Help! How did you/your child organize the college search?

[mom2boys]

My oldest is a junior in high school. We are beginning to look at colleges and the task seems daunting. Please share what worked and what didn't work in beginning and narrowing the search.

 

[golfgal]

Pick a school, any school, and go visit-something maybe an hour or two away. Take a small note pad and mark one page pro, one page con. Tour the campus and have him write things down, no matter how big or small. When you get home you will have a good idea of what he likes/dislikes about a college campus then start looking at schools based on that. Also, almost every school within several hours is probably doing campus visits as his high school so as he narrows down his list he can go see them for more information. We also went to the college fair held in Minneapolis. There were 500+ schools from all over the country there and you can go and get a lot of information in a short amount of time.

For DS he started with about 3 colleges he was interested in, 2 he had been to for various camps and one, the University of MN, had majors he liked. I knew he would NOT do well in a large school like that so I suggested we visit some of the other smaller schools around. He found one he liked, applied, got in, done.

 

[luvsmickeymouse]

We started with the guidance counselor at the high school. They have so much info. They know what is required at each college and if they don't they find out. Ours was a great help.

 

[minniebeth]

This is a great thread, my DS is only a sophomore but goes to a preparatory HS, so the focus on colleges has already started. There is so much pressure everywhere about "great" colleges DS must look at from everyone~school, friends, and family.

I want a college education for my kids, but I want a good fit school for them. I want them to be where it will work for them, not because of "tradition" or a good football program, lol.

Thank you for the suggestions so far, and mom2boys, best wishes to you and your junior in your college search!

 

[SueInBoston]

subbing..

Thank you for starting this thread. DD is also a junior and I'm feeling very overwhelmed and anxious about this whole college thing. I was at gathering over the weekend, and every other conversation was around college prepping and touring

 

[erincon23]

collegeboard.com (they put out the SAT) has a college finder -- you input all kinds of qualities you want the college to have -- the major you want, size of college, urban/rural, costs, does it have certain athletics or bands, etc., and it will give you a list of colleges that fit those requirements. That was a good beginning for us (before DS completely changed his major lol). Keep in mind, though, that not all colleges are included in this -- don't take it as the final word.

If your child has an idea of what major they think they want, have them ask HS teachers in that area if they can recommend any colleges. Go the college websites -- they're usually VERY helpful -- and check to see what they have. There are several books and magazines that are great - Newsweek has an annual publication on colleges in America, we used that; and I recently found a great book on colleges for the arts-oriented student. I'd bet there are similar books for engineering-oriented students, etc. If they don't have any idea of what they want, look at good all-around schools that may have a program for the undecided student -- the University of Illinois has a terrific program for kids exploring different majors, as well as a housing option just for those students.

 

[Jeafl]

I was going to suggest collegeboard.com as well. They also have a section where they tell you what kind of ACT/SAT scores, GPA's and class ranking each college is looking for. It helps your child to know if they have what it takes to be accepted.

 

[tvguy]

Here is a great resource from the high school my kids went to.

http://cbhs.ca.campusgrid.net/home/People+&+Places/Guidance+&+College+Counseling

However, you really are getting a late start, as there are a number of things you should have started doing during the freshman year.

 

[dakcp2001]

Do not choose a college based on desired major, most kids change their major several times. They need to visit a large school, med school, and small school and see where they feel comfortable and then focus the search. But I encourage you to go visit as many school as possible, sometimes you just know where you belong ( I did!)

 

[D L and K's Mom]

It is so hard!! DD is a sophmore. She went nuts trying to narrow the search. She ended up 6 miles from home but she lives on campus. The school guidence office was a big help. Dont forget to figure in living far away..is your child one who will be ok not coming home on long weekends and holidays. Also dont shy away from schools due to cost at first..DD is at a very expensive college but it ended up being cheaper for her to attend than our local state school. Private colleges have more $ to give for financial aide. Good luck it is a very hard thing to do,.

 

[laurafergie]

Do not choose a college based on desired major, most kids change their major several times. They need to visit a large school, med school, and small school and see where they feel comfortable and then focus the search. But I encourage you to go visit as many school as possible, sometimes you just know where you belong ( I did!)

Another vote for collegeboard to get started.

I totally agree with the PP - I have three in college. It is so important for them (not you) to feel comfortable and for the college to be a good fit. Is the campus urban or does it have beautiful grounds. Is the campus very liberal, conservative, religious, slanted to one race or another?

These are really important and have a lot to do with the quality of life your young person will experience in college.

And I can NOT stress enough - let your young person make / own ALL OF THE DECISIONS. Housing, classes, college life and college choice. You can guide them, (especially when it comes to finances) but this is the start of the rest of their life - they will be the ones that have to live with the results of the decisions.

 

[Deb & Bill]

My son is a senior and has gotten accepted at two of his schools so far. He picked an area that he was interested in, found the schools that offered the major he was interested in and started asking for information from the schools and perusing their websites.

This summer he and I took a road trip and visited six of his favorites. His location is far from where we live, so we flew to a central location and rented a car. Then we drove everyday and scheduled visits at each school. In nine days we covered 2200 miles. Then we drove back to our central location, spent the night and flew back home.

This was very worthwhile because the school that was at the top of his list moved down to the bottom. He spoke with advisors at each school, visited with the staff in the department he wants to major in, visited dorms and talked to lots of kids in his same position. We met one kid and his mom at two of our scheduled visits. They were on their way after the second one to the school we were hitting in two days. And the one we did first, they were planning on hitting in a couple of weeks.

My son goes to a college prep high school and the school counselors are real good with helping the parents prepare. They gave us a copy of Peterson's Competitive Colleges. Which was very helpful in narrowing down the choices. You probably can pick up a copy at Barnes and Noble or another bookstore.

Now we have to work on th FAFSA and scholarship applications.

And if you are looking at taking an ACT prep course, let me suggest the Ivy Insiders. The course my son took was taught by a college sophomore, almost junior, at Yale who was excellent.

 

[MELSMICE]

For us, we asked our DD's what they might be interested in. We then made sure we visited many different kinds of schools, small, large & those in between. We visited both state & private schools. We did not visit any out of state schools.

I also think that a very important part of the college process is making them take the lead in it. DH calls it "having ownership in the process". Most, although not all, kids don't take the lead, they'll follow your lead & wait until you start the process.

We sat down with our DD's & put a timeline together of when things had to be done. They had to do the research on the colleges to see if it was somewhere they wanted to visit & they had to make the appointments. They were also in charge of any follow up that was necessary for colleges they were interested in.

After they have narrowed down their choices, have them make a list of pros & cons to compare the schools they like.

 

[momoftwins]

my DD and DS just started 9th grade. What a ride the next 4 years are going to be! There is so much for us to do. It will be nice to have a place to come and share ideas.

 

[golfgal]

Another vote for collegeboard to get started.

I totally agree with the PP - I have three in college. It is so important for them (not you) to feel comfortable and for the college to be a good fit. Is the campus urban or does it have beautiful grounds. Is the campus very liberal, conservative, religious, slanted to one race or another?

These are really important and have a lot to do with the quality of life your young person will experience in college.

And I can NOT stress enough - let your young person make / own ALL OF THE DECISIONS. Housing, classes, college life and college choice. You can guide them, (especially when it comes to finances) but this is the start of the rest of their life - they will be the ones that have to live with the results of the decisions.

Everyone I know that went to school where mom or dad wanted them to go vs going where the kid wanted to go had dropped out.

 

[christineann]

College reps visit our high school and answer questions and hand out literature, including DVD's. My kids also requested college catalogs on line and narrowed their choices based on those to which schools they wanted to visit. We found the college tours (which are led by students) to be very informative. We also had lunch on campus to get a feel for what the students and faculty are like. If you can take a college tour during an open house weekend, you can get even more information and meet the professors, who will talk to your student about their departments and majors.

I think it's very important to visit colleges during the school year and definitely not on a holiday weekend, so your child can get a feel for what the campus is like. Visiting an empty campus is not representative of campus life (unless it's a "suitcase college"). If your child is a football, baseball or basketball fan, try to plan your trip on a date when there's a game.

I know parents who took their children to visit more than a dozen colleges. Many of the kids were not interested in going to see that many schools and said that their parents did it to have something to talk about at cocktail parties

 

[georgina]

Unlike a previous poster, my oldest 2 had very definite ideas of what they wanted for a major, and chose colleges accordingly. It doesn't make sense to go to a school that doesn't have what they think they want to major in. If they have no idea, then something with a large selection is a good idea.

We started looking at types of schools, size, locations, environment, majors, etc. We visited some in the summer because that was the only time we could go. DD did go back on accepted student visit days to check out her favorites. DS is a senior and has only visited 1 of the 3 he is applying to, but if he doesn't get into his first choice, we can visit the others. There are so many colleges it can seem overwhelming, you need to pick some criteria to narrow it down. Mine are within a 4 hour drive from home, which is nice.

 

[krcit]

My dd is starting 10th grade so I'm subbing also. Yikes

 

[tvguy]

DD went to a California State University her freshman year, didn't like being that far from home, and is at community college. The most shocked discovery is that only one of the 10 classes she took at the CSU will transfer. Other CSU's won't take them!! So that would be something I would look at just so you know, even if you don't think your child will change colleges midway through.

 

[christineann]

My kids did, too, georgina. One of the reasons my son chose his college was because of the strength of the department for his major, and he graduated with a job in his chosen profession in 2007. My daughter is a senior in college and chose her school on the strength of the department (and the scholarship offers helped, too).

With the expense of college tuition, I think it's a very good idea that a student have at least some idea what field he/she wants to go into. I told both of my kids that I wanted them to chose something they love that would also enable them to support themselves. I know a lot of kids who chose majors with no specific jobs in mind but that they could get a degree in, and they haven't fared so well in the job market. Focus!!!!