<p>I'm going to Muhlenberg College in the fall.... and I heard of it through CC! I'm very grateful because otherwise I would probably either be going to a state school that I really didn't like so much so that I could major in theatre, or going to one of the schools that accepted me but rejected me from the theatre program so that I could escape Massachusetts!</p>
<p>I will be going to Northwestern U, and I've never heard of it until the end of junior year. A close friend of mine was going to apply there and I took a look at it. After some research, I thought it was a great school and ended up applying there regular when my friend did not apply there at all.</p>
<p>I googled "musical theater college" and Occidental College turned up in the top few for a class they used to have. Although they turned out to not have the exact program I wanted, I wrote it down on my maybe list. Then my counselor called and suggested I look at Oxy for the small class size. We both thought it was too close to home (45 minutes) and too small (I was looking more for 5000, not 1800), but I went to visit since it was close. Even on the trip there I really didn't care or thought I would like it. After my tour I liked it more, and then when I stayed overnight as an athletic recruit I fell in love.</p>
<p>I'm going to Cornell next year. I hadn't ever heard of it before, but they sent me some brochures, and what caught my attention was how pretty it was. When I looked more into what the brochures said, I fell in love with it. Then my friend told me it was Ivy League, and I was actually pretty turned off, but it all worked out in the end.</p>
<p>I am going to Wellesley, and I was only aware of schools on the West coast before applying. My friend is attending Wellesley and my parents were very enthusiastic about the school (I had my eye on another college in Cali at the time). After the school deferred me and then rejected me, I considered Wellesley even more seriously and discovered what an awesome college it is. I'm very excited for this fall. :)</p>
<p>I will be going to Bryn Mawr College, and this is how I had heard about it before applying:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>My mom had very briefly gone to a junior college that is a block away from BMC's campus, and she had mentioned hating the Bryn Mawr girls (hahah!)</p></li>
<li><p>Two of my counselors at gov school were attending Swarthmore, and I eventually applied to Swat ED after hearing about it from them (and earlier from a guide book).</p></li>
<li><p>After being rejected from Swat, I branched out and thought about BMC... It flipped on and off my list SEVERAL times, and I was finally convinced by a fellow CCer that I should apply. I loved everything about it other than the all girl thing (which was why it was flipping on and off my list). It was pretty last minute, but I am SO grateful that I decided to apply.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>We are from Minnesota, and D was making a visit to Bryn Mawr and Haverford. She really needed another safety school, so we looked through Fiske and identified Dickinson as a possible fit. We knew about Gettysburg (have relatives who taught there), and had heard of F&M. She didn't like Bryn Mawr, and Haverford wouldn't let her study abroad in her preferred location, but she fell for Dickinson (driving past that gorgeous library at night when we arrived in town did it, I think). We checked it out when we got home, and found that one student from her school had gone there the year before and he liked it. She is enrolled for this fall at Dickinson with a generous merit scholarship.</p>
<p>I never heard of Rollins until I bought one of those Fiske guidebooks to all the colleges and was looking through colleges in my state. I applied there since they let me do so for free and it was through the common app, or I wouldn't have otherwise. Then I was offered a spot in a scholarship competition, and when I went for the scholarship weekend, my parents and I immediately fell in love with the school and that's where I ended up. Before that, the only time we had ever even seen it was when we were lost on the way home from a swim meet.</p>
<p>My best friend's (who had shifted to another city) counselor told her that Carleton was a perfect fit for her and she should definitely apply there.</p>
<p>She in turn told me about it and convinced me to apply by telling me loads of nice stuff about it.</p>
<p>In the end i made it in but sadly she didn't. And i wound up going there! She definitely must have cursed herself for making me apply!</p>
<p>I googled the name of my chosen discipline. Not a perfect method, but it gave me Penn.</p>
<p>CC. No kidding! I was really interested in studying business since 9th grade, so I discussed it on the forum. One member suggested I look at Wharton (Penn), which was ranked #1 in business. Four years later, and my dream has come true!</p>
<p>Son and I never heard of Wesleyan University until fall of senior year, when my best friend, who used to be a Harvard admissions officer, recommended he apply there. All of his other apps were to large universities, and we did not initially realize it was a LAC. It was an easy application (no common app supplement), so he applied as a "what the heck". When the dust settled in April, he had to choose between Vanderbilt and Wesleyan. Such different schools, offering such different experiences. In the end, he chose Wesleyan, but during most of the application process it was really near the bottom of his list. Now he is very excited to be attending there.</p>
<p>I heard of my school when my brother was reading the USNWR rankings before he applied to college (I was nine). He said something to the effect of "Only rich white people go here", so I didn't seriously consider it until briefly before I started applying to schools.</p>
<p>My Dad knew a coworker that mentioned WPI, and I liked the school when I visited.</p>
<p>I put this same message out on the parent network of my son's school, especially looking at out of state kids, since it is a public college. Got back lots of replies mostly to the tune of the strong environmental and natural resource programs the school offered. Got responses from parents all over the country and then forwarded them onto the school's admission office, who in turn used them on their revamped admission website. School has a wonderful parent network.</p>
<p>Never heard of Pomona until senior year, when I decided I wanted to attend a college in CA. So, I read <em>very</em> briefly about the Claremont schools on wikipedia and decided to apply only to Pitzer, because I thought I would actually have a chance of getting in. Then, while I was talking with a good friend/counselor of mine, he said that I should apply to Pomona. I did, and I got in. If it weren't for that suggestion, then I wouldn't have even applied.</p>
<p>i'm attending SUNY Fredonia for music in the fall, which until this spring i did not expect to fall completely in love with. i hadn't heard of it until sophomore year of high school (my middle school band director was advising me careerwise up til then, and he has a complete aversion to the SUNY music programs), when i asked my high school band director for his advice on colleges to apply to. the only reason i even applied is because he mentioned that he went there back in the day. i doubt i would have even considered the school otherwise.</p>
<p>Yep, I found out about Claremont McKenna College from my copy of Fiske Guide to the Colleges, and then had my interest bolstered by my counselor's recommendation and elaboration upon the qualities of the school, as well as a college visit from their international admissions officer.</p>
<p>It interests me that, although students clearly find their alma maters in many different ways, the Fiske guide is mentioned often on this thread (and other guides are not). </p>
<p>Do those of you who own (or have read) multiple guides prefer Fiske? If so, why? Other thoughts on other guides? (I did see Colleges That Change Lives plugged on this thread, too, and that name seems to come up fairly frequently when I ask applicants how they heard of their (lesser-known) target schools.)</p>
<p>I've always liked the Fiske book, although I've found Fiske's glasses to be a bit too rose-colored at times. Seems like Ed Fiske would be a nice guy to marry ... cheery to have around the house :) ... but sometimes I wish he'd offer more of a balance of college pros and cons.</p>
<p>I had the Insider's Guide as well. I agree with you about the overly positive angle in Fiske, and I think Insider's was actually a bit more even-handed, if I remember correctly! Insider's helped me as well, but I found it less thorough than Fiske, and though the plentiful quotes from current students are a nice touch, they sometimes make the guide's points seem a little too anecdotal to rely upon as fact.</p>
<p>So yeah, I do prefer Fiske, but Insider's was great for a more balanced perspective.</p>