<p>My child is a junior and has spent years insisting that he would attend a certain large state university. At the college fair a few weeks ago, he became interested in a smaller private school and is far more open to different options then he was even 6 months ago. </p>
<p>The more I think about him, the more I think he would do better/be happier at a smaller school.</p>
<p>I applied to a wide range of schools back in my day... but I can't even begin to tell you how I selected them... all over the place from Indiana to Georgetown with a bunch in the middle.</p>
<p>Any suggestions on how to go about even figuring out where/which schools to research? Do kids still read books? I remember pouring through college guides (I guess that is where my list of schools came from).</p>
<p>Start with
urban/suburban/rural - what type of environment does your child like?
big or small - does your child want a bigger or smaller school?
state or private - what are you ready to pay for?
topic of study - what does your child want to study?
distance from home - how far is your child willing to travel?
students' academic profile - college board has a decent college search?<br>
what schools fit your child's academic profile?
Talk to people - what are the schools that people you know have loved best, profited from?</p>
<p>Where are you from? If you answer these questions - others may be able to suggest good choices.</p>
<p>lastminute- Go to some visits in different categories of schools as momwhwantsthebest suggests. Even if they aren't particular schools he is interested in, if they are close to home or all in an area where you can do a few visits, that will give him some feedback on the type of school he wants. As a parent I have found these enlightening also and by doing some practice visits he can get more comfortable and know things to look for in other schools.</p>
<p>A guidebook would be good also, but different things work better for different kids. </p>
<p>As was also mentioned, cost is a factor as well as the selectivity of the school. I assume he took the PSAT and has some scores which you can use as a general predictor of SAT/ACT. You could also schedule a meeting with his guidance counselor to get a good starting set of local schools which might be a match for him, or just to help put his stats into context.</p>
<p>Good luck, and there are plenty just beginning or not even thinking about it yet, there is lots of time don't worry. And feel free to join the class of 2010 thread also for more company!</p>
<p>Others can be found at collegeboard.com and princetonreview.com and here at CC. </p>
<p>All these tools allow you to plug some basic criteria into the website then click and get some school suggestions. </p>
<p>After you have that "starter list," the fun begins. Use the "search comparables" link in your results. Expand the list. Narrow the list. Go to the school websites. Request information. It's exciting and overwhelming at the same time. </p>
<p>You need books or online sources to start the process. This will help with a first very rough cut to select potential schools in the academic range and with programs and other characteristics that seem ok. My D did almost all of this herself. However by the end of junior year, she had already visited numerous colleges and spent time on college campuses. This included visiting older friends and weekend and summer programs. This process is really tough for most kids. They just have no idea what to expect or what they want. Parents can only help to a limited extend. After all we are dealing with teenagers and even a good parent-teenager relationship only goes so far.</p>
<p>I wouldn't necessarily lean too heavily on the urban/rural/suburban thing to start. My S, for example, applied to all three. Stories are legion of kids who were determined to be in a big city, but ended up happily ensconced in a semi-rural LAC. (Stories are also legion of kids who wanted the big city and really meant it! :) ) Same thing goes with majors. Most kids switch at least once. Your S needs to figure out what criteria are important to HIM.</p>
<p>Running some of the online selectors that allow you to weight criteria would be a good starting place. Getting a couple of college guides to read is a good idea. (They make a good Christmas present. ;) )</p>
<p>The best advice is to start by finding a good safety that he would like to attend. It's easy to find the reachy dream schools, and once the kid has those stars in his eyes it's hard to refocus and be pragmatic. (Advice that WE did not take, alas, although it worked out in the end.)</p>
<p>Of course, CC is a goldmine of information.</p>
<p>I just realized no one mentioned finances. OP, please read the post entitled a question for parents on this thread. Start NOW talking to your son about the realistic options financially.
Apply to a range of schools and some that will probably offer merit money.
My son who is a college Jr. now applied to a range. He was accepted at GWU, one of the most expensive in the country, with no financial aid. He ended up at Northeastern U. with enough in merit money to make it comparable to our CA instates.<br>
DD is going to University of the Pacific next year. She got some merit money too but not as much as her brother. She just got another acceptance from Cal Lutheran with more merit money but is going to turn it down.<br>
Neither of them could have applied to a top tier school. They are your basic BWRK (bright, white, well rounded kid).
Lots of kids post in April that they got into their dream school but will be facing major loans to attend.
I personally am not comfortable with large loans for an undergradate degree.
Even if you will qualify for need based aid, not all schools will meet 100 percent of need.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Start with
urban/suburban/rural - what type of environment does your child like?
big or small - does your child want a bigger or smaller school?
state or private - what are you ready to pay for?
topic of study - what does your child want to study?
distance from home - how far is your child willing to travel?
students' academic profile - college board has a decent college search?
what schools fit your child's academic profile?
Talk to people - what are the schools that people you know have loved best, profited from?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>This is a good list, but remember that some students do not care much about some of the factors on this list.</p>
<p>For example, if the most important thing to your child is that the college or university has a good journalism program, your child may not care whether the school is in an urban or rural location. Or, if your child cares very much about attending a college in a big city, the size of the school and the distance from home may be minor considerations.</p>
<p>As you and your child work on the list, keep selectivity in mind. It's important to include at least one or two schools on the list where your child is almost sure to be admitted (so-called "safety" schools), and that at least one of these be a school that your family can definitely afford (a "financial safety school"), regardless of how things go in terms of financial aid.</p>
<p>Another thing you might want to add to the list is difficulty of travel, not just distance. It is quite easy to get from one major metropolitan area to another; getting to smaller communities at either end of the trip may be much more difficult. A student who lives in Chicago and attends Georgetown (or who lives in Washington, DC, and attends the University of Chicago) may have fewer travel difficulties than one who lives in an isolated rural community in Pennsylvania and attends school in a similarly isolated rural community in New York (or vice versa).</p>
<p>When my youngest son went through the process he was all over the map and didn't really have an idea about what kind of school that he wanted to attend (other than the fact that he did not want to go anywhere instate and didn't want to go to any large state university.) He was finding the whole process pretty overwhelming. I got a copy of the Fisk Guide. Using my own knowledge of schools and of him I marked about 25 different schools for him to start with - big and small in different parts of the country. Reading about those schools helped him think more about what he wanted. When certain schools appealed to him in the book, Fisk recommends similar schools that he could also look at. We then visited about 15 different schools, some during school breaks, but most over a long trip to the northeast over summer. A couple of the schools he really liked he visited again in the fall when there were students there. He ultimately ended up applying to 4 schools. Was accepted to 3 and waitlisted at one. Two of his accepted schools offered him very nice merit awards, the third doesn't give merit. </p>
<p>I think that many kids find the process daunting. But you can get the ball rolling by giving them a list of 20-30 schools to start with. Make it clear that you have nothing invested in any of the schools, that you are only making suggestions as a starting point. Then listen to your son as he talks about what he likes and dislikes about various schools. That will give you good ideas on what direction to head.</p>
<p>What I have been doing with my 2010 daughter is to do college visits. I described the process in post #1422 in the 2010 thread (by the way great thread for you to read and join in) but as a summary, we just started making college visits to as wide of a range of schools as possible. After each visit we discuss why that school is either the right school or the wrong school - and patterns are starting to emerge.</p>
<p>lmm, I can empathize. We were equally clueless when my son was halfway through his senior year and decided it was time to get our arms around this college thing. I went to a large State U and like you had a feeling that my son would prefer a smaller school, but honestly didn't know the difference between Wellesley and Wesleyan, Skidmore and Swarthmore, Haverford and Hamilton etc. etc.</p>
<p>Before you do anything -- even pass GO -- be clear on your finances. Do you need (or even want) financial aid? If yes, do you qualify for need based aid? If yes, then you're all set. If no, then you need to become an expert on merit based aid, which may severely limit your son's college list. Do this first.</p>
<p>Books that give thumbnails on a wide range of colleges are a good starting point. You don't want to be too restrictive at this point, but you need a general wishlist of criteria -- size, location, politics, specialities, for example. </p>
<p>Come up with a list of around 25-30 schools in varying levels of selectivity (what is generally called reach/match/safety. Start visiting, talking to friends who share your son's values, reading on line. </p>
<p>During break or over the summer visit as many as you can comfortably. For some people this is three, for some it's 20+. We visited 14 in one fell swoop and felt satisfied at the end of the tour that our son had a clear vision of what was important to him. It's interesting to note that his pre-visit list was turned upsidedown post-visit. Colleges that he thought would be his favorite dropped off the list and a last minute add-on (from which he eventually graduated) floated to the top. So don't underestimate the power of a visit.</p>
<p>No question is too mundane or too abstract for this board. Fire away and good luck to you.</p>
<p>First you really have to just see a few colleges and take the tour and decide what kind of fit you're actually looking for. Many people, I think, gain some insight on flagship versus private small when they visit</p>
<p>I also liked taking various quizzes online to see what schools would be my "fit". While you don't have to apply to the schools you get as a result, the questions that are given to you force you to think about what you are looking for in a school (such as size, location, expense) and the results are something to think about. Collegeboard.com has some quizzes like this, and they have school profiles that you can save and compare with your stats or to stats of other schools.</p>
<p>How about having your S tour a nearby college, even if he's not particularly interested in it? It'll give him the exposure to the college and tour experience, so he'll get a sense of what is involved. We did that with our S (older of the two) and found that other people's questions helped him sort things out. And no, he didn't apply to that first school. In fact, neither kid ended up applying to the first schools they toured.</p>
<p>Thank you all for your fabulous advice. And Merry Christmas for those who celebrate. I went out and got the child a book on colleges for one night of Hanukah-- not a big book, but a good one to start.</p>
<p>My stress level is recently heightened by the calendar and his schedule.. finding time for all that needs to be done is difficult. He is the head manager for the head football team at his high school, is working on his Eagle Scout project, and wants to work at sleep away camp all summer. Not real sure when he thinks all the college visits etc will happen.</p>
<p>We do need to get some idea about the financial part of it.. we live in a state with free tuition for some students (he will qualify) but with only two flagships and one is not a good fit and the other doesn't appeal to him. We do have friends that have offered to pay for graduate school if their kids take the free ride. We will have to have some discussions about that.</p>
