Our regular readers know that we undertook a small flurry of college tours last fall as #1 Son entered his junior year of high school. The colleges were selected mostly because they were potential schools for him and were only an hour or two from home. Our goal was to give him a little insight into the range of college and university experiences available, in an effort to help formulate priorities and target the search — even as our house and his email account were being flooded with direct mail generated by last October’s PSATs. Parents, tutors and advisors added more possibilities to the pile. At one point, more than 30 schools were on the list – although we knew we would never visit them all.
We have been thrilled to find that the process of visiting a few schools, then taking a break to think more clearly about priorities, is actually working. In fact, #1 Son is rapidly narrowing his focus to colleges that will really match both his goals and his grades. Our strategy isn’t for everyone, but at the moment he hopes to limit applications to 7 or 8 schools that he feels are good matches, rather than applying to 10, 12 or even 15 as so many kids do nowadays. With luck, he’ll find two or three top choices, apply early action and be more or less done with the process by Christmas! Assuming we can figure out how to pay for it – but that is a story for a different day.
Narrowing the list: a process of elimination
While our early college visits focused mostly on larger schools, we have learned that access to professors, small class sizes that encourage interaction and lively discussion, and the opportunity to combine business and liberal arts studies are all going to be top priorities, as is on campus housing and an active tight knit campus community that stays around for the weekends. High profile sports and greek life are not of interest and (surprise) it is OK if the school is close to home.
As is typical for a 17-year-old, developing this set of priorities was mostly a process of elimination. Seeing a big campus with lecture halls that hold hundreds compared dramatically to his favorite high school classes where 25-30 kids are challenged to read, write and discuss the material critically every day. Similarly, a school that clearly focused much of its energy and social life around sports and frats wasn’t going to cut it either. The large urban school felt too transient. Early on the smaller schools with active campuses got his attention.
In theory, he could have come to these conclusions without ever setting foot on campus, but, he has found it much easier to visualize his future if he sees what the bricks and mortar on campus look like and has a chance to talk with students and spend time in classes. Each college really does have its own personality.
Armed with this more focused view, plus a realistic appraisal of grades and SAT scores, the list of colleges he wants to visit is narrowing rapidly. Look for updates and reviews over the next few months as we move on to the next phase of the process.
In the meantime, if you’ve got a teen on the college journey, think about doing a few exploratory visits nearby, then narrow the list before you hit the road on a grand scale. With some focus and advance research, when the teen does get to campus, he or she can be more focused in asking questions and more engaged in the tours and interviews. Plus, it will save a lot of time and gas (at $4 a gallon) and hopefully bring a measure of sanity to what can be a crazy process.
Are you going through a similar process with your teen? Please share your thoughts in the comments.
