Every year, we hear kids tell us they want to go to Harvard, Yale, Princeton, USC, UCLA, Stanford, and many more top tier schools. We hear it over and over again. After a student rambles off a list of schools they plan to attend. We then quietly ask the student why they have chosen these schools on there list. Usually, the student stops a moment, looks around the room, and then in a blank stare states in one way or another "that it is a good school", "it has a great football team", " my parents went there", or better yet, they have no specific reason as to how they came up with their list.
Colleges today, want to know WHY you are applying. Are you impressed by their world-famous architectural and fine art program? Have you researched their well-known Biology department? Have you connected the dots with their abroad programs? Legacy counts, but not like it used to.
Most of the time, students with particular interests do themselves a very big disservice by not bothering to check out all the schools available to them, and then look to see if in fact the schools on their list match their academic interests ( and beyond).
What do we mean by this? Let's say you like interior design. You want to apply to a school such as the University of San Diego because of its beauty, but it does not offer anything in interior design---- the school can not meet your needs, and you will get a reject letter rather quickly. Perhaps you are looking into being an Language Major with a minor in ancient history. If you don't do the research properly, you most likely will miss a school that ends up being top in the country in that particular area.
What do we mean by this? Let's say you like interior design. You want to apply to a school such as the University of San Diego because of its beauty, but it does not offer anything in interior design---- the school can not meet your needs, and you will get a reject letter rather quickly. Perhaps you are looking into being an Language Major with a minor in ancient history. If you don't do the research properly, you most likely will miss a school that ends up being top in the country in that particular area.
If you are choosing a college solely based on its overall US News and World Report ranking you might find that this is very often misleading. Many students do do this, and then the problems begin! Sure, US News has spent a lot of time devising a precise formula for what they believe are the most important factors on which to evaluate a school, but schools pay services like the college board and US News to keep them in top tier positions.
Publications like the US News or College Board, use a formula that is used by these types of publications that “uses quantitative measures that education experts have proposed as reliable indicators of academic quality, and it's based on [their] researched view of what matters in education.” This formula when applied separates colleges by their mission and region. It then evaluates them on sixteen indicators of academic excellence, including assessment by administrators at peer institutions, retention of students, faculty resources, student selectivity, financial resources, and alumni giving.
Therefore, while a school may rank high on its scores in each category, one issue that will not be important to you as an entering freshman is whether or not alumni give to the school, nor is it likely to tell you whether that school has a fabulous planetary science program, with the most distinguished professor in the country in the area of Martian cratering studies.
If you are a student who might be interested in the sciences and engineering, you might originally be gung-ho and even dead set on attending Harvard, MIT, or Princeton. However, by not exploring all options available to you, or by not keeping an open mind about the schools they you are applying to, you might not realize that the number one ranked school in the country at the moment is actually the California Institute of Technology, and that the selection of students is different than that of other similar schools. (The weather is also nicer all year round too.) You will miss out on an amazing school with a unique campus!
How do you decide on which schools might meet your needs? There are several places to initially search, and a consultant can often focus you in the right direction much faster. It is often helpful to consult the graduate rankings in a publication like US News and World Report, keeping in mind that sometimes graduate programs and faculty are separate from the undergraduate, sometimes shared.
What you have to keep in mind is that once you have that list of schools which are of interest to you, look through their web sites, marketing packages they send to you, their course guides and other published information to see if the schools you are considering are in fact strong in your area(s) of interest, and make notes.... then start to reduce your list. Take a tour of the school, and visit the dorms, the food courts, and libraries. Visiting a school is very valuable to your decision. See how it feels to you... you will know rather quickly as you tour different schools. A good consultant can assist you will all of your needs and questions.
Make an INFORMED decision about where you are applying and why. If you feel you need help in making your college choices, developing your essays or brag sheets, or planning out your program to prepare yourself for college applications or to make a transfer to another school, contact us for assistance. THIS IS YOUR 4 YEARS!
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