<p>As email surveys arrive from colleges that D did not choose it is apparent that these schools are seriously interested in receiving information about which school "won out" and why. I am curious about the "why". </p>
<p>Why did your D/S choose their school over any others?</p>
<p>Money
In the end my D felt that even though she liked some of the schools she got into -she didn’t like them enough to make the difference in tuition worth it.</p>
<p>Merit scholarship amount reflected the school’s recognition of my daughter’s “fit” with their intense, intimate and unique environment. Proximity to NYC and to home also big deciding factors.</p>
<p>Strength of D2’s major, a great track record for employment or graduate school placement of their graduates, and a willingness to work with her on some relatively minor disability accommodations. She skipped the merit money offered by other colleges for these reasons. Also, her other top two choices “fell down” at accepted student days in various ways.</p>
<p>She got a very long (5-6 page) survey from one college on her college choice (this from a college she did not select). It was way too long and detailed, she did not complete it. D1 works in higher education consulting and commented that this college really needs better survey design and to consider that most 18 year olds aren’t going to answer 100+ question surveys from a college they chose not to attend.</p>
<p>Academics, sport, and location. The network probably won’t hurt either ;)</p>
<p>Communication from the choir director following the visit for one school (he spoke ill of his counterpart at another school on d’s list; turned her off). At another, fin aid package didn’t come out until almost the end of April, and she was ready to make a decision sooner.</p>
<p>My D applied only to large state flagships. I think they were more alike than different, and my D didn’t have a clear cut favorite. While at the time of her decision she would have preferred to be close to home and in a familiar climate, she ended up choosing a school 12 hours away in a climate she didn’t think she’d be all that fond of. She had a full tuition scholarship at the school she chose, so I think her practical side saw the advantage of that, even though we could easily afford the other schools. I think the incredibly nice dorms at her school were the tipping factor, though. In retrospect, she doesn’t mind at all being far from home, and she likes the weather, too. Although it was more complicated than that, on the surveys we indicated it was the full tuition scholarship that made the difference.</p>
<p>D has ignored every survey without opening the e-mail. Just commenting on intparent’s comment about survey design.</p>
<p>I think for my son it was a combination of reasons. He liked that it had engineering in a small school, liberal arts environment. He loved the campus and the dorms. He wants to join a fraternity, and Greek life is big there. And ultimately, it was the best ranked school he got into . . .I think that gave it just a little extra nudge.</p>
<p>S1: Strength of the department trumped everything else.</p>
<p>S2: Strength of the department, nice campus feel, perception that it was a little less intense than his second choice, size, geographic location (both the easy train ride and the slightly more suburban feel to the location.)</p>
<p>For D - strength of the major and location.</p>
<p>She did fill out a survey that took about 15 minutes from a school she didn’t pick but it was because they were giving away 5 $250 Amazon cards in a drawing for those that filled it out - she thought that was worth her time (and so did I)</p>
<p>DS wanted merit money and a unique experience. His school gave him both.</p>
<p>One school was offering a $50 iTunes gift card, the others were offering nothing. I saw one college’s survey and the main criteria included things like “dream school”, urban location, visit experience, academic reputation (rank?), diversity, study abroad opportunities, focus on undergrad, etc. I wonder how many kids picked their school based on diversity, study abroad, or dream school. Do colleges think that kids really do that? Please correct me if I am wrong.</p>
<p>Interesting results for D because she was a recruited athlete who ended up with schools in her top 2 that do not have her sport. She focused on academics and fit. At the end of the day - her top two “showed the love” and the one she chose was the best “fit”. </p>
<p>Just so happens that the top 2 were also the schools that offered the most money - but that was not necessarily a factor in her decision making process. There was a correlation between “showing the love” and financial fit. Do others see that?</p>
<p>For D it was simple, she was head over heels in love. The school felt right from the moment she stepped on campus.</p>
<p>Oldest picked is due to a professor who taught there (who wrote a book he liked in a field he wanted to be in). He also loved the campus on a visit and got enough FA to make the college work. He’s going to be a senior there this year and told me he has no regrets.</p>
<p>Middle picked his due to plentiful research options and a research culture at the school. He felt “at home” there from the first day he set foot on the campus and did not feel that way (as much) with his other choices. This school also worked out financially to be his best option. He has no regrets and just finished his freshman year.</p>
<p>Neither son would have cared for the other’s school. Different strokes for different folks.</p>
<p>Both answered surveys so other schools could know why they weren’t picked (but there were no 100 question surveys - at least - none they told me about!).</p>
<p>I’m hopeful my youngest will also find a school he loves that works out financially. He’s in the 2014 hunt.</p>
<p>When I was searching for colleges, I made a complex ranking system based on my personal values including things like location and student life, the more common measures like strength of engineering program and desired majors, and at least a dozen other criteria. I used many different sources to develop the individual criteria rankings, applied my desired weightings based on how their importance to me, then added up the scores. The scores fit well with my general feelings about the schools, confirming a valid system. This got me down to the list of colleges to which I applied. Fortunately, I was accepted to my top 2 – Stanford and MIT. I chose Stanford over MIT because I favored the entrepreneurial culture with silicon valley, my experiences while visiting including a very friendly and helpful atmosphere, the increased opportunities outside of engineering, and the moderate CA coastal climate.</p>
<p>My D chose based on how comfortable she felt with the students she met on her visits. Also, she sat in on two classes, enjoyed both of them, and found that the students in both classes were engaged.</p>
<p>First college: I was a huge slacker in high school (Cs in my history classes, 1st place in history competitions, 5s on the AP tests, 800 on the SAT II, etc) and wanted a school with quite a few intelligent peers which also had great humanities. My dad, an alum, suggested Oxford of Emory which I visited and fell in love with. The school only served Coke, the students were diverse and friendly, and it seemed to place a heavy emphasis on both intellectual life and volunteering. After touring a few big state schools as well as more traditional liberal arts colleges I realized that I’d probably fail out if I went to a school with large lecture classes, and would likely get bored of LACs after a couple of years. Since Oxford is a LAC/REU combination, I figured I’d do better there and be happier in the long run if I chose it.</p>
<p>Second school: I changed my major to geology which my LAC/REU didn’t offer. I didn’t want to go through the hassle of completing a large number of transfer apps, so I only applied to two schools that I knew I’d get into. Both schools were transfer friendly, had a large number of students majoring in the geosciences (wanted an intellectual fit), and had over 200 Jewish students. I decided on Oklahoma because I wanted to experience weather and not just the Arizona heat. I didn’t visit either school, although I’m happy here so I guess it worked out.</p>
<p>For S: He chose his school because it had the best academic rep among the schools on his list. The D1 sports were icing on the cake. Since he enrolled on a full-ride AROTC scholarship, he had the luxury of not thinking about cost. He has since dropped the scholarship and we are now full-pay. Fortunately for him, our cost for years 2 - 4 falls within his original budget for all four years. So, we allowed him to stay.</p>
<p>For D: She attends her 5th choice school. It came down to money. It was the “best” school under our $40k/yr budget. Way under, actually. So now she’ll get to go to grad school debt-free.</p>
<p>D2 chose her school over one other because of the “vibe” there - friendly, open, homey. Plus she liked the Choral staff she met there. One of them is now her voice teacher and the other is her choir director. They made it clear on her visit, and again on her audition that they wanted her there and were very friendly. Plus, she liked the campus - it’s beautiful. One key reason was their responsiveness which reinforced the friendly/receiving vibe. They were prompt in notifying her of acceptance, both to the college and to the school of music. Every bit of correspondence we got from them was well-timed, thorough and organized. Their campus tours were very well conducted as well as their Freshman programs.</p>
<p>Conversely, the other school actually offered her more money. The staff was nice, but not necessarily warm and welcoming. In fact, a little distant and aloof. That was kind of the feel of the whole campus. They were VERY slow in responding about acceptances and VERY disorganized.</p>
<p>I told my D - If they’re organized/disorganized now, it is likely an indicator of things to come. Her experience at her school of choice has been GREAT!</p>