and easy to get to. She appreciated being able to come home some and we enjoyed being able to go to theatre performances.

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Was anything else considered, or just the lowest cost?

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First kid…rankings were based on the private trumpet teacher. And he wanted to in an urban area. Nothing else mattered.

Second kid…wanted a pleasing climate, strong sciences, and ability to play in the college orchestra as a not music major. That’s it.

Both landed at schools meeting their criteria.

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He considered would I choose this school over UT (he was auto admit) when applying to private schools. Then of his acceptances, he could only choose the school if it was cheaper than UT.

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  1. Financial aid
  2. Endowment per student (good indicator of resources for student)
  3. Undergrad focused
  4. Low teacher to student ratio
  5. Major strength
  6. Music programs for musician student (orchestra and other ensemble groups)
  7. Prestige and quality of the institution, faculty and students
  8. Location, including the environment, safety, “campus feel” and beauty
  9. Residential dorm, including food
  10. Facilities

All of these mattered very much but particularly the financial aid which turned out to be even better than the initial NPC.

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  1. National or at least regional name recognition based on academics
  2. size
  3. percent of kids in a similar SAT range as my kids: lots of academic “peers”
  4. Grad employment/grad school placement (and to which schools)
  5. Years on-campus housing(at least 3 preferably)
  6. Location/setting
  7. Engineering (for D23; D21’s options all had her areas of interest once we got past item#3)
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This is a great topic. I’m bookmarking this one!

DD is going through the application process now, so I hope to add to this thread in the coming months.

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For D20:

  1. Financial Aid
  2. Study Abroad Options (including funding)
  3. Some sort of Common Core/Structure
  4. Plentiful research opportunities
  5. Good, non-chain restaurants within walking distance of campus

For D23:

  1. Financial Aid
  2. Excellent athletic facilities
  3. Experiential Learning/Semester integrated internships
  4. Starbucks in walking distance
  5. Gorgeous campus w/ on-campus housing for at least 3 years

For S24:

  1. Financial Aid
  2. Excellent food options (on campus and off)
  3. Northeast location
  4. TBD (we are planning spring college tour, I’m sure he’ll have more criteria after)
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Some of the things I note in my spreadsheet:

  • Location (incl. temperature range & urban/suburban/rural)
  • Meaningful college consortium membership? (For shared resources & cross-registration)
  • Housing info
  • Undergraduate population (I lean smaller, otherwise I want a small program within a school)
  • Interesting majors, minors, BA/MA or similar programs

I also have subjective ratings out of 3 for academics, location, and desire/fit/vibe. A 1/3 keeps a school off my list, 2/3 means I’m into it, 3/3 means it’s exactly what I want in that area. Of course this is really just a shorthand for a lot of other things I’m looking for (open curriculum, small classes, proximity to a city, etc).

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We made a spreadsheet with a bunch of data: size of college, size of metro area, US News ranking, CS ranking, reach/target/likely, acceptance rate. Then after my daughter had researched all of them, I just let her rank them. We revisited her ranking after we had visited a bunch of colleges she had ranked highly. It was totally subjective but D22 is the one who would spend 4 years there, so it was important she liked the colleges she was applying to.

PS. D22’s ranking didn’t have much correlation with US News rankings or with their CS rankings.

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  1. Affordability
  2. Major (did the school have a good rep for her major)
  3. Vibe (did the school vibe match her vibe and were there a lot of kids there she thought she could make friends with)
  4. cool location (she first thought she wanted a short walk from campus to a cool college town street with lots of coffee shops and bubble tea places, etc, but she ended up being a little more flexible on that since she was able to take her car).
  5. Target or safety (she wasn’t interested in applying to reaches)
  6. Study abroad opportunities
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For us, it was really “simple” :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye::

  1. An academically challenging place that offers sufficient depth and breadth in the areas of my son’s interests in a collaborative environment

  2. Opportunities to interact and work with first-rate faculty

  3. A cultural fit and an environment that fosters camaraderie

Everything else is just secondary or tertiary.

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  1. Hands on engineering classes starting first semester freshman year.
  2. Strong career readiness focus
  3. Co-op optional
  4. Collaborative vs competitive vibe
  5. Location and size (not urban and large were her preferences)
  6. Undergraduate research opportunities
  7. Options for a specific minor (ended up being a non issue because D changed her focus and did a concentration in another area).
  8. Study Abroad opportunities (seemed universally available).
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  1. cost vs academic strength. The best school we could afford. For us, it had to be less than in-state publics.
  2. job placement after graduation
  3. general fit. Younger S is definitely a big public U type person. Older S could have fit in anywhere, but his LAC seemed to fit him well.
  4. study abroad was important, but younger S missed out due to covid. With his program he could have only gone during the summers.
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For my S24 with dyslexia:

  1. Small classes.
  2. Collaborative environment.
  3. Vibe is more academic than party-oriented.
  4. Majority live on campus.
  5. Open admission to most clubs.
  6. Thriving intramural sports.
  7. Not religiously affiliated.
    (I think he should consider Jesuit schools, but he’s not sure.)
  8. Mid-Atlantic + NC, or New England.
  9. Not “too isolated”. We aren’t sure what this means yet.
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I’m interested to hear where your D23 will be applying! So far my D22 is very happy at DePaul (I know that’s not on your D’s list).

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