Narrowing Your List

Although the Common Application and other online options have made it easier than ever to apply to colleges, there are at least two sound reasons not to go overboard on your final college list. One is that applications can be expensive. The other is that during the hectic senior-year fall, it is very hard to find time to polish essays, prepare for interviews, visit colleges, prepare for testing, collect recommendations, and all the rest of it. When you apply to a great many colleges, the quality of each individual application is likely to be diluted. In short, there's no magic number, but you should have good reasons for including each and every college on your final list. Many students who apply to a great many colleges wish in the end they had been choosier at the start!

The recent East Coast trend of 15-20 applications or more per student is one NOT to be emulated.

Excluding kids who were accepted Early Decision, here are College Street Counseling application numbers for the last few years.

Class of 2005: High 12, Low 6
Class of 2006: High 13, Low 5
Class of 2007: High 12, Low 4
Class of 2008: High 13, Low 3
Class of 2009: High 12, Low 4

Your list should include schools from a range of selectivity -- Likely, Realistic, and Reach. Click for more detailed guidance on assessing your chances of admissions at particular schools.

What do you want to study? What sort of learning environment are you seeking? What kind of social life do you envision? What extra-curricular activities do you plan to pursue? Do you want a rigorous and competitive academic program? Do you want to root for a major sports team? How important is affordability?

Think about what you are looking for, and then write a one-paragraph description of your ideal college. Which of your colleges come closest to your ideal?

College vary on so many different dimensions that it is easy to glaze over when comparing them. Think about which aspects of a college are most important to you -- aspects about which you have a strong opinion. The list below is a starting place, but the factors you choose must be especially significant for YOU. They might be very specific (e.g., art studio space, recreational opportunities, or competitive rowing team) or they might be very general (e.g., size, region, or competitive intensity, based on SAT, GPA, reputation, and acceptance rate).

Size
Type (liberal arts, university, specialty school)
Region
Setting (urban, rural, town)
Specific majors
Extra-curricular options
Social life
Study abroad
Learning support
Class size
Professor contact
Advising
Reputation
Affordability
Athletics

Student body character
Distance from home
Flexibility
Diversity
Weather
Sense of community
Gender balance
Academic rigor
Housing
Food
Weather
Political leaning
Special programs (internships, research)
School calendar
Atmosphere (traditional, experimental)

Click to link to a College Comparison Chart you can use to work with your chosen factors. At the head of each column write the name of the college you are considering. To the left of each row, write the name of the factor. Now give each school a rating of 1 to 5 on each factor, where 5 equals a "perfect fit for your ideal," and 1 is "not a fit."

Sometimes this is a complex decision. If you are interested in participating in drama, for instance, you might rate New York University's drama program as superior to Whitman's, but the likelihood that you can meaningfully participate in the program is much higher at Whitman than at NYU.

If certain factors turn out to be much more significant to you than others, you can weight your ratings. If all the colleges rate about the same on a given factor, look for a different one that differentiates them.

If you are not sure how to rate a college, do some research on the college’s website. See how your colleges fare in the comparison.

Is the highest-scoring college the one you believe to be the best fit for your needs, abilities, and interests? If not, ask yourself whether you are secretly valuing a factor (reputation often is a culprit here) that actually conflicts with others that may be more important. Click here for college myths to be aware of.

Chartmaking is a rather mechanical approach to a decision that will probably be based more on intuition, but it will at least get you to think about what is important to you and what each of your colleges has to offer. It also externalizes a lot of complex impressions you are carrying around in your head, and allows you to examine them more rationally.

You can also find interactive programs for comparing colleges on the College Board, Princeton Review, and Peterson's websites, although you may have to register with them (no charge).

If you find you cannot make meaningful comparisons among your choices, it probably means you have not done enough research. Read about your candidate colleges in guidebooks, research the colleges online (take a virtual tour, look at departmental and extra-curricular offerings that interest you, check out residental options, study abroad, and freshman orientation programs). Keep on researching until you have enough information to make an informed decision.

Make a Like/Dislike sheet for each college. Write the name of the college at the top and fold the paper in half. In the “Like” half, write down ALL the things that appeal to you about this college. In the “Dislike” half, write down ALL the things that concern you. If you find you have questions about issues of importance to you (like affordability), track down the data you need to help you make your judgment.

Pretend it’s summer and you are headed off to college in the fall. Look at each college’s course catalog and plan what courses you would actually take. This is something you will have to do eventually anyway, and it’s the core of the college experience. You should be excited about what is being offered! You can also explore other specifics—where you would live, what mode of transportation you would use to travel there, when school starts, what clubs you would join, and so on. Take notes on your findings.

Travel to colleges is not always possible for families because of financial or time constraints, but if it is, a personal visit is a great way to make up your mind. But be sure to stay long enough and explore deeply enough that your opinion won't be unduly swayed by sunny weather or a single cranky person. Ask LOTS of questions! Click for an extensive list of deeper questions to ask when you visit.

Sometimes it helps just to discuss your thoughts and choices with another person before you decide. Avoid narrowing your list on the basis of prestige, or whether your friends have heard of your colleges. Make up your own mind!

After you’ve thought, researched, discussed, and compared, you should trust your gut reaction – that indefinable spark of interest that lets you know when a college is the right fit for you. Sometimes there are multiple colleges that would work well. And that’s okay – it just shows you've chosen your list well.

No kidding. This is what my daughter resorted to on April 30th as she tried to choose between her two favorite colleges. But the truth is that she chose based on what emerged from #2, #4, #6, and #7. If the hat-drawing method had produced a different result, she would have dismissed it as a stupid way to pick a college!