<p>It's been very interesting to read about how different families handled the college decision making process. Those who did over nights to those who made a decision, stuck with it (I think with duct tape or something) and never looked back. I think I fall into the category of the shopper, I mean evaluator (that sounds more important). Once we knew the criteria that was most important to our son (the buyer evidently), we wanted to make sure he did some comparison shopping. He was reluctant at first, but he actually enjoyed the campus tours and learned a little about different types of schools.</p>
<p>Interesting corollary to the shopping/buying idea. Yesterday's Wall Street Journal had an article about hiring a professional negotiator to negotiate the tuition--kind of the same way you can pay list price for a car or dicker over the price. The article made the point too that tuition can cost the same as a house, certainly more than a car, and yet people don't negotiate....</p>
<p>I am the ultimate shopper and was more than a little disappointed when S was not interested in shopping at all. He made up his mind on big state u and then didn't even care to talk about others. He reluctantly went on one college visit. He applied to 2 others (also big state u's) but only as a back-up plan in case something went disastrously wrong. It was all very cut and dried for him. He is now a soph. and still happy and satisfied with his decision.
So I guess the only thing we "did right" was to let him go with his gut and stop trying to push consideration of other schools when he was obviously not interested.</p>