The discussion of rankings got me wondering, if you are a BS parent and your kid applied to some “not the standard east coast schools” how did you find out about those colleges? Our CC has given a very standard list to my son - all extremely selective, east coast, grind 2.0. I have not been involved yet but I would like to suggest some schools where it isn’t just a repeat of the, IMO, over the top grind. The only thing I can think is to look at rankings because I don’t know where else to start.
It’s a good question. I would say, though, that not all the selective EC schools are necessarily “grind 2.0” compared to BS, at least in the college prep/soph years.
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One place to look is the matriculation reports for your BS and others. Lots of kids go outside the East Coast, depending on their interests, finances, where they’re from etc.
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Any lists/rankings should be fine. colleges are overlapped on functionalities. One might not miss much if not knowing some particular college names, Just like you do not need a complete local restaurant list to find a good place for lunch.
Check out the websites of private schools NOT in your region to see the “our students matriculate at the following” list.
Colleges that are popular for private school kids in Texas are different from the colleges popular in Oregon or Wisconsin or Ohio or Florida.
It will help uncover gems like Beloit (not a grindy school but attracts some terrific intellectuals), Rhodes, Earlham, Reed (intense but not competitive), Otterbein, Whitman, Santa Clara.
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Our son found his colleges based on what he wanted to study. At first, it was film, so he researched film programs, one on each coast. Later, it was engineering, so he researched colleges with his particular engineering interest which included a school in the south and two in the Midwest. Finally, it was service academies, and that’s a very short list. The point is, I think most kids and GCs will craft lists of colleges that match the student’s study interest. IMO, at the college level, location should be irrelevant. I think that BS college lists end up east-coast heavy because many driven, bright, and highly accomplished BS students seem to think that the east coast has a lock on the “best” colleges, and they’ve been somewhat programmed to always reach for that best. I know Choate worked hard to correct that myopia. Unfortunately, often it was parents, not students, who needed those glasses.
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I agree somewhat. Our concern with going too far is the additional cost of “coming and going.” What’s your thought on this?
@TonyGrace
While coming and going is a concern, because my child is hoping to play sports there will be less coming home anyway. It was my experience at least that basketball players often stayed on campus for thanksgiving and had a Christmas break tournament. My kid is also pretty intent on experiencing something other than New England.
We considered that part of the cost of attending BS/college.
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I do too, that is the problem. But that doesn’t mean it has to be an hour’s drive. From here, there is a big difference between flying to FL and flying to CA. We are just starting the process and without a “career focus” it’s been quite challenging to narrow it down.
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What kinds of schools are you thinking of? Arts & Science? Business? Engineering? Education? Health Sciences? Nursing? Big? Small? Urban? Rural?
You mentioned that he’d like to play hoops. Div I? D II? D III?
Preference for geography? If not East Coast, then where?
State school? Private?
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In my son’s class of 150, the kids went to 123 (or something like that) different schools, so I don’t think they were all being directed to the same places. With that said, there were a few schools that attracted a ton of interest. All were urban and bigger, so I think anonymity was feeling very attractive after BS life!
Check out the book, Colleges that Change Lives: 40 schools that will change the way you think about colleges, by Loren Pope. It discusses some great hidden gems, separated by region.
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I kinda like this source-
They have a book, too, that profiles many schools, but you can get lots of “best of” lists to get you started. I like them because they approach it from a return on investment angle - so slightly different than USNWR. They also don’t rank, so much as list.
If you are interested in a particular geographical area or state, niche does rankings that way. Also by major and many other ways to sort. As always, take rankings with a grain of salt.
If you want to chase merit scholarships, there is a fantastic thread on the big board from a parent (username Kevin something) whose daughter attended a bs, but he didn’t think the counselors there could give him the help he needed to find affordable schools.
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Also, try Selingo who wrote who gets in and why. He talks about “buyers” and “sellers”.
On average, sellers admit less than 20% of applicants, while colleges as a whole admit two-thirds. When sellers make an offer, nearly 45% of students accept, compared with a quarter for buyers. And only 7% of the financial aid sellers give out to students is a merit-based discount, compared with nearly one-third of aid at buyers.
He’s got a free download here to sort by his criteria:
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In an ideal reality, yes. The many responses in this thread may help you feel otherwise, or at least understand better why this is not the case for some. It certainly helped me understand (including the reality that I have the privilege of being able to approach college location for my kids without geographic limit).
It’s perfectly obvious why some consider location, @DroidsLookingFor, and not always for financial reasons. 
Concur!
Why should location be irrelevant? It is a big part of the college experience. Some kids want to stay close to home, some want to go far away. Some want to be in a big city, some like beautiful campus in the middle of nowhere. Some want winter, so don’t. It is a very easy way to narrow down the list if you have location preferences. And size of the school preferences.
Also IME few kids are looking for very specific academic programs that can only be found at a few places. Many still have no idea, or will change their major once or twice while there. A large chunk already plans on grad school. I think location (all aspects of it) as well as the social scene/environment can make a big difference in your college experience and ought to be considered.
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