Tips for Building a Balanced College List

Creating the College list is sometimes a family’s first step, but rather than put the Colleges at the center of this process, a more helpful approach is to put your child, and their hopes and visions at the center of the process. Considering things like program, place, size, culture, setting, teaching style, social vibe - all help to set the tone with your child that there isn’t just one “Dream U”. Rather, they are in charge of their “Dream Experience”. Letting families feel in the driver’s seat (you are!) is the perfect way to begin the process with a little less angst.?

Once your child has reflected deeply on what they’d wish for in their college experience, the next step — and perhaps THE most important piece of the application process, is formulating a balanced college list. Junior year is the ideal time to start, as it will leave you time to research, visit campuses, and eliminate schools that may not appeal to you as much as you originally thought.

Here’s how juniors can begin to refine and polish their balanced college lists.

Research, Research, Research!

It’s hard to give our kiddos more homework, but the time they invest in truly understanding a school will not only help them shape a list that they’re excited about, it will also be invaluable insight when it comes time to write their school specific essays (save all the notes!). I like to create a spreadsheet with school stats (Admit rate, size, setting) and then include the student’s priorities from the exercise above (ex: my oldest son wanted to be within 1-2 hours of a ski mountain . . . so helpful!).?

Some great resources:?

The Fiske Book - a must have!: Link to Purchase on Amazon $16.99 . (more to come on making the most out of this guide)

Niche: Find the School that Fits You Best

College Rover: Search, Filter & Compare Colleges

CampusReel - videos shot by real students “A Day in the Life”

Critical: be sure to “Request Information” using the student’s personal email and consider following colleges on social media to demonstrate interest, which is important when it comes time to apply.?

Brands are Perception, Not Reality?

It’s hard to park our perceptions of Colleges based on their selectivity but it’s important to reflect on what type of environment your child would thrive in. Rankings that consistently tell you that ‘Brand Name U’ is/are THE best colleges don’t know your unique child and what/how they’d like to study (these exact rankings published Green Bay Wisconsin as the #1 place to live in the US . . . I’m certainly not rushing out to book the moving van).?

As much as possible, try to avoid using acceptance rates as a proxy for a quality education - and carefully guard the language and feelings that we might ooze around our children about what we consider a ‘good’ school.?

Deciding to Visit

It’s not always possible to visit every school on a list, but a visit is often one of the best ways to fall in, or out of love with a school - seeing beyond marketing information it puts forward on paper. The reason I love the Fiske guide so much: it’s the ONLY consumer focused and honest account of what it’s like to be a student at a particular school.?

Before booking travel:?

1. Have your child read the 1-2 page summary in the Fiske guide and ask themselves if it sounds appealing.?
2. Ask them to review a CampusReel video shot by a real student walking through a day in their life.
3. Nudge them (beg them!) to go to the school’s website and look up their intended major and poke around to see if the program is robust. And always remind them to request info!!???

The Nuts & Bolts of Selectivity:?

Ideally your child’s College list includes:?

• 2-3 aspirational schools where they are qualified*, but might fall in the middle or slightly below the profile of accepted students.?
• 2-3 target schools where they fall in the upper 50% of the profile of accepted students.?
• 3-4 likely schools where they fall in the upper 25% of the accepted student profile.?

* How do I know if my student is qualified?? One of the best ways to understand where your child’s profile fits, is to review the software platform that their high school uses. Most schools use either Naviance or SCOIR to track acceptance rates for their own students. You’ll see a scattergram that includes your child’s profile and will help you understand how successful students with similar academic achievements have been at that particular college from your child’s high school.?

Example of a SCOIR scattergram: as you can see, this student (the purple star) appears very qualified for Providence College. We would consider this school “likely” on their list. Note that it’s important to filter the years to only the most recent years as admissions trends change dramatically and quickly.?

By comparison, below is the Scattergram from Duke University, showing the student’s profile as well below the typical accepted profile. For a suggested ‘Reach’ school, ideally the student would fall between the 25-50th percentile of accepted students. Green acceptances that are outliers tend to be college priorities (they may be recruited athletes, musicians etc).?

Rejection is really hard: It’s much easier to use these data points to make decisions BEFORE applying to schools where the student might be deemed less qualified. Getting rejected doesn’t feel good, and applying to schools beyond their profile sets your child up for a painful and bumpy Senior year.??

Is GPA really that important??

Your child’s grades and rigor (advanced class choices) are the first indicator that a student can handle the pace of a particular college (schools want to see you thrive academically, and graduate!). But don’t stress, there are thousands of Colleges in the US, and a good academic fit exists for ALL students. After a College determines an applicant is qualified, THEN they’ll consider all of the other wonderful talents, storytelling through essays and your impact on your community. A great essay and extracurriculars won’t get you admitted to Stanford if you’re not a qualified academic candidate.?

I’d love to leave you with a few reassurances. Most schools accept most students. The National Average acceptance rate is 68% (we don’t hear that in the headlines!). If your child wants to go to College, there will be a place for them.?

I hope this has been helpful! My mission in this process is to bring more confidence and less stress for my families. If you'd value a free consultation to talk about your child's path forward, you can book that HERE

Kerry Roberts // [email protected] ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

Sources: Ivywise.com , SCOIR?