How to Narrow Down Your College List

<p>Okay. So we have gone through all the important criteria to oneself and you have a list of colleges you like. The problem is: the list is 40 colleges long! How does one cut down this list? Share your experiences and how you whittled that list down. Anything that people don't normally consider that you think they should?</p>

<p>First of all, can you actually get in? Do you have competitive stats to get into all of those colleges? For example, if you have a 2.5 GPA and 900 SATs, you can most likely kiss your Harvard dreams goodbye. To gauge this, I would look at each school's 25th and 75th percentiles in terms of SAT scores and GPA.</p>

<p>Next, I would categorize them into the three categories: safety, match, and reach. For your specific school, you should talk to your guidance counselor and view your school's acceptance history (or lack thereof) </p>

<p>Cost. With the country in the worst recession its seen since Reagan's administration, I perceive tuition costs to be the first or second most important factor in a student's college search. Financial aid and scholarships may play a significant role in where you end up in college, especially if you are planning to go to grad school (and thus need to save money).</p>

<p>Location. Some people would rather stay close or driving distance away from home, others wish to go far away and experience new things. Or you may want to stay in the Northeast, Midwest, or South, etc. People have their unique preferences (or none) in terms of where they'd like to go to college (aside from regions - rural, suburban, urban locations).</p>

<p>Size. Want a small college and foster intimate relationships with professors? Or maybe a big state school with rah-rah spirit is to your liking? Size of a school is really important and helpful in cutting down the schools on your list. It tells a lot about whether or not your school is undergraduate-oriented and what to expect from a school of over 51,000 (like UT-Austin) compared to Rice, with under 3,000 undergrads but 5,000 including grads.</p>

<p>Specific program/departmental offerings. Maybe you're looking for an animal science major, or want to major in finance. Be sure that the schools you're applying to actually offer what you're looking for--granted, you'll probably change majors at some point in college, this is a good guideline in narrowing down your list of schools. In another case, if you wish to apply for an accelerated program to medical school, you obviously need to do some research for schools that offer that (Northwestern HPME, Brown PLME, Rice/Baylor, etc) or if you're aiming for a specific honors program (<em>insert your state school</em>, UNC, UT-AustinI, Michigan, etc).</p>

<p>Environment. This category somewhat overlaps with Location, but I think I meant this to have more of a connotation with student atmosphere (when you go to visit a campus, for example). Sometimes even your dream school might fall short and suddenly become imperfect when you actually go to visit - maybe you expected a school to be bigger, or didn't like how Greek life dominated the social scene, etc. Things that you wouldn't know just glancing at a glossy brochure and which you would actually have to go experience yourself to know. College towns would perhaps be in this category as well - Ann Arbor and Chapel Hill are some of the best college towns, for example.</p>

<p>Above all, KNOW WHY you are applying to each school that you are. Have specific reasons and don't be vague about it--this is the next four years of your life we're talking about and you definitely do not want to make a bad choice based on whims and assumptions.</p>

<p>I honestly believe that when you judge a college versus the criteria I set above, you will effectively whittle down that list to the ones you really care about and are seriously considering for matriculation (provided that you get in, of course).</p>

<p>Nice insights. Thanks</p>

<p>Thanks that was helpful!</p>

<p>Here is a list that I did that helped me cut down quite a bit:</p>

<p>Preferred location:
Preferred kind of campus:
Preferred size:
Preferred “feel” (preppy, quirky, etc):
Preferred political leaning:
Preferred level of political activism:
Preferred type of sports scene:
Preferred type of arts scene:
Preferred size of Greek life:
Preferred kind of party life:
Preferred available activities:
Preferred international community:
Preferred weather:
What kind of aid do you need:
Preferred level of diversity:
Preferred level of people living on campus:
Preferred kinds of on campus living (all dorms vs. program houses and apartments, etc):</p>

<p>Also, if you have similar schools of the same caliber, try to eliminate one of them to the one that you would prefer to go to (e.g. Williams vs. Amherst, I would personally pick Williams, but I know people who would be Amherst. There's no need to really have BOTH on the list).</p>

<p>Oh and how long it takes to get a desired degree/graduate</p>

<p>There's this good website called mychances.net. It will guage your probability of getting in based upon the scores of others.</p>