What method do you/your child use for the colleges they are interested in? Do you do a simple pro-con list for each, have pages in a binder with their stats, do it all on the computer? What have you found works best for you?
For what purpose? To decide where to matriculate? To decide where to visit? What?
I’m just trying to organize where he is interested in/impressions of tours. I’m trying to figure out what works for us and curious what others are doing. He does have a list of colleges he is interested in, and we have started touring. I’m thinking back to when my husband and I were house hunting and how quickly the information got muddled until we had a good system.
It is like pulling teeth to get a teen to write much down/give their opinion on schools they tour. I had them put some notes in their phone for themselves. To me, they basically gave a thumbs down/ or thumbs up (it can stay on the list).
For other info about schools I made a spreadsheet.
We used a google sheet with several sub-sheets. It was nice because both of us could access it easily.
The initial sheet was just college names, links, department link, due dates for apps, special application requirements.
I don’t think I used much of a system. My kids tended to have clear preferences and they did not necessarily fit a pattern. All but one knew what their first choice was. After than things got vaguer.
Kids filled out a form we created after each college visit to record their impressions on a variety of factors. That was our deal given the time/$ spent visiting colleges. Easy to fill out in the car after each visit.
Simple spreadsheet shared by parent and child.
Does your student’s school have Naviance? It offers some good organizational tools.
Getting your student to take photos when you make visits can help keep schools from running together as much. Some counselors are better than others at encouraging (or as we say privately, nagging) kids to do this, and more. Our youngest’s GC has given all the kids a binder, where he encourages/nags them to write a few notes about the schools they’re interested in, both before and after visits, and also about schools they may or may not get to visit.
I also kept a spreadsheet. It had location, notes, size, cost, admission statistics, and later, I tracked things like demonstrated interest, interviews, etc. I coded them as Reach/Match/Safety so we made sure we had a balance. I also bunched them geographically so we could figure out visits.
Note: my son HATED my spreadsheet which is kind of funny. I also had it in Google drive so he could look and add, but something in his personality did not like the fact that his mom was making a list. He liked to have his own, handwritten, often lost, list. That’s fine…I liked having it for myself and taking notes (my memory is bad, his isn’t) and tracking visits and later, a new sheet for who he was applying to, deadlines, scholarships that were offered, etc.
I personally think it’s a good idea to keep notes or have the kids do a post-visit form like @doschicos . After a while, some of them seem so similar or all blend together, especially if you do two in one day ever.
My D kept notes on her phone after every visit. It was very useful in writing the “why us” essays.
What she tended to do was jot down notes immediately after the visit. Thenm we’d talk through family impressions over dinner, and she would update her notes with our comments if she agreed with us ; )
I took notes on every tour. My H did a financial spread sheet. My S did his own online research ( the details of which he kept to himself).
My S also hated the spreadsheet. When my H would want to show it to him, he’d remain standing, like four feet away and say “uh huh” to everything. However, he would come back days later and want to talk about things my H has said, so he was listening.
I had an accordion file with a pocket for each school with notes, copies of deposit receipts, etc . If a visit brought a definite “NO”, I cleaned that pocket out. We got down to about 3 or 4 before the final decision.
I can’t speak to organizational methods, because I’m horrible at it. BUT - I think it would be a good idea to have a notebook (or use phone) to take down impressions as they are fresh. If you can sit down to a meal after a tour and discuss - so great! Ask “what was your favorite thing?” What was your least favorite? etc. My son had a really short memory for schools. While there were a few schools he didn’t like at all, for the most part, he kind of liked all of them, and the one that was freshest in his memory was often the front-runner.
Also write down the names of profs you spoke with and/or classes that were attended. Details are important in the “why us” essays.
My #1 had no interest in doing research on colleges or visiting colleges. He was confident he’d have some good options. We took a pragmatic approach. I put together his list, checking with him on each pick. He made no pre-application visits for this purpose, though he had visited several colleges and universities for other purposes, such as participating in debate tournaments or, in one case, going with me to an alumni day at my own undergraduate college. He read no “college guides.” I did. He was in truth very busy as a high-school debater in summer programs and during the school year.
My #2 had a very different approach. She only wanted to attend (stand-alone) art colleges. She didn’t want to spend time on discussion boards like this (I was already on it!). So we conspired to find excellent art colleges that fit her other criteria: stand-alone art college, preferably in a “real city,” located in “the East.” It was clear that admission to these programs would depend above all on her art portfolio, not her general GPA, EC’s, and the like. We focused on getting her additional training – beyond what she could get locally – to build a portfolio, which would be critical to her admission. That led to her spending two summers in the pre-college art program at the Art Institute of Chicago. Meantime, grades weren’t irrelevant but also not critical beyond completing a solid pre-college curriculum. We made one 2-week car tour to visit art colleges (and a couple of liberal arts colleges) in the midwest and the east.
So our approach was adapted to the kids’ interests and schedules. It worked out fine. #1 ended up at UChicago. #2 ended up at RISD (Rhode Island School of Design).
Our daughter was able to express very clear preferences, thus eliminating a number of schools from the running. On occasion we reality tested those preferences. She and I kept notes on each college we toured including tour guide, info session leaders, professors, financial aid, and other pertinent info; we didn’t use a spreadsheet. From the detailed notes and thorough research, our daughter wrote highly specific essays When it came to financial aid packages, I created a chart so that we could (almost) compare apples to apples. For the most part, she applied to colleges which either tended to meet full need or offered strong merit aid possibilities. (BTW, our flagship state university offered no aid except loans to our high-stat kid.) Good luck!
A spreadsheet is a must for application deadlines, whether an essay is required, what tests are required, when financial aid application deadlines are (a number of schools require applications by Nov 1 in order to be considered for merit aid), whether an interview is available or required (again, interview required at some schools in order to be considered for merit), whether the school is fafsa only, css profile, whether they have their own financial aid forms to be filled out, etc.
And then, of course, as offers start coming in, a spreadsheet with tuition, room & board, total cost of attendance, institutional grants, scholarships, parent contributions, so you can compare final cost of attendance before and after loans.
Spreadsheet for all the hard data and then we brainstormed a list of “Pros and Con’s” on the drive/flight home from each visit.
We created a spreadsheet. I encouraged D to explore colleges websites to get an idea about courses, clubs, housing, what kids do for fun, etc. and input all that information on the spreadsheet. D knew she wanted to attend college in a place where it snowed so we focused our efforts only on those areas of the country. We had a pretty good list of twelve to twenty schools before beginning college visits.
Campus visits really are a crucial part of the college search. Initially, D thought she would like to attend a rural and/or suburban college but found she was more energized by an urban campus. We traveled to PA to visit Swarthmore but she had low energy the entire time. The next day at Penn (which she didn’t even want to visit) she was at the front of the group, asking questions, etc. Turns out, she loves the energy of an urban campus but it took visiting colleges to know that.
When we were on the road doing visits S would write in a notebook, preferably in the car while it was still fresh. Worst case in the hotel. He would tell me what he wrote, and add my comments if he agreed. He’s pretty old school, paper was preferable to his phone. Plus then I could see comments easier.
One thing he did is there were several features we were comparing. So he would note how they were handled in his notes. Occasionally we looked at them throughout the process to quickly check on information because things run together after a while.
He didn’t look at that many though. I may steal some of the above-mentioned ideas for D21.