Enjoy the Fruits of Your Labor
We moved four years ago, and the house we bought has several flower beds. I have gotten the gardening bug. I like that it gets the dogs and me out of the house early every morning to water and see how everything is doing. I joined our town’s Facebook page for gardeners, and I enjoy the constant stream of fresh flowers in the house. We also inherited a vegetable garden. Long story short, the veggie garden needed an overhaul this year. We put in a new fence, brought in new soil, spent hours and hours of sweaty physical labor, and so far, we have produced four beautiful small strawberries! Ok, I know it is a bit much to do all of that work for four little berries of sweetness, but hopefully, this summer, we will have lots of fruits of our labor. The gardens are beautiful to look at, and a LOT of hard work. Two small things have made a big difference to our efforts. First was a small metal rake perfect for organizing all the new soil. It was shocking how long it took me with a shovel and how much I sweat trying to comb it all with our old plastic rake.
The next life-changing tool was a special nozzle for our hose. It popped up on social media as one of those must-have deals. I usually ignore them, but I had just come in from hours of watering, and my hand hurt from holding my thumb on the end of the hose. Amazon Prime to the rescue. Watering now takes me half the time it did before, and my hand and arm aches are gone. The past few weeks reminded me how much we need the right tools for any job. And because my mind is never that far from my students and the college process, I wanted to discuss the right tools for good college research and list building.
There are almost 4,000 colleges and universities in this country alone. It is essential to keep an open mind as there are so many wonderful schools you might never have heard mentioned. To start, I like to tell students to visit an example of different types of schools.
A large public university
A smaller private college
A mid-size university
For this first exercise, I do not want anyone to spend money but just visit what is close to where they live. For example, if you are a Connecticut resident, I might start by visiting the University of Connecticut, Connecticut College, and Quinnipiac University. Seeing these three different schools will give you a feel for the many factors that are important to you in the next phase of your college search.
Before researching specific schools, consider what appeals to you for college.
Do you want to be close or far away from home?
Do you want a specific type of weather or area of the country?
Do you want a particular major or area of study?
Do you want an urban, suburban, or rural campus?
Do you want a school with big games and lots of school spirit?
Do you prefer Greek life, or would you rather attend lots of cultural events?
What activities do you want to partake in at school?
Do you want to be near off-campus stores or restaurants?
Do you want students that are competitive or collaborative?
Do you want an intense environment or a more relaxed one?
How do you feel about a core curriculum or distribution requirements?
Do you want a lot of diversity, racially, geographically, socioeconomically, religious, etc.?
Are opportunities for job experience/internships significant?
What about study abroad options?
Do you want a school with a great sense of community?
Do you want relationships with your professors? Small or big classes?
Do you need/want a school that provides extra academic support?
Do you want a politically involved student body? Liberal or conservative?
Now that you have some idea of what you might want for yourself, it is time to talk about your college tuition budget as a family. The best way to do this is to figure out what your Student Aid Index (the new FAFSA terms for Expected Family Contribution) would be according to the FAFSA-based Federal Methodology (FM) and the CSS-based Institutional Methodology (IM). More on this for another time, as it is quite complicated, especially this year as we are transitioning to a new FAFSA. For now, families should come up with a budget of what they can afford/want to spend and run net price calculators for all colleges they are interested in. They should also check out this fantastic chart by Big J Consulting that gives us stats on merit and need-based aid for many colleges.
Once you have an idea of what you might find important in a college and have a rough college budget, a great place to start your college search is College Navigator. Use the “more search” options button to create more school selection parameters. There are many different ways to search, so you need to play around with this site. You can search by Geography, Major, Type of degree and Institution, Undergraduate Student Enrollment, Tuition, Campus setting, % of applicants admitted, Test Scores, Varsity Athletic teams, Religious Affiliation, and more. Once you have a basic list, let’s discuss other places I like to do more research from here.
First is The Fiske Guide to Colleges. You can get the new 2023 version from Amazon, or if you prefer, you can get an e-book version. This book is a great way to get a quick 5-10 min feel for a college.
Next, I would suggest going to sites like Induck. Induck is a student-focused college guide providing a "detailed rendition of what happens socially, how different types of students navigate the social scene, and how they feel about it." Social fit is very important, and not finding the right social fit is the leading cause of why students choose to transfer.
I also really like Campusreel, which is free to join. Check out 15,000 real videos, tours, and experiences from 300+ college campuses. Use them for further research on any school that excites you.
After these three sites, you should have narrowed down your college list to a broad list of approximately 25 colleges or less. This is your first broad list. Your final college list should probably get narrowed down to between 10-14 schools that are a mix of chances of getting admitted and staggered decision dates. To narrow your list, you need to visit in person, if feasible, or virtually. You should take campus tours and attend information sessions. This is the MOST IMPORTANT way to learn about a college. If you have any questions, reach out to your regional admissions representative. Each school assigns an admissions representative to your area of the country or, specifically, to your high school. You should find this on the Admissions tab of each school’s website. Obviously, you do not want to be annoying and contact your representative a lot, but asking a couple of thoughtful questions about a school is an excellent way to gain better insight and show a school good demonstrated interest.
One last critical point about college list building. This is not about finding the hardest schools to get into or the most prestigious schools. It is about finding the best academic, social, and financial “fit” list for you. Schools that you will be proud to attend, that your family will be happy to invest in, and, moreover, one where you will be successful. List building is part art and part science. There is no way to generalize it for all, but there is one vital thing to remember, ENJOY this. Thinking about where you might want to attend college should be fun.