<p>My son is very ambivalent during this college search. He has no idea what he wants to study, where he wants to go. The only real feedback is that he wants a campus. I am advising him to study Business, hopefully accounting. I do not want to push him into something he is not really interested in. He has fairly good grades -top 10% of graduating class with a 3.7 unweighted and 4.0 weighted average, many AP's and honors, SAT 1370 on 2 tests and 1990 overall, has decent extra curricular activities. He is applying to the following schools:</p>
<p>Rutgers
TCNJ
U of Delaware
Binghamton
Drexel U (not much of a campus, probably not really interested but no fee to apply)</p>
<p>We probably will not qualify for any financial aide, and not willing to pay $50,000 plus per year. So if he doesn't get merit aide from private schools, he will go public. I think we need to apply to more schools, and would like to have some reach schools. I don't think he wants to travel too far from home (3-4 hrs max). We live in Central NJ near Rutgers. Any suggestions or comments would be appreciated.</p>
<p>Maybe add Maryland (College Park). Lehigh could be another choice but I’m not sure he’d get merit aid.</p>
<p>Applying for college can be a stressful time for kids and its not just due to the college search process. Up to now the range of choices made by the average kid are relatively constrained and HS kids are roughly the same, but 4 years from now the paths people are on will be wildly different. Making these choices, and avoiding bad choices, can bring a lot of anxiety. And another reason to not have strong preferences about college is that many HS kids are not really aware of the variety of colleges out there.</p>
<p>A way to tackle a huge decision is to break it down into a bunch of smaller decisions. I suggest getting a good book on college admissions if you don’t have one already since they break the process down into logical steps, and have checklists that help keep you on track. One book I like is “Admission Matters”; the table of contents is at [Table</a> of Contents](<a href=“http://www.admissionmatters.com/tableofcontents.html]Table”>Table of Contents)</p>
<p>Time is going quickly but I suggest having your son start with visiting some area colleges of various sizes (large U, LAC, etc) and locations (urban, rural, etc), campuses where students live in dorms or near campus and campuses where many students commute, to get a sense of what feels right for him. If they are close enough he may be able to do this as 1/2 day trips (preferably during the school week so he gets a sense of what a typical day is like). Books about admissions will talk about “fit”, choosing a range of colleges that are a good match for what the students wants & needs. By learning more about the range of choices available I think your son will come to express more opinions about what he wants and does not want.</p>
<p>Significant merit aid generally comes from schools where you are at least in the top 25% of the applicant pool.</p>
<p>Why bother with reach schools if you need merit?</p>
<p>My sister, many years ago, went to Muhlenberg College in Allentown PA. She had a fabulous experience there and tells me it is still a very popular college for New Jerseyians with your son’s stats. They give merit money (and your son’s SAT score would probably qualify). I visited it last year with my son when we were in the area but it was too small for him (and he wants to be closer to a city). I loved the campus and the vibe there. Very nurturing and happy place.</p>
<p>My son is not interested in Muhlenberg. He must receive 2 pieces of mail per week from them, but he doesn’t even want to see it. I think it may be too small.</p>
<p>Thank you so much for your response. I will look for Admission Matters as it seems to address at lot of issues we have. We have already visited all the schools listed above. Any yes I know time is going very quick. We will probably wind up applying to some schools with looking at them</p>