<p>I saw a chart on some site with a simple excel spreadsheet, but I can't remember where. Anyone know what I am referring to? It seemed like a good visual tool for students who,like my daughter, are comparing a few different things, especially scholarship potential and bottom line costs. Any help for would be appreciated. Thanks!</p>
<p>Make your own…?</p>
<p>^^
Easy to make different ones at the various points in the process.</p>
<p>First round listing dates of open houses, deadlines for ED EA scholarships, size, COA, GPA and SAT ranges, attractive programs, interesting clubs/ECs</p>
<p>After applications are in use decision making filters, distance, ease of travel, supplemental scholarships available, COA, potential AP transfer credits</p>
<p>After decisions use real dollars COA with FA, pros and cons of each school, dates of accepted student days</p>
<p>Try this one? Don’t know what it looks like, but several users were impressed.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/1062757218-post7927.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/1062757218-post7927.html</a></p>
<p>That reply next to that username (post #2) cracked me up! LOL</p>
<p>I could make one, but there was one linked to a site that plugged in all the data. It was relatively easy as I remember. I will keep looking and if I find it I will post a new post. Thanks:}</p>
<p>Here’s one I like, but it requires that you plug in your own data: <a href=“Free templates for social media, documents & designs | Microsoft Create”>http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/TC010183111033.aspx</a></p>
<p>It’s very easy to modify if you want to add or delete categories of information.</p>
<p>Bumping this because I think we need to start putting some of my son’s possibilities onto a spreadsheet. Any new suggestions for items to include?</p>
<p>This thread has a lot of helpful ideas.
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/662287-show-me-your-spreadsheet.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/662287-show-me-your-spreadsheet.html</a></p>
<p>I made a quick one in Word (well, not Word but InDesign, as I hate Word, but Word would work fine, or Excel). I included: # of students, M/F ratio, % in-state, % international, Other distributions (e.g. % West Coast, %East Coast, etc.), Rankings (I listed USNR, Princeton Review, and other lists but said, take these with a grain of salt), mid 50% SAT (V/M), size of campus, notable facilities (music, theater, art, other?), size of nearest town/proximity to town (bus/car/foot/schedule of transport), distance to nearest city (size of city), ease/cost of air travel, % returning Sophomores (this is a VERY interesting stat to me), % grad rate 4yrs/6yrs, student/fac ratio, % full-time faculty, type of calendar (semester, trimester), advantages/disadv. of each type of calendar, calendar: school starts when, how long orientation, when are breaks, academic/distribution requirements, average class size, music lessons in what instruments/cost, music offerings (radio station, ensembles, facilities), living: % on campus, percent Greek, describe dorms and living options for four years, off-campus study options, clubs/ECs, finances incl. endowment amount. </p>
<p>I started listing number of faculty and classes in the areas of my kid’s interest, but he’s interested in practically everything (a perfect LAC candidate) and that took too long, and he spent a long time doing that during the application process. He’s already determined that these particular colleges are academically up his alley, hence the focus on non-academics above.</p>
<p>Of course, most of this was to keep me occupied and to give me an “impartial” platform for making a few suggestions…In any case, the upcoming visit to the one as yet unvisited college will make the decision, spreadsheet or no spreadsheet. May 1st is fast approaching…</p>
<p>oh, gee, midwestmom, I should have waited for your post. My list is really hard to read (but I don’t have time to reformat, sorry, gotta run!), and probably most are in that link you posted. So go to Midwestmom’s link and forget mine!</p>
<p>^^^ No, not all, you have some good and unique ideas of things to keep track of. Thanks! This varies so much from kid to kid…
But of course!
And it is empowering. This is something useful I can do. Fill in rows, fill in columns. :)</p>
<p>My spreadsheet had:
Name of College
SAT 25th-75th CR range
SAT 25th-75th M range
% of class in top 10%
% accepted
best majors
student body (liberal, arty, hipster, % Greek)
class size (useless everyone claims to have mostly small classes)
EA/ED
size
location (urban, suburban, rural)
core/distribution requirements
Other (most whether interview was a must)</p>
<p>I then sorted the list by the top 10%, and then the % accepted as a rough gauge of reachiness.</p>
<p>mathmom, Those are great entries. Where could I SAT 25th-75th range? Does each school post it on their website?</p>
<p>I think I used one of those big fat college guide books from the library, but you’d probably get more up-to-date info at the college websites. Most colleges have that info somewhere in there admissions pages, and/or in their common data sets. Google works pretty well to locate the appropriate page.</p>
<p>We used the spreadsheets at this link last year - S really liked it.
[Decide</a> Better! For College | Worksheets](<a href=“http://www.decidebetter.com/college/worksheets.html]Decide”>http://www.decidebetter.com/college/worksheets.html)</p>
<p>this website is SO frustrating to use! I saw the same spreadsheet before I joined as a member and after signing up it VANISHED! LOL. Amazing. What a shame…</p>
<p>For SAT middle 50 percent ranges, you can go here and search for the school:</p>
<p>[College</a> Search - Find colleges and universities by major, location, type, more.](<a href=“College Search - BigFuture | College Board”>College Search - BigFuture | College Board)</p>
<p>But remember that these are the ranges for the school as a whole. At large universities, there may be important differences in score ranges for different schools within the university. For example, math scores may be higher among applicants to engineering programs. For that more detailed type of information, you would have to search the school’s web site.</p>
<p>our spreadsheet also included: M/F ratio, distance from home, preferred method of travel to/from, Y/N for club sport D1 wanted, estimated merit aid, bottom line est cost, % Greek (greek life was a negative to D1!).</p>