Nearly two million high school seniors apply to college each year. Some of these students began thinking about college as high school freshman. Most have taken the right steps, starting with building their college list, and are ready to apply to college by the start of their senior year.
College planning involves determining which colleges to consider, picking which colleges to apply to, and selecting the college you will attend.
Trying to decide which college is the one usually takes a decent amount of research and involves some college visits. A good start is building a list of colleges that you may be interested in. The college list building process is an important step in college selection. It is often the least thought through step. Spend the right time on building the college list and follow the tips covered in this article.
Each year popular college trends emerge from high school to high school. Many students use college ranking reports and make decisions based on what’s trending as popular in their school or peer group. My preference is that you open your mind and explore the entire college landscape and make a decision that is best for you. There are schools out there that will make a remarkable difference in your future. There are many factors that make some schools the best fit for you.
In general it is key to have a plan. Students who start out with a plan for building the college list will be happier with the outcome and on a better road for success in and after college. One key to a plan is to have a start date and a complete date. The start date should be the date that you will begin building your college list (sophomore or early junior year) and the complete date will align with college deadlines.
Having a plan will make your choice in college more purposeful, meaning that you have decided to apply for a certain college for reasons bigger than their football team, the pretty campus, or friends who may be also going there.
Below are 5 effective ways to build a college list.
College List Tip #1 – Have Criteria To Evaluate Colleges And Put Them In A Worksheet
There are some key metrics that you should use to evaluate colleges. The importance of having a set of criteria enables you to differentiate colleges from one another.
Some common high-level criteria to evaluate colleges:
- graduation requirements
- graduate success results
- programs and majors
- financial aid
- career placement
Other criteria to consider using when building the list:
- your admissions category (safe, reach, stretch) – see #4 below
- your key motivation for this school (big name, great reputation, best fit, career match)
One great resource to begin your metrics evaluation and comparison searching is The College Board. They are the company also responsible for the SAT and PSAT exams. They have a feature called BigFuture that allows you to compare colleges and view detailed metrics on each.
It would be a great idea to use Microsoft Excel so you can list all of the prospective colleges vertically and all of the criteria horizontally and fill in the blanks for all of the schools. You can then come up with some scoring or ranking and weight some of the criteria more than others based on importance to you. The exercise is a based on individual preference and intended to showcase the things (and ultimately the schools) that matter to you.
This worksheet will be valuable. You can begin to filter out the colleges that do not make sense and can begin to further research the schools that rank well for you. You can begin to plan college visits and further your criteria and evaluation.
College List Tip #2 – Start With You
Do a self evaluation before you determine what school is a best fit, which schools are stretch, reach, or safe schools, and what colleges make the most sense for you.
There are various aptitude, personality, and career interest tests that can be used to gain a clearer picture of your interests. This leads you to certain majors or career aptitudes which in turn makes the college search much easier.
For example, if you determine that you want to be an architect you can eliminate all the colleges that do not have an architecture program. If you know you want to be a business major then you can begin to define the criteria and hone in on those colleges that have solid business programs. If you know you want to be a lawyer then you can start to devise best strategies and approaches. For example, my college had a 3+2 business law program where you could get your undergraduate business degree and law degree in five years. This was a year of tuition saved and earlier acceptance into a law program.
A good exercise is to evaluate your high school transcript and create your resume. Your resume will outline your activities, interests, leadership, honors, awards and employment experience. You should also identify your class rank and test score ranking. This lets you know where you stand and can begin to qualify schools that make sense for you.
Understand the difference between private and public schools, liberal arts schools and when attending community college may make sense. Having this understanding will help to align your situation and your personality to the types of schools out there and why you would consider them.
Also consider more than just the big name schools. Begin to think about fit and personality of the schools. There are hundreds of colleges that align to your personality, interests, major, and career ambitions. Each college has its own history, community, geography, values, and graduation requirements – so it is important to expand your college search and evaluate colleges that you have not heard of.
College List Tip #3 – Start With A Bigger List Knowing You Will Narrow It Down Later
You want to start with more than one or two schools. It is common to pick twenty to forty candidate schools with the understanding that you will narrow this list later. Have some fun with it. Just begin listing colleges that you think sound interesting, that you have heard of or that a friend or family member attended.
Building a college list should not be painful. It should be fun. Look at it as an adventure. An opportunity where you may get to travel away from home for the first time and enjoy some newfound freedom in pursuit of your future you.
You should include the state public universities and the colleges you are aware of in your state. Comparing to your state schools will serve as a good reference point and get you researching the key variables.
Be cautious of using college ranking lists in the big magazines and web sites. These rankings are not necessarily a true representation of the best colleges for you. Those schools listed in the rankings list attract attention and with that attention comes many applications and low admission rates.
It is logical to just write down a bunch of schools and then you can begin narrowing the list later based on basic criteria. You will further refine and narrow your list based on more detailed research and college visits.
College List Tip #4 – Categorize Your Prospective Colleges By Admissions Selectivity
Be sure to evaluate entrance difficulty as a key metric when build your list of colleges. This is a means of improving your odds of gaining acceptance to one or multiple schools.
Many educational consultants advocate an approach where you categorize the schools into safe, reach,and stretch school categories. The key is to differentiate in these categories based upon admissions selectivity.
A safe school is one where an applicant will likely be accepted.
A stretch school is one where an applicant faces a decent chance of getting accepted.
A reach school is one where an applicant faces a remote chance of getting accepted.
The criteria typically comes down to class rank, GPA, course difficulty, and SAT or ACT test scores. These are universally the most used metrics that provide a quick barometer of student work ethic and intelligence – relative to each other. Know that if you are not in the top quarter to one third of the incoming class based on grades, rank, and test scores – then your odds of receiving merit aid or school money are low.
If your list consists of mostly stretch schools with some reach schools, then you need to expand your list to include some safe schools. You want to know that when you have completed your application process that you have the best chance for acceptance to a college you will be happy with.
College List Tip #5 – Build The Right List For You
My college list building began during my junior year of high school. I read magazines, talked with friends and teachers, and visited the library to research colleges. My first list had twenty to thirty schools. At first I had no idea what type of school I would be interested in. I started analyzing and reading about different colleges. Certain criteria started to stand out such as size, programs, location and cost. The key is that this was my personal journey.
I want to caution you to not pick a school based on popularity or college ranking lists. There are thousands of people who went to colleges of all sizes and locations and had amazing college experiences. They are tremendous people and have amazing careers. I was a top performer in a small school and the make up of the students, the campus, the faculty worked for me. Had I attended a larger, more competitive school I may not have excelled like I did. Focus on Best Fit.
It is important to recognize that the college list building process is meant to be an individual thing. If you and your best friend have the same twenty schools listed, then you have not been critical and honest in building the list. No two college lists should be identical. Just like there are no two people identical, the same should apply to college list building.
Starting Building Your List
While the decision to attend college is important, it is not an experience that should cause you to lose sleep or break out in sweats. There are admissions deadlines to be aware of but with some basic organization and time management you will be fine. Ideally this list comes together your junior year of high school. You can then begin to narrow your choices, complete your college visits, and get through your testing and application packages.
If mom or dad are paying for college then they should participate in the decision.
Take it serious, follow the steps, but have fun. It is exciting plotting out your adventure into the future. Seek the best fit and look to put yourself into the best position to succeed in life. College is a path to both fun and career.
Look for my next article about narrowing down the college list. Arriving at that short list of schools you will submit your applications to is exciting.
Remember to be awesome.