<p>Ds has four acceptances in hand, all quite different schools. He's still waiting to hear from a few more choices, including his top three. My question is, when it came down to making the final decision, what things that maybe aren't obvious should he be thinking about?</p>
<p>The cc crowd seems to be big fans of spreadsheets. I'm not, personally, but if he were to do one I came up with these categories: Cost, location (climate, ease of travel), specific area of interest, school spirit, level of Greek scene, dorms/availability of housing, study abroad opportunities, name recognition for grad school/job opportunities, schedule (trimester/semester), whether there is a Chik-fil-A on campus (ds seems to think this is important). But I'm sure there many other obvious things I'm not thinking about. Ideas?</p>
<p>We never asked either of our kids until after THEY made their final decision. Both had done extensive research into the schools prior to applying. </p>
<p>In DS’s case…he chose his undergrad school because of their responsiveness to him as an accepted student AND because the music teacher with whom he wanted to study was there.</p>
<p>In DD’s case…she chose number her school (which had been number 1 all along) because when she went to the accepted student visit, she felt like she fit in. She didn’t have the same “sense” at the number 2 school where she also visited.</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Opportunities to work on-campus in research in his area of interest (bio labs, engineering, physics, chem labs, etc.).</p></li>
<li><p>Opportunities to work on-campus in a paid part time job.</p></li>
<li><p>Availability of majors other than the currently chosen one in the event he changes his mind and wants to switch majors later - especially for engineering students at a more engineering-focused college.</p></li>
<li><p>Ability/cost to have a car on-campus (sometimes more of a concern after a couple of years).</p></li>
<li><p>On the housing - availability/cost/location of ‘off-campus’ housing for when he gets tired of living on-campus after a couple of years and wants more independence.</p></li>
<li><p>Level of on-campus recruitment by companies - i.e. how many and what types of companies regularly recruit on-campus for internship and permanent positions.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>YDS, here is a post I wrote on the 2009 thread earlier this year…I would add that after spending last summer in Boston, there are a couple of other criteria (most notably folk dancing) that would factor in if he had to do it again. These criteria have held pretty true for him over the past year and a half. “Finding his people” was really, really important.</p>
<p>I’d recommend an overnight at the top two or three choices (sometimes they can be done as part of a formal accepted students event). Visiting with an acceptance in hand lends a different perspective, and sleeping in a dorm and hanging out with students can be valuable. My D found her decision easy after doing post-acceptance overnights–one even arranged through a contact made on CC! The gut can be as important an input as any spreadsheet entry.</p>
<p>My kids knew the monetary parameters from the start, so applied accordingly. Reassuringly reminding them that they had wonderful choices, so any decision would be fine, I let them make up their minds on their own. They didn’t choose to use spreadsheets.</p>
<p>I would say you are off to a good start. Everybody has their own little deal breakers. With S2 it has been availability of suite style rooms for freshman as he refuses to live in a dorm where he has to go down the hall to the bathroom and also for both S1 and S2 storage availability either in the suite, or the dorm, or somewhere on campus for their bikes. Both are avid mountain bikes and worked hard at menial jobs to save up and buy their bikes. We actually toured one school where just about everyone had a bike. Many were very nice bikes. He asked where the kids put their bikes in the middle of the winter and the answer was that they “left them outside.” We had just come from the freshman dorms and the rooms were some of the smallest we had seen. Very nice, but very, very small with clearly no room for skis, bikes and assorted other “gear.” My son was horrified that expensive bikes would sit out in the snow and rain…end of that school on the list. One suggestion on “our” list was also when (what year/semester) do the kids need to declare their major and is there a GPA requirement and do they graduate most students in 4 years. Sometimes it sounds like stupid reasons, but by the time the acceptances are in hand sometimes the differences between schools really are miniscule and it comes down to wants as opposed to needs.</p>
<p>D went on overnight visits after all acceptances were in to her 3 favorite schools. She had 3 factors she wanted in a school: smaller size, far from home, a major in the subject she wanted to study. One school fit only one factor; another fit two; she ended up going to the school that had all three factors. </p>
<p>So it was pretty easy once all the acceptances were on the table. May have been a harder decision had she gotten into some different schools…</p>
<p>Cost was the huge issue for us. There were three with the best FA. S made his decision among those three. Ultimately it came down to campus atmosphere, availability of a special program and strength in his prospective major. However there were a few other things he also checked out. One to was check the schools’ academic calendars. He wanted finals before Christmas. Having the prospect of January finals hanging over his head during Christmas break wasn’t his idea of relaxing. We also knew we could only afford to have him come home at Christmas. He made sure all the schools let students stay in the dorm over Thanksgiving and spring breaks.</p>
<p>We really didn’t think about too many things outside of academic for D1. Second time around we are wiser. There are many pluses at D1’s school, which we would be looking for D2’s school:
Number of courses offered, ease of getting into courses.
Housing
Accessibility of professors - Are they there to help you to succeed or there to fail you, or do they care? Do most of them love to teach?
How friendly administrators are - at D1’s school she has no problem in getting any matter resolved. I have very easy time working with them whenever there is an issue.
On campus drinking policy - not interested in the kind of campus where security shows up every time there is a party.
Town and gown relationship
Career placement - this is probably one of the most important item on my list. It makes a great difference whether companies recruit on campus or not. So far, I am very pleased with D1 school’s focus on this matter. She gets notifications on internship/jobs almost every day. They have career days with major firms she is interested in.
Distance - D1 is a comfortable 3.5 hour drive from home. We like the distance. For D2, we would want to make sure she is comfortable with school’s distance from home. Just look at all the travel problems many kids are having now with the snow storm.</p>
<p>Everything I have listed is really over and above academic fit. For us the decision still comes down to best academic fit.</p>
<p>Lots of great ideas here. The two schools that are his top two choices he’s already visited twice and done overnights at (but those decisions won’t come until April). Arranging visits is part of the issue. He plays a spring sport and doesn’t want to miss too much playing time.</p>
<p>One other I forgot to list was the percentage of returning freshmen.</p>
<p>“Level of on-campus recruitment by companies - i.e. how many and what types of companies regularly recruit on-campus for internship and permanent positions.”</p>
<p>Not to hijack thread but how would you find this information???</p>
<p>^ Colleges usually post this sort of thing since it’s a big selling point. Search around the website – sometimes recruiting events are listed on campus calendars or in departmental news. A call to the department or college career office also might help you locate this info.</p>
<p>–Check the online list of available courses for the semester. See if there are enough sections available of each course. If not, it could indicate future difficulty in getting into required courses, thus lengthening the time to graduate.</p>
<p>–Check the online Events Calendar. This will give you an idea of the on-campus activities.
If you notice weeks on end of Pottery Exhibits or Family Bluegrass Bands, you may want to rethink the “reality” of the campus environment rather than believe what people tied to the admission’s dept. say about the campus activities.</p>
<p>–Look for diversity. If everyone looks like you, question it rather than take comfort in it.</p>
<p>–Consider the layout of the campus—how far is it from the dorms to the classes and to the dining hall. Is it easy to get from one class to the next (15 min. timeframe) or is it necessary to adjust the class schedule because of the large distance from buildings.</p>
<p>–Is the campus in an isolated area? If so, generally speaking–on campus liquor and drinking may play a large role in the weekend activities. Yes, drinking occurs on all campuses but if it’s difficult for the kids to get off campus, they tend to stay on campus and drink for entertainment.</p>
<p>–Go inside the dorms and see them for yourself. Taste the food. Again, generally speaking–try to stay away from schools that have only one dining hall. Also, check to make sure there are places to eat on campus that are open after 7 or 8pm. If kids are stuck taking an evening class (which isn’t uncommon), they need to have a place to eat at a later time. </p>
<p>–Consider travel to and from the school. Is it close to an airport? How will they get to the airport? </p>
<p>–Health Services Center—Is it open on the weekends? Many are not. Is there a hospital nearby?</p>
<p>–Total Cost. Also, it’s important to remember that the cost increases every year. It’s very common for private colleges to increase costs substantially from one year to the next.</p>
<p>My kids just “winged it” and chose the college they wanted to be at, pure and simple. I have no idea of logarithm they used to choose.</p>
<p>I know DD wanted desperately to be in NYC. She was also intrigued with the feminist slant of a woman’s college and the long tradition of the seven sisters.</p>
<p>DS just fell in love with his school. I don’t think he used any rational considerations at all, but I could be wrong. Since it’s an excellent school and he received good FA there didn’t seem any reason to question him.</p>
<p>Everyone’s process is different. We are a very intuitive family.</p>
<p>whether there is a Chik-fil-A on campus (ds seems to think this is important).</p>
<p>LOL… DS1 was very interested in meal plans, dining venues, and dorms when he was looking at schools. While academics are certainly important, the fact that these kids have to live and eat on their campus for four years means that other things are important, too.</p>
<p>Visiting the campuses is important. Also drive around the area and look at the off-campus hangouts.</p>
<p>Make sure that you get to visit some dorms while on campus. DS1 immediately crossed off a school that he really liked after he visited their dorms and was grossed-out by the bathrooms.</p>
<p>I’ve thought about this issue a lot since my oldest child’s decision was incredibly stressful. In the end, the decision was made for financial reasons, and I was very worried about her attending a university that did not fit her in any way at all (other than academically – all of the schools she applied to were excellent in that regard.)</p>
<p>She had visited classes, dorms, etc., and knew this particular school very well, and absolutely hated everything about it and I understood why. What made it worse is that she had visited and loved two of the other schools and would have been happy at either one. Unfortunately, they were impossible for financial reasons – even though we received FA, they were just not affordable.</p>
<p>I want to report that all worked out well and she was happy as a clam within her first week at the detested school, much to the shock of her parents. It’s not possible to forsee everything or to really know a school before you attend. I know this is not a typical experience, but I just want to throw it out there as an alternate view.</p>
<p>Since S1 is looking at going directly to grad school, placement was also something he considered. He also made sure that there would be enough courses in his major(s) to keep him happy and busy (and well-prepared for grad school).</p>
<p>As for S2…not sure what will be on the final list of criteria, though I suspect access to airports will be on the list should he and GF wind up in different cities.</p>