<p>Hi everyone! I have a couple questions. </p>
<p>First off, when is it a good idea to start looking for colleges you are interested in? Is any time okay or should you wait until you have an idea of where you could get in?</p>
<p>Secondly, what is a good strategy for comparing colleges (what factors to consider, where to record your findings, etc.)?</p>
<p>Lastly, how many safeties, matches, and reaches are recommended to have?</p>
<p>Thanks in advance for all the help :)</p>
<p>You can start looking at colleges anytime just to get an idea of what kind you’re interested in (LACs, Big State U’s, etc) but it’ll be hard to get a solid list of reaches, matches, and safeties until you’ve taken the SAT/ACT, have a solid list of EC’s, etc. </p>
<p>When looking at colleges, consider what you want to major in (though you may be undecided, which is fine), whether you’re interested in a big university, small, rural, urban, suburban, etc. </p>
<p>As far as how many, well, that generally just a personal preference. Some people have a reach heavy list, and some play it safe by only having one or two reaches and mostly safeties. You might end up finding that your “dream college” is more of a safety/match than reach; it all varies. :)</p>
<p>Also, as far as what you said as recording what you find, I use Cappex and College Board’s search to save colleges I like. I know some people keep a notebook of various notes about colleges they like and visit reports, etc.</p>
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<p>Find at least one safety first.</p>
<p>It must be a school you are certain to be admitted, certain to be able to afford, academically and otherwise a good fit, and a school you like.</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies! </p>
<p>For safeties, “certain to be admitted” would be determined by rate of admissions, your SAT/gpa compared to the schools averages, etc. Am I right?</p>
<p>Get a good overview by reading the first few chapters of a good college guide such as the Fiske Guide to Colleges. Other good starting places are:
[Prepare</a> for College | Federal Student Aid](<a href=“http://studentaid.ed.gov/prepare-for-college]Prepare”>http://studentaid.ed.gov/prepare-for-college) - especially for learning about how financial aid works
<a href=“https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/get-started[/url]”>https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/get-started</a></p>
<p>Awesome! Thanks for the links!^</p>
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<p>Admission rate is an unreliable indicator of selectivity.</p>
<p>More certain would be a college that states that it guarantees admission based on your stats. Examples would be the Texas class rank automatic admissions for Texas residents, Iowa Regents Admission Index automatic admissions, or <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-18.html#post15895768[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-18.html#post15895768</a> thresholds (presumably, if you automatically get a scholarship, you automatically get admitted).</p>
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<p>According to the College Confidential crowd?
Second grade.
(But not earlier. I mean, you need time to be a kid.)</p>