Hi Parents,
I’m on the last of three kids now and CC and its community has always been a great resource for me. Now with our last one entering senior year, it’s time to re-enter this swirl of research, decisions, parental prodding, essays, etc. Our first was undecided but became set on a target school after one conversation with an alumnae. The second had a narrowly focused major that narrowed the overall field. However this one, the only boy, has no preferences…in anything but playing video games. (Sigh) That said, at the time that he applies, he will likely be undecided. My challenge now is, other than some racial diversity, club volleyball and some geographical, pop. density preferences I’ve been able to extract from him, I don’t have much else to go on to help him to create a list. His grades are good, so that only expands the options. So right now, I’m looking at a suburban to rural area, max. 4 hours from Northern NJ (i.e., a sphere of Boston - Update NY-Pittsburgh(?)-DC). Any advice/checklist/self-reflecting questions you folks might be able to provide to assist in this effort? It would be much appreciated from this group. Thanks in advance!
Budget? Qualified for need based aid? Seeking merit aid?
Grades, scores?
Liberal, conservative, moderate, SJW, apolitical?
Greek life: yay/ nay/ don’t care?
D1 sports to watch?
All 4 years on campus or moving to off campus apt?
Wide range of food - or one/two central dining halls?
Big school with lots of academic and social options - or smaller school, tighter student body, but less anonymous?
Honors Colleges/ Specialist Programs?
Outdoors clubs? Skiing? Access to ocean?
Access to city, museums, art galleries, theaters etc?
Social life is about partying - or less so?
Artsy/Jocky/Preppy/Hipster/Hippy/Nerdy or combos of these and others?
Any learning supports, medical access or other accommodations needed?
Strong campus culture and school spirit? or not bothered?
Has he visited older siblings at their colleges? Any opinions on these?
@CollegeMamb0 I asked and you delivered! Lol. Thanks! This is very helpful and comprehensive too. I will try to answer some of these and post the answers. Folks may have some ideas of particular schools that come to mind. Thanks again!
- Will pay for top tier, if it becomes an option, but not for mid-tier at near top tier prices though
- Seeking merit aid
- 4.17, no testing yet.... #covid
- Apolitical
- No greek life interest
- On campus all 4 years
- not picky on food
- small to med student body
- yes to honors college if a larger school
- no need for city, arts, etc.
- partying not a big factor for social life
- Jocky/Videogamer
- tutoring support
- School spirit...meh. School reputation...yes.
- visited sister at all girls hbcu and sister at superlocal big state uni = no hbcu and ambivalent about the local big state uni
Dickinson
Union
Potential major(s)? Diversity at smaller schools might be more difficult to achieve.
Lehigh and Lafayette? RPI? Boston is a great college town.
I apologize if this is an incorrect assumption, but if his sister is at an HBCU, then are you African American? How important is diversity on campus? Not just in terms of numbers or percentage, but also in representation of AA students in leadership roles, number of professors, support for AA students etc? There is a whole thread on what African American parents can look for when choosing a college.
No problem. Yes. It is very important to me, and somewhat important to him. He’s still developing in his understanding of the value/importance of the factors you list. I will search for that thread. Thanks.
Undecided major. Had some interest in CS, but summer coding camp dashed those.
Regarding being undecided in college major – are there any more or less likely subject areas? I.e. which of these general areas are more or less likely?
- Humanities (English, literature, philosophy, history, area/ethnic/gender studies)
- Arts (visual or performing, or art history)
- Social sciences (anthropology, economics, psychology, sociology, political science, history, area/ethnic/gender studies)
- Biological sciences
- Physical sciences (physics, chemistry, geology, astronomy)
- Mathematical sciences (math, statistics, computer science, operations research)
- Engineering
- Business
- Health professions (nursing, pharmacology)
- Other majors
His aunt went to Dickinson. Maybe worth a closer look.
Union…I haven’t considered at all. I don’t have any insights or gut, but we’ll examine.
Thanks, @doschicos
If I were looking for colleges now I’d want to build a list based not only on the traditional factors, but also on how they are handling COVID. Are they following the science or the politics? Do they have the funds to take every practical measure? Cornell has an extraordinary plan. Tufts has an excellent plan. I’m sure others do too, but I’m not familiar with every plan. What you want to see is ongoing, routine testing of all students and faculty/staff, symptom screening, contact tracing, and a solid plan for isolation for positive testers.
It’s challenging to find schools with merit aid that fit your geographic parameters (plus other criteria). Schools in the northeast that provide merit aid are more challenging to find. If your son would be willing to extend his boundaries a little, there would be more options.
But also consider not just how the colleges plan and handle COVID-19, but how the colleges’ students behave in terms of whether they help contain versus accelerate virus spread.
- Humanities (English, literature, philosophy, history, area/ethnic/gender studies) - LESS LIKELY
- Arts (visual or performing, or art history) - LESS LIKELY
- Social sciences (anthropology, economics, psychology, sociology, political science, history, area/ethnic/gender studies) - Really enjoyed American Foreign Policy class because of current events connections made by teacher rather than just past history. Taking A-A History and Holocaust History this year.
- Biological sciences - LESS LIKELY
- Physical sciences (physics, chemistry, geology, astronomy) - Enjoyed Geology, but that was 9th grade. TAKING AP ENVIR SCI this year.
- Mathematical sciences (math, statistics, computer science, operations research) INTEREST IN COMP SCI, but coding camp this summer did not go over well.
- Engineering - POSSIBLE INTEREST, BUT REPUTATION FOR DIFFICULTY IS THWARTING INTEREST TO EXPLORE.
- Business - NO CLUE
- Health professions (nursing, pharmacology) - LESS LIKELY
- Other majors - MAYBE GAME DEVELOPMENT/DESIGN
@doschicos Yes. I recognize that his geo parameters do not allow us to get a check in the admissions committee’s geographic diversity box, but he’s a mommas boy and didn’t particularly envy his sisters having to fly to get home from ATL and ILL and infrequently at that.
@brantly I had not thought of that since he would not enroll until next year, but it is indicative of the organization’s management talents and approaches in difficult situations. I agree, as a Cornell alum, that their plan is impressive.
Looks like he has interest in social sciences, or at least history and political science.
For physical and mathematical sciences and engineering, did he enjoy chemistry, physics, and math in high school?
For game development and design, there are various angles here. There is the story telling and background foundation of the game (creative writing, social sciences). Game mechanics may require some knowledge of math, statistics, and other subjects as applicable. Art is obviously a component in games. Computer science is obviously helpful if it is a computer game (some colleges offer a game design major that is a specialized version of computer science).
HE actually has expressed that he “hated” US history and World History and found both very boring. That was until he took American Foreign Policy. The history courses that he’s taking now were replacement courses for the AP Human Geography course (taught by the For Pol teacher) that was unfortunately dropped by his school due to limited enrollment.
Chemistry was easy for him, but it wasn’t Honors level, so harder to judge his aptitude for it. Didn’t take physics, but I think he’d enjoy it. Math has been enjoyable, but for Geometry, which was largely due to the teacher’s limited ability in differentiated instruction skills.
I have never heard Game Development dissected in such a manner, but it does illuminate several angles. I will explore them with him to see which peaks his interests.
Very helpful @ucbalumnus
Maybe University of Rochester?