<p>We could use some help. D is stuck on 3 colleges, so she and I are making a chart to compare them. They all cost about the same amount so money is not a factor. All in small towns. Major or possible majors, class size, distance from home, housing. What else, what factors helped your child decide?
Thanks</p>
<p>Since my d was a (self-admitted) "chicken" - we included her "perceived" campus safety. While it may not have been statistically accurate, it was how safe SHE felt when on campus/surrounding areas. </p>
<p>We also included : weather , ease of transportation , cost of flights , activities off-campus , campus aesthetics, ease of transferring to another major , AP credit , and dreaded required core courses. ( for example, if you really don't do well in languages- is there a language requirement? ) </p>
<p>Hopefully some of these will help you - we made a spreadsheet and ranked each 1-5 , and then gave a weighting to each factor as well so that academics had a stronger weighting than campus aesthetics, or however you feel they should be weighted. We sat down together and she would choose a number and then I would play devil's advocate a little to make sure she was being honest with herself. LOL</p>
<p>I think it actually did help somewhat.</p>
<p>If your daughter has the ambition to pursue graduate or professional school, or if perhaps she has a specific career in mind, it would benefit you both to take a look at the career services/internship information about the three institutions she is considering. This info is usually available on schools' websites and details the percentages of students going on to employment vs. nonprofit work or grad/professional schools and often times where they are going. </p>
<p>You may also wish to consider whether the schools offer research opportunities, if this is something your daughter is interested in, as well as community/civic engagement indicators of the schools if your daughter is interested in pursuing service work on or off campus during her time in college. </p>
<p>Finally, is she interested in study abroad? If so, it may be helpful to review what options the three institutions offer their students!</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>thanks, that helps, adding several to the list.</p>
<p>Percentage and country of origin for international students was important to my D - she wanted to be in as large a diverse pool as possible; she assumed that students from other cultures would be very interesting, and that has proven to be the case.</p>
<p>Retention and graduation rates; these may be good indicators of student satisfaction with the school</p>
<p>You've got most of them covered, but a few extras are m/f ratio, % of freshman class in top 10% of class, % of student population in frats/sororities, % of students living on campus. Hey,you could post the schools here and we could all just vote for you :) (ha, ha just kidding, of course)</p>
<p>this may sound like parental heresy, but I'd add a category of "peer students"....let me explain.</p>
<p>Back in my day, I only knew a couple of people that either were interested in attending my college or were already there. IMO, the people one ends up with at college truly constitute a great degree of the overall experience quality. I lucked out because I ended up "liking" the majority of my college's student population. Here's how our kids' generation can figure all of this out MUCH better I believe than we ever could at the college selection point of the process......facebook (that's the heresy part!)</p>
<p>This is strickly from observation of my HS senior son who is in the midst of deciding between a few schools, as well as some of his friends. He has joined several colleges' "class of '11" groups and "friended" numerous folks from all of his schools....he's friended (or been friended) a few from each school just about every day since his acceptances arrived. This allows him to explore the social network of each college's potential incoming class, as well as some existing students....read about their interests, why they like the school, where they are from, conversations with their friends, talk online with them about their backgrounds and their college decision process & much much more. I honestly think he has a much better understanding of his potential peers and what that could mean to his college experience than our generation ever could.</p>
<p>So, if your D hasn't already done so, I'd say explore facebook.</p>
<p>Dorms -- types of accommodations/roommate selection process, privates available?
Bathrooms -- I have heard a lot of folks' kids ask about bathroom setups/sharing. Seems to be a big concern.
Proximity to local grocery/general merchandise stores.</p>
<p>These are all very helpful. She has joined at least one Facebook 2011 group and said she would join the others (hope she did).</p>
<p>Investigate policies and enforcement for alcohol and drug use. Don't even bother with the official policy. Instead find out how this issue is actually handled and how it impacts the overall campus culture.</p>
<p>Just to ask the obvious, but you didn't say: Has she visited all three? If she's stuck, I assume that one did not stand out over the others in terms of atmosphere or whatever you want to call it. Feel of the town, do the students seem compatible, does she like the look of the place? Can she see herself living there for the next 4 years?</p>
<p>scansmom, astrophysicsmom, and PapaChicken - you guys are good. I think that retention and grad rates, % on campus, and peer group are major, major factors. You will - without a doubt - be drawn in the dominant directions of your primary peer group, so they'd better reflect what you hope to become. If they're a positive influence and stay to graduate with you and live together the whole time, the impact of your college experience will be life-defining. If they're a changing group of acquaintances who occasionally enter and exit your life, you'll likely be underwhelmed about college.</p>
<p>For my son, I think it will come down to the old "is-this-my-tribe-vibe" because all his schools are very strong academically and will have intellectually curious students. That's why we're doing revisits.</p>
<p>She has visited all 3 at least twice, sat in on 1 or 2 classes, did the whole "day in the life of " experience after acceptance. I had retention / grad rates in my mind when the application process started so they are okay. These schools are so similar that the only things I see that differentiate them is possibly their distance from home and physical dorm rooms. So she will have to decide how far she wants to be from home, if a 20 minute ride to the closest WalMart is acceptable, and how much a really nice dorm means to her. She fell in love with one when she first saw it. I should have stopped the entire process right then before her second visits to the other 2. I know my daughter, she will agonize over whether she picked the right one for weeks, if not months, after.</p>
<p>Can you do the "OK, I'll decide" test? Mom: "OK, if you can't decide, I'll decide. I'm sending the deposit check to college B. Tell me tomorrow morning how you feel about it." (Of course without sending anything.) Repeat with Colleges A & C as necessary. At this point, it sounds like "gut check" is the only way to differentiate.</p>
<p>I'm sure we're all eager to know. You don't want to throw the three names out there and get a quick CC referendum started?</p>
<p>Some people fail to check out the general area the school is in very well. The student will typically be living there for 4-5 years so they should get a good sense of off-campus housing nearby (cost, proximity/transport to campus, how nice the place is, availability), and access to whatever off-campus recreations the student is interested in (hiking, biking, beach, surfing, scuba diving, skiing, horseback riding, roller-blading, etc.).</p>
<p>the list looks pretty good. I'd add a couple vibe things ... describe the typical student in 1-2 words (preppy, jock, intellectual, artsy, etc). Was the campus laid-back, intense, etc? Will you be ... a big fish in a small pond, average fish, or thrown into the deep-end? Did the school seem to hands-off, right-level of support, too into my business? A bunch of questions with different "right" answers for different kids.</p>
<p>BTW - if after the discussion your child is still undecided the schools are probably that close and there is no better/poor decision given the info your child has!</p>
<p>bethie,
DS1 had an "I have found my people" moment at a college presentation last spring. So far it has continued to live up to that early promise!</p>