Where Should You Apply?: College Search

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With more than two thousand four-year colleges and universities in the United States, how can you find the ones that fit your criteria?

It is a good idea to  start with a “big book” that provides anecdotal and statistical information about a wide range of colleges. The annual Fiske Guide to Colleges is useful, although there are other good ones as well. The Fiske Guide is updated and published each August and contains data on more than three hundred colleges—size, selectivity, the characteristics of the freshman class, and so forth—as well as descriptive and anecdotal information about the academic and social life on campus. The authors have interviewed students on each campus and include representative comments that give you a feel for the campus beyond the numbers.

Having a copy (parents, this is a cue to you) lying on a table in front of the television or in the kitchen is a good way to get the college selection process going in a low-key way. Another helpful book along similar lines is the Insider’s Guide to the Colleges. The Insider’s Guide, published by staff at the Yale student newspaper, is a bit more irreverent than the Fiske, but it offers interesting additional anecdotal perspectives about colleges. It is best used as a supplement to the Fiske Guide, not as a substitute.

Although it can be fun to browse, the big book is most helpful as a reference when a specific college lands on your radar screen. Otherwise, it is a bit like trying to use a telephone directory to locate a restaurant if you are not searching for a specific one. You can spend a lot of time looking at listings before you find what you want. That’s why we recommend a key next step: talking to people who are in a good position to make suggestions. Once you get started, you can branch out using many other sources of information.

Start at Your Counseling Office

Your high school counseling office is the best place to begin your college search. Your counselor may be able to combine personal knowledge about a wide range of colleges with information about your academic record and preferences to help you generate an initial list of colleges to explore more fully. The more specific your preferences, the easier it will be for your counselor to help you. Counselors will know more about some colleges than others, of course. If you haven’t already built a relationship, this is a good time to start. Remember that your counselor will be preparing your secondary school reports, including writing a letter on your behalf to many colleges when you apply in the fall, so helping your counselor get to know you now will serve you well in the future. Wait till after Christmas vacation of your junior year, when your counselor is finished advising the seniors, and make an appointment to introduce yourself if you haven’t already been invited to do so. You want to give a face to your name even before you start to actively seek advice about college. Continue this contact as needed throughout the admissions process.

The initial list you’ll get from talking with your counselor is just a beginning. You’ll also want to talk with your parents, other family members, friends and classmates, and others who know you well and who may have suggestions. Don’t worry if your list is long at this point. You’ll have plenty of opportunities to narrow it down later.

Online Searches and Other Tools

Computer search tools can also help you identify potential colleges. Some high school guidance offices have software designed specifically to help students make college and career choices. There are also a number of free search programs online. The College Board Web site at www.collegeboard.com has a college search tool that will generate a list of possible colleges after you specify size, location, potential major, your GPA, your standardized test scores, and other factors. You can easily change your criteria and run the search again to get additional options. The U.S. Department of Education has a search tool called College Navigator that serves a similar function. Online searches are easy and fun to do. It’s worth trying several to see what schools they generate for you. Pay special attention to colleges that appear more than once—they may be particularly good matches.

Another helpful resource is a book called The College Finder by Steven Antonoff, a respected independent college counselor. The College Finder is essentially a book of lists that identifies strong programs in more than sixty-five majors—from international relations to business to marine science—across a wide range of colleges. It also contains other lists dealing with such topics as financial aid, sports, and different aspects of student life. Although lists like these are not exhaustive or infallible, they can help you begin to narrow what might otherwise be a bewildering number of possibilities. Some counselors find it a helpful reference themselves and may have a copy you can look at.

College Fairs

Attend a college fair in your junior year, if one is offered near you, and use it to learn about different colleges. Usually held in the fall or spring, college fairs typically have dozens and dozens of colleges that set up individual tables staffed by admissions representatives (or alumni representatives in some cases). A college fair can be a very efficient way to gather information and get some questions answered. You can discover unfamiliar colleges, as well as gather information about colleges already on your list. Sometimes, though, a fair can be a free-for-all with people crowding the tables of the most popular colleges. In this case, the best you can usually hope to do is to pick up some marketing literature and add your name to the mailing list. Less well-known colleges will be much more accessible at the fairs. Go right up, introduce yourself to the rep, and ask anything you want. Be active! They are there to serve you.

In addition to having representatives from many colleges, college fairs usually feature presentations on different aspects of the college admissions process with an opportunity for you to ask questions. They are free and open to the public, and parents are welcome too. Your high school counseling office will have information about dates and locations of fairs in your area. The National Association for College Admission Counseling also posts an up-to-date list of college fairs on its Web site, www.nacacnet.org.

College Representative Visits to Your High School

Try to attend at least a few of the visits that college representatives make to your high school. Between Labor Day and mid-November, admissions staff members travel to selected high schools to speak with interested students. Watch the schedule announced by your counseling office, and try to attend those of greatest interest—if you can take the time from class. It is fine to come even if you are just curious and know nothing previously about the college.

These sessions usually last about thirty to sixty minutes. The college admissions representative makes a short presentation and then answers questions. Representatives will typically do four or five of these over the course of a day, so they cannot spend a lot of time at one school. If you attend, your name will get on a list of students who have shown interest in the college, and you will receive mailings. When the groups are small, the admissions officer may jot down brief notes about the students in attendance for later reference. Participating in a high school visit is an easy way to show interest. More important, it can provide information to help you decide whether the college is a good fit. Prepare some questions in advance based on your interests. The visiting rep will frequently be the first reader of your file if you apply, so making a favorable impression at the visit, or even just showing your face, can be helpful later.

Occasionally, admissions representatives will conduct individual student interviews as part of the school visit, or perhaps on the nearest weekend. If you are already on the school’s mailing list, you should be notified of this. Don’t hesitate to ask.

The Visiting Road Show

A number of colleges sponsor regional events intended for parents and students in addition to, or in lieu of, high school visits. This allows them to reach more students than they can by just visiting high schools. These events typically include presentations from an admissions officer and young alumni, a slide show, and the opportunity to get printed materials and to ask questions. Students who have previously expressed an interest in the college by requesting material may get a special invitation, but the events are always open to all students, and they notify high schools in advance. They are usually held in the evening or on a weekend afternoon in a large meeting room at a hotel or other public place.

Sometimes colleges combine their efforts and offer a joint session. For example, Harvard University, Duke University, Georgetown University, Stanford University, and the University of Pennsylvania travel together across the country every year and hold a joint program called “Exploring College Options” in more than fifty cities. In this way, they draw more people than any one college would by itself. Some women’s colleges, including Wellesley College, Barnard College, and Smith College, have a similar series. Families hear a short presentation on each institution followed by a question-and-answer session. Even if you don’t ask questions yourself, you’ll benefit from hearing the answers to questions asked by others. Colleges usually put the schedule of their regional trips on the Web. It is worth checking college Web sites to see if colleges that interest you will be sponsoring a program near where you live.