Hey! I’m a senior and I’m trying to narrow down my college list (at around 26 schools and I want to narrow it to 10-12). The problem is that we don’t have the money to take big road trips to see all of the schools I’m interested in (plus the fact that my dad can’t take days off, my mom is trying to save hers, and I usually have marching band on the weekends), so I’m kind of stuck narrowing down the list without actually visiting (I’ll visit any schools that I get into and offer me enough financial aid for it to be affordable). I ran NPCs on all of them and have done a few virtual tours but not all schools offer them and I didn’t find picture tours too helpful (plus I feel like all of the shots are taken when it’s nice and sunny outside). Any other suggestions on ways to narrow it down?
What are your stats, planned major, urban/college town location preference??? If you list the schools others here may give you an insider’s opinion.
The Fiske Guide is generally considered a reliable guide to the atmosphere and culture of the schools it lists. Read carefully. I was looking at it a few weeks ago and came away with the definite impression that the author didn’t want to outright criticize or insult a school, but if you read closely, you can get a sense of what the negatives might be.
Okay, I’ll check that out!
And my stats:
-GPA: 3.9 UW/4.4 W
-Ranked 27 of 155 at a nationally recognized school (I know this will probably hurt me at some of the most elite schools, but I figured with holistic admissions it’s worth a shot)
-New SAT: 1510 total, 770 math, 740 reading/writing
-Old SAT: 700 math, 700 reading, 710 writing
-National Hispanic Recognition Scholar
-1 AP and mostly honors (my school only offers 2 APs and I can’t take the second one because it’s Calc AB and I’m taking my calc class at the county college)
-22 dual-enrollment credits from Rutgers
-31 dual-enrollment credits from county college
-My ECs are a bit all over the place but I volunteer a lot at my church, am president of the chorus at my school, and helped found and am the VP of the religious studies club. I also work at a special needs camp, am in the jazz band, on the swim team, in the Gay-Straight Alliance, and in an occupation-related club where I have placed in state competitions twice and participated in national conferences twice.
I plan on majoring in computer science but I also really like creative writing.
I don’t really have any preference as far as location (just not in-state with one exception), but I’d prefer a small school with a real campus (not like NYU).
These are the schools on my list:
University of Alabama (qualify for full tuition)
Rutgers- New Brunswick (in-state; would only be interested in honors college)
Temple (merit $$)
Allegheny
Grinnell
Hamilton
Kenyon
Oberlin
Reed
Sarah Lawrence
Ursinus
Vassar
Whitman
Bryn Mawr
Mount Holyoke
Smith
Scripps
Pomona
Harvey Mudd
Haverford
Johns Hopkins
MIT
University of Rochester
Swarthmore
Dartmouth
Dartmouth stands out as an outlier amongst your list of schools - more preppy, fratty. Perhaps that is one you could drop unless there is a specific reason you like it?
Also, amongst the LACs, which 2-3 are your least favorites?
Nice list, though!
A few ideas:
Comb through each school’s website carefully – they have a wealth of information.
Look at some good college guide books…Fiske, Insiders Guide, Princeton Review.
Look for school newspapers online to get a sense of what is going on at the school.
Go to the school’s thread on CC and see if it is active.
If the school offers interviews call and see if you can interview with a local alumni.
After running NPCs, drop any which are unaffordable unless the merit scholarship opportunities are realistic (i.e. large enough and which you can get).
Since you want to major in CS, you may want to drop those whose offerings are too limited in that subject (e.g. Sarah Lawrence, Reed; check catalogs and schedules of others). http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/19190340/#Comment_19190340 may help you.
What is wrong with schools in your home state of New Jersey?
For “fit,” can you visit schools close to you to see what sort of school you like? They don’t have to be schools you’re actually interested in attending. They can be super close to you and just day trips.
You’re looking to see if you prefer urban “street,” urban “campus bubble,” suburban, and rural. You could easily eliminate some that way as your list has all of those on it.
You’ll likely also get a feel for size preference (LAC? Research U?), and perhaps even see little things that matter (is there a Starbucks?) and can cut your list.
The academic obvious one is to look at all the courses (online) that you think you’re interested in and compare which schools offer which - then see what the profs for those classes are doing (their history and/or specific interests). You can’t guarantee you’ll have any one particular prof, of course (moving, change of teaching plans, etc), but if you see a trend, that is a great way to align your list.
@ucbalumnus I’ve actually reached out to a few colleges (Reed, Whitman) about their CS programs and how they’re expanding (what will be offered within the next couple years. I still need to do some more research though.
And as for NJ schools, none seem to have what I’m looking for. Do you have any suggestions? Plus, I feel like it’s now or never as far as breaking free of the home state.
Review each of your listed schools for suitability with respect to their CS offerings (post #6 will have led you to a helpful thread).
For those that are satisfactory, consider further aspects.
You could keep Kenyon, Hamilton, Reed, Mt. Holyoke and Scripps for their beautiful campuses.
HMC is particularly strong for CS.
Hamilton is very strong for writing.
Oberlin offers particularly good choices in vegan food.
When selecting a college, it’s important to feel your academic opportunities will be wide-ranging. Are there any periferal programs – e.g., geosciences, astronomy, significant anthropology offerings – that may be of interest to you? This can relate to fields you could see yourself personally exploring, and can also be used as way to evaluate breadth of curricula in general among your potential choices.
Well, if you are going to keep colleges around for beautiful campuses, IMO Bryn Mawr should be one of the colleges at the top of the list. Stunning place. (plus it has other stuff going for it.)
It sounds weird, but google earth streetview is a great tool to use to simulate walking around the campus.
Re #10, I’d agree with Bryn Mawr. Vassar, Swarthmore, Smith, Haverford and Whitman, depending on personal preferences, could easily be included as well.
If you haven’t checked out niche.com already, they have (what seem to be) pretty honest student reviews about the campus scene/vibe if that’s what you’re looking for.
Look for videos on YouTube. They don’t have to be official school videos, but something posted by a student. It might be sports oriented, a concert, a TED lecture, but it may give you an idea of how students at those school. A lot of Greek Life posts on YouTube.
You should visit some schools near you even if they aren’t on the list. You could get a feel for the size of school, whether it has core curriculum or block system or quarters or semesters. You can take day trips that wouldn’t cost much and your parents wouldn’t need to take time off work. You could also see if any of your friends are doing visits and you could tag along.
You might also decide you need to cross off those west coast schools. Look carefully at the COA and NPC and see if they include a lot for travel from NJ. Are they just nice schools you’d like to go to or is there a specific reason (a major, a course) you put them on the list?
Seeing Swarthmore and Dartmouth right next to each other on your list makes my head want to explode. You could flip a coin and have a totally different college experience.
Thanks for all of the tips guys, I’ll definitely look more into their CS offerings in relation to other things I’m looking for.
@Elisevl I feel like with niche I’m either reading review from people who are trying to buff up the school or are pretty salty, though I will admit there’s some pretty useful info there.
@twoinanddone Thanks for the tip about Youtube videos, I hadn’t thought of that. For visiting schools near me, should I just visit any colleges? Or should I try to find ones similar to the ones I’m looking at? Or just… go for it?
As far as crossing off west coast schools, I’m not willing to do that. I’ve always loved the idea of moving to the west coast (maybe from being stuck in New England all my life), and all of the schools that I’m looking at (save Whitman) meet 100% need and are generally known for great FA. Whitman’s FA is good but not as good as the others. Whitman also has scholarships targeted towards increasing diversity (which it lacks greatly, though I’m not worried because overall it seems likes a very welcoming school) which I think I would have a shot at. Whitman’s CS website was somewhat vague about their course expansions and I reached out to admissions about it and depending how they respond would be the only reason I would cross it off. Harvey Mudd paid for my flight to come to campus for their WISTEM program last February and it’s definitely at the top of my list. The only ones I would cross off is maybe Scripps or Pomona (Mudd, Scripps, and Pomona are all basically on the same campus so I need to decide…). I understand that I won’t be able to come home for thanksgiving and breaks and stuff but I’m okay with that. But, yes, they all have specific reasons for being on the list (Reed’s intellectual atmosphere and fascination with classic Greek and Roman lit, Whitman’s welcoming community, Encounters course, and outdoors-y-ness, Mudd’s elite education with a very cooperative community, Pomona has equally elite academics with more options, Scripps gorgeous campus, dedication to women’s education, and access to the resources of the surrounding colleges).
If you’re in Nj, you can definitely visit Rutgers, Bryn Mawr, Haverford, and Swarthmore. NJ Transit and Septa are your friends! Spending a little time on each of those campuses could help you figure out what you like and what you don’t, not just about those schools but in general. Those four differ from each other in enough ways that it might be helpful. Just an idea…
Yeah, we’ll be visiting Bryn Mawr, Haverford, Swarthmore, Temple, and Ursinus (probably over 2 weekends, philly isn’t too far). I’ve already visited Rutgers, but it was a Saturday in the middle of the summer and my dad (an alum) was giving me the tour (I think I learned more about his college days than the actual school, and apparently a lot has changed since 1984), so I think I’ll probably visit again (with an actual tour?). I’m also planning on taking NJ Transit with a friend into NYC to visit Sarah Lawrence.
My suggestion would be group the schools in terms of overlapping characteristics, make sure you have safety/match/reach in each cluster, and delete the outliers/extras. So, something like:
Public safeties: Alabama, Rutgers, Temple
Smart, quirky, independently minded students, not overly conventional campus feel: Grinnell, Oberlin, Kenyon, Vassar, Reed, Sarah Lawrence, Whitman, Bryn Mawr, Holyoke, Smith, Haverford. Most of these have a very collaborative culture and, while composed of very smart kids, are not super intense. Except Reed – we hear Reed is more like Chicago and Swarthmore than it is like Grinnell or Haverford. From my perspective, this is the core of your list, though consider removing Reed and Whitman. Smith can be a place students love or not at all. Like Oberlin, I’ve heard it has a bit of a strong culture – which may feel perfect to some, too much for others.
Bigger, more STEM/tech: Hopkins, MIT, Rochester Where do these fit in your preferences? They don’t sound like they match your description of small school with more of a self-enclosed campus. Are these the preferred schools to the public safeties and so should stay on? Or are they here because they have more public recognition and status, but wouldn’t necessarily be better fits or more affordable?
Allegheny and Ursinus are safeties, if you are comfortable with Honors at the big publics, then can delete these as super-safeties.
Hamilton, Dartmouth, Swat seem like outliers. Swat has more in common with Univ Chicago and Reed than Grinnell/Vassar etc. Hamilton and Dartmouth are great schools and the independent student can absolutely have a phenomenal experience, but these two seem out of sync with the bulk of the LACs listed by OP above.
CA (which I don’t pretend to know) – Scripps, Pomona, Harvey Mudd. Is the West coast feasible, in terms of cost and logistics? Do you really want to be a coast away? If its more of a “it would be great to be in CA” thing, there are plenty of great schools which are more accessible on your list. Sure, the geographic diversity can help, but may be a way to shrink the list, to delete Scripps, Pomona, Harvey Mudd, Reed, and Whitman.
Even though you can’t visit, you should sign up for the mailing list at every school you might apply to (a lot of paper and email, but necessary). Follow them on Twitter and FB (and Instagram etc). If representatives from these colleges visit your high school or do a community-wide college fair, go – sign up on the clipboard at the table for these schools to show you were there, if you have a moment, and the college rep isn’t swamped, chat a little to find out what they would describe makes their schools special.