In trying to make a college list, I’ve found many colleges that have interesting clubs, a great program for my major, and decent financial aid. I’ve looked at aspects like student-to-faculty ratios, Greek life, and location.
Yet I still have a long list of colleges I need to trim down.
I can’t tour all of them. I have read college reviews online but they just make me confused - one review will say “academics is just busywork, everyone sucks, frats are snobby” and another will say “academics are appropriately rigorous, everyone’s nice, there’s a niche for everyone”. There’s so much contradiction that it’s hard to find a pattern.
How else can I make a manageable college list? These schools are becoming a blur to me…
First, you need to narrow it down by affordability. Run the Net Price Calculator (or have your parents do it) to get general estimates of cost for you, and what you can afford.
Then, narrow it down by your admissions chances. Most students aim for a balanced list of Reaches, Matches, and Safeties.
From there, I would see if you or your parents have any limitations on location (as in how far away you can go), and also try to have a number that you would like to end up applying to. For some this is as low as 3, for some it’s as high as 20…it depends on how much time you can/want to spend on all of those applications, and money for application fees.
As for visiting, you don’t HAVE to visit them all before applying. Some save visits until they see if they were accepted or not (keeping in mind that the visit itself can be a slight boost to your application, so look this up…it’s called Demonstrated Interest). You can also create a visit strategy by spreading the visits amongst types of colleges…large, small, medium, LAC, state schools, urban, suburban, rural. Maybe you have some thoughts on this already that can narrow the list, or getting to see a few of these choices can narrow your preferences.
You’re right that reading individual reviews can be hard to draw conclusions from. I would stick with the big things (program, location, size, culture) for now.
@LieuLies After screening the affordability and possibility factors, search and view videos in lieu of making visits initially to get an idea of fit in terms of topography, architecture, style, substance, vibe, etc.
In addition to the recommendations already mentioned, go online and read the student newspapers. You can usually get a good sense of the vibe of a school and what’s happening on campus.
Thank you all! I do have my safety and match schools down, but I’ve been finding it hard to distinguish between top schools and their similar financial aid plans, which I’m more concerned about than location (though I guess cities like New York would have a higher cost of living).
I’ll definitely take a look at each student newspaper. Videos might be harder to feel a vibe for, but that definitely seems like a good idea too.
We started by checking out schools that were local (within a half hour) and we are fortunate to have a large state school, small LAC, and medium private school all very close by. Daughter was able to get a “feel” for size and already had an idea of the distance from home she wanted to be. Even though none of those initial schools made her list, she was able to pinpoint the size enrollment where she felt most comfortable. We were able to look at similar size schools, within the geographic radius, with programs she was interested in, that we can afford. With a more reasonable number of schools to visit, we did a few small road trips to see multiple schools in the same area. Some schools didn’t feel right despite our expectations and some were pleasant surprises. Don’t pay too much attention to reviews - everyone has a different idea of what they want. Only you can tell what feels right for you.