<p>Yeah, visits are just not an option for me in terms of both time and money. I narrowed my selection of colleges to pretty similar sizes and academics. I've begun reading through posts relating to the schools that I'm planning on applying to on CC. At this point, where/how could I learn more about schools to "feel them out?" As in, how can I differentiate between these schools besides class sizes, diversity, etc. etc.</p>
<p>Go to the library (or bookstore or your guidance dept) and read up on the various schools in college guide books (ex. Princeton Review, Fiske, College *******, Insiders Guide…), look at the school websites, see if you can arrange do an interview locally with an alumni. Perhaps once you are accepted & have your final aid package etc you can visit your final choice or two at that point.</p>
<p>Thanks for your reply! I’ve already read through college guide books and school websites, but I feel like they don’t really help because the former doesn’t focus on my intended major specifically, and I don’t really know what I should be looking for in the latter besides the obvious like curriculum.</p>
<p>Read their websites, request info from current students, spend time on the various school CC threads, read the college review books and check out site like college P-r-o-w-l-e-r or Princeton review. If you can talk to alumni from the schools it will help you get a good sense of the schools as well. </p>
<p>If you have significant financial concerns take care to check the OOS aid (especially merit) of some of your choices. Also, if you have a good instate safety, you might want to do a college visit in order to get a feel for what you like in regard to size, social aspects. By making campus visits you can often learn more about what you really want in a school.</p>
<p>I agree with what has been already mentioned.</p>
<p>Some ideas to consider, these can be decisive factors to you, or not at all.</p>
<p>Some of those schools are science and tech schools, some will have a mix of all majors. Some have huge sports programs, some don’t.
Some have cold weather, hot weather, etc.</p>
<p>Also, the fit of the entire college is just as important, or more important, as the fit of the major, at least in my opinion.</p>
<p>I don’t see any obvious safety schools, I’m guessing the state schools are, but make sure you have one or two.</p>
<p>Have you gone through the net price calculators on each college’s website? If visiting is a financial hardship, how are you going to pay out of state tuition for a public school?</p>
<p>@MizzBee Thanks for your idea of visiting my state safety! It’ll definitely help me realize what factors are important to me.</p>
<p>@aqsewfqq The lack of safety schools is what worries me too (which is why I have trouble cutting down my list), but I’ll be applying to UNL engineering so hopefully I’ll have at least one place to fall back on, ha.</p>
<p>@siliconvalleymom This is going to sound incredibly bratty, but I’m a really lucky only child from a household of educators with diplomas from renowned universities, so my parents, very kindly, said to leave the financial things to them and to never worry about it at least until I get an acceptance letter. </p>
<p>@Batllo Firstly, thank you very much for your concern, but I’m more likely than not going to go to grad school, and as naive as this sounds, I have a lot of passion for civil engineering and don’t intend to change my career plans because of outlook. I may go into construction, too.</p>
<p>While it’s fun to visit schools, there’s nothing magic about touring a campus, nothing that will assure you that a school is a good fit. Plenty of students have been charmed by campus tours, only to find that actually attending a college is nothing like being a tourist there. My S toured GWU on a rare gorgeous summer day in DC and was taken around the campus by a delightful student guide. He was dazzled. By the second week of freshman year, he knew he had made a mistake–he hated city life, hated the huge all-freshman, all-party-all-the-time dorm, hated the hot and humid weather, hated the lack of a real campus. These were all things he could have figured out based just on adequately researching the school and the environment, but he let himself be swayed by a positive campus visit. </p>
<p>Another thing to remember is that a huge part of your college experience will be formed by your attitude. If you attend a school determined to have a positive and valuable four years, you’ll find a way to do so, which in some cases may mean making some changes in yourself to “fit” the school–e.g., if social life revolves around sororities, you may want to look into them, even if they have no immediate appeal, and if the best profs are teaching the biggest classes, you may want to take them even though you think you’re best suited to smaller groups.</p>
<p>@MommaJ Thanks for your advice! Reaffirmed some of my thoughts – college visits not being as enlightening as people make it out to be and that there are really no “perfect fits,” just adjustments of yourself.</p>
<p>@DrGoogle They are pretty equally distant away from Nebraska. If you mean that they should be more accessible since they’re all near each other, I guess that’s a reasonable claim. Isn’t senior year winter break a bit too late though?</p>
<ul>
<li><p>You get a bunch of acceptance letters in April.</p></li>
<li><p>Your parents look at the financial aid and scholarship numbers contained therein and realize that the expected family contribution is far greater than what they are able and willing to contribute.</p></li>
<li><p>Off to community college you go. (Not a bad option, but students who disappointedly go to an unwanted safety often do not do very well compared to those going to a safety that they chose beforehand as one that they like.)</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Have them run the net price calculators on each school and assure you that they are comfortably able and willing to contribute pay the amount other than grants, Stafford loans, and work-study.</p>
<p>Be sure to apply for the President’s scholarship at Georgia Tech (various levels available, including full ride and full tuition). Also, consider NCSU and its Park scholarship. Also, NCSU’s list price is relatively low compared to many others. Other schools with relatively low list prices include Virginia Tech (already on your list?), University of Minnesota - Twin Cities, Iowa State, and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Check also to see if your in-state public universities have good financial aid and scholarships for in-state students.</p>
<p>Remember that your safety school(s) must have assured admission, assured affordability, and be places that you like.</p>
<p>*Yeah, visits are just not an option for me in terms of both time and money. *</p>
<p>Why do you say that visits aren’t an option because of time and MONEY if MONEY isn’s an issue???</p>
<p>Too many parents tell their kids not to worry about cost, and they wait to see the offers and then realize that they didn’t get the aid they wanted.</p>
<p>To protect yourself, ask your parents if they’re willing to spend $50k-60k per year on college. If they say, “yes,” then you’ll probably be fine. if they’re expecting that you’ll get some FA or some merit, then you may find that your schools aren’t affordable.</p>
<p>If your parents say that they can’t spend that much, then include a few schools where your stats will give you substantial merit. </p>
<p>With 2 working parents, and you being an only child, you may not qualify for any aid.</p>
<p>@ucbalumnus I’ve already started on scholarship essays, and my parents are extremely aware of the costs. I realized late into freshman year how almost irresponsible “Don’t worry about tuition” sounds when there are all these people going bankrupt, so I talk about the financial situation (along with legal issues since I’m on an H-dependent visa – which puts me out of a lot of scholarships) regularly with my parents. But thank you so much for your extensive reply; I will definitely discuss these things with my parents.</p>
<p>Just for another idea for getting an idea of the school, you may be able to contact current students in your department of choice. Try emailing admissions and seeing if they can connect you. Alternatively, you can try posting in the school’s specific forum here on CC and seeing if there is anyone who’s willing to email back and forth with you.</p>
<p>@mom2collegekids Money is not a deciding factor for my college choices, but that’s not to say that we’re well-off and able to say “money is not an issue.” I’ve demanded to see our savings account, etc. etc. because I was just as wary of my parents’ confidence to pay for the huge tuition. They’ve done thorough research on tuition and are plenty knowledgeable. As I replied to ucbalumnus, we talk about this frequently.</p>
<p>@Batllo Right, but since application fees itself are around $70+, so I didn’t want to apply to 15 schools, so if visiting was a possibility, I wanted to do it before I applied.</p>
<p>I totally agree with Bruno. In addition to asking for students speak to admissions; yes their job is to sell the school but they can be really helpful I called admissions for one of my options and the admissions counselor knew who i Was ( turned out he was the recruiter for my school)and he helped put some of my fears to rest. </p>