With over 2,000 4 year colleges in the US, how on earth do you actually start searching all of them? I am a senior right now and I am not even sure of where to apply… There has to be a website that helps right? I’m not talking about those list of top 100 best colleges in the US.
look at my list and you will find a school for you.
hendrix college
bradley university
muhlenberg college
nova southeastern
rice university
university of pittsburgh
carnegie mellon
rollins college
butler university
elon university
a list made from tossing a larger net than most people.among those schools of different sizes,strengths and locations you shall find the perfect school.(perhaps)
no ivy nonsense all great schools for different reasons.
I used supermatch, colleges.niche & a list from my GC.
Fiske Guide
It takes work. Good college lists don’t happen automatically. Some ideas…
–Have the money talk. See what is affordable
-Talk to your parents about any other limitations they have (geographic etc.)
–Yes, the SuperMatch is a good start (look on left under Find a College)
–Talk to your guidance counselor. See if your school has Naviance.
-Yes, books like Fiske, Princeton Review etc. are very useful. Read them (probably can be found in your guidance dept. library etc.), look for academic matches.
-Think about what you want in a college (ex. big time sports, Greek life, any major in particular etc.)
–Try to visit schools on your list.
More than half of students attending four-year colleges go to schools within 100 miles of home. Their search space is much smaller than 2000 colleges. Your own state flagship might be a good starting point in your search. http://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ838811
If you do want to look farther afield, the major college rankings (such as Forbes or USNWR) aren’t necessarily a bad starting point, although a high ranking doesn’t guarantee a good personal fit. If you care about specific features (such as size, location, or program offerings), try an online tool such as SuperMatch. Once you have a manageable set of matched colleges, you can run their online net price calculators to compare costs after financial aid (if any).
If you have strong qualifications and require financial aid, consider the following list of ~60 schools that claim to cover 100% of demonstrated financial need:
http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/paying-for-college/articles/2015/09/14/colleges-that-report-meeting-full-financial-need.
Whatever you decide on, make sure you figure it out soon (but don’t rush and make hasty decisions). Many application deadlines are coming up soon.
OK, this has to be a big focus to which you can devote some serious time… it’s December and you have to get those apps out.
Start with the SuperMatch function at the menu on the left. Be honest in all your answers. It will spit out a list of suggestions. Consider each of them.
Make an appointment this morning with your guidance counselor. Get a list of schools he/she suggests, and look carefully into each. He/she has the advantage of knowing your stats, and knowing the acceptance history of kids just like you from your school.
But start TODAY. And, in the meantime, make sure your CommonApp essay is written by Monday. That way, once you have a list of schools, you can start to apply.
All good advice. Once you have even just a couple of schools that sound right to you, and can articulate WHY they sound right to you, post more specific questions here on CC.
eg. “X school looks good to me because of Y and A school looks good to me because of B. Can you suggest more schools that are like X and Y but … [more/less selective]/[offer better aid]/[closer to this]/[bigger/smaller] etc.” People here are VERY helpful once they have something to work with.
There are many factors to consider. First of all, a student’s grades/test scores may automatically eliminate many schools from consideration. If admitted, can you afford to attend? What do you think you want to major in - which schools have that program? Is geography a consideration? Near to home, easy to get to, a school where you don’t need a car to survive, etc. Do you prefer a large school or a small school? Campus life?
We created spreadsheets, visited many schools to get a feel for the atmosphere, and did a lot a research.
Okay, you’re a senior!
Oh yes, you need to get on this, and get some apps in soon.
I recommend you also look for schools with Rolling Admissions, too, but also try to get those in soon, before January or February - rolling admissions schools usually take apps until the class is filled, so you don’t want to apply late after there is no more room…
For my kid, we first looked through three guidebooks - Fiske Guide, Colleges that Change Lives, and America’s Best Colleges for B Students.
We also looked at the list of Midwestern Student Exchange Program schools because we live in a participating state (your state may participate in a similar membership…, ask your GC, or check online.)
My daughter also narrowed it down -
geographically (within 8-9 hours driving distance);
by size of student body,
of undergrads compared to grads;
and of course, whether she’d be admitted and where she would fit within the typical incoming class (at each school’s website,do a search for “Common Data Set”.
Price is a factor, too - for expensive schools, see if you re eligible for any merit scholarships by checking on the Admissions/Financial Aid page of their web sites.
We also looked up every single brochure and flyer mailed to our house, did a quick search to see if it fit all of the above criteria, and if it had her potential majors, of course…
This last part doesn’t take long at all, just a couple of minutes…
We visited schools a short drive from home, as well, starting in winter of her junior year. We visited all sizes, small, medium, large.
Since you probably don’t have time to do this now, go ahead and apply to schools and you can visit them after you’re admitted, Many small private schools have free applications.
If you have a specific interest, i.e. “chemical engineering”, throw that into your search - this will help lower the number of schools that you consider, because not every school offers ChemE.
Most applications are due in the next month and others are passed their due date. A month is not much time to do your search AND applications. If you insist on doing that, you’ll probably have to take some short cuts and really dedicate your time to this. (Following many of the suggestions already presented here).
But another option is to either delay your applications (apply for Spring 2017 or even Fall 2017), or go to your community college and then transfer.
@SeniorHS2016 ,Let’s see if we can help you.
Where do you live? What sort of a financial picture are we looking at? How are your grades/ SATs?
What sort of college do you see yourself attending? If that’s too broad, then answer this: what sort of college do you see yourself living at for the next 4 years? Large? Small? Rural? Urban? Suburban?
Let us throw some ideas out there to get you started.
@SeniorHS2016, if you have access to Naviance at your school I would start there. It allows you to search according to what is important to you. If you want large or small, urban or rural or suburban, by majors, Greek life, club sports, cost, distance, you name it… you can refine your search and come up with a list and links to each school. Best of luck to you!
Use the Find a College tab on this website! You can put in preferences you have for colleges, like location, size, majors, etc. It’s very helpful!
I would say it’s helpful as a starting point, but sometimes comes up with some off-the-wall selections. But definitely a good way to get the thought process started. Once you start to see a pattern, look for overlaps (people who apply to school X also apply to school Y), usually included in guides or on Naviance or other sources, and then look at those overlaps as well.