Over the last few weeks, we've introduced you to a number of college admissions counselors on the College Coach team. Today we take a break from that format to share something different: an email correspondence between Becky Leichtling and Ian Fisher on their educational backgrounds, college search processes, and thoughts on small liberal arts colleges. We hope you enjoy following along and maybe asking a few questions of your own in the comments below!
Last week, I had a parent ask me what the best resource was for determining the best engineering college in the southeastern United States. This is a difficult question to answer. I used to be the person in the admissions office that provided data to the ratings agency, and I distrust ratings in general. I think they are really good at collecting information that you don’t really need and then creating a system that has solid data but doesn’t answer the question that matters to you. Note that there are excellent schools, like Reed College, that don’t participate in the ratings. Does that mean you won’t consider it? When you throw in the fact that places including Claremont McKenna College, Bucknell University, George Washington University, Iona College, and Tulane University’s business school have been charged with cheating the ratings by cooking their books, the picture gets even murkier.
“Where do you want to go to college?” is a simple question on the surface. But for most high school students, it’s one that is fraught with anxiety and can raise more questions than answers. Sure, there is an easy, simple answer for a few students: that one dream school they’ve set their sights on for years. For most though, the decision about where to spend your college years is the first big decision of your life, and one with lots of angles, perspectives and unknowns. In my 11 years as an educator with College Coach, I’ve spent countless hours in conversation with students and their parents helping them to answer this one question: how do they find the place that is the best “fit” for their interests, talents, and aspirations.
As a college admissions consultant, I always encourage students to succeed at the highest level in both their classes and on the standardized tests required for acceptance at most colleges. But given that success is measured differently for every student, I want to provide some guidance for those who have a mid-range or lower GPA.
Milwaukee doesn’t have a hospitable winter climate, and the arena was a mile away from our dorm. Didn’t matter. The team was just above .500. Didn’t matter. Games were often on weeknights, with tests and papers due the next day. Didn’t matter. We painted our faces, donned our gold (under multiple layers of fleece and thermals), and made the trip – usually on foot, even though there were shuttles available – yelling the whole way. Men’s basketball was a unifying factor on campus, part of the reason I picked my school, and the source of some of my fondest undergrad memories.
It’s Ski Week here in California, and many of my juniors are taking advantage of their vacation to visit colleges. A lot of students prioritize distance from home when making their college list; either they want to stay within a close drive, or they are chomping at the bit to get as far away as possible! Especially with students who have a strong opinion about location, I ask them to back up for a bit before I suggest colleges to visit. What’s really behind that desire to stay close, or to go far?
When I begin talking with families about a college list, many parents lead the conversation with the question, “How do we choose the right college if my child is undecided about what major she wants to study?” I tell these parents that for at least 80 percent of students, major shouldn’t be a main driver in where they pick a college. Why?
As the calendar turned from 2013 to 2014, a new wave of juniors around the country began to feel the college application process accelerate. In addition to looming deadlines, many high school juniors are stressing about how to pick a college that suits their needs. This year, your junior will write all of his essays and all the drafts that go with it. He’ll sit for an SAT or two, or three. He will build his college list from scratch, narrow down his choices, add a handful of new schools at the last minute, eliminate some old favorites, and finally settle on his ideal list. You’ll find yourself on school campuses here and there, taking notes on tour guides, critiquing their grace as they introduce you to their school while gesturing wildly at campus monuments and walking backwards. In one year, the majority of the application process will be over, whether it’s handled flawlessly or imperfectly. But there are a few things you can do to help save some stress around your household.
In part one of our two-part series, we discussed three significant factors on which schools are graded by the US News and World Report in their annual college rankings. Today, we pick up where we left off, covering each of the three categories that have the least impact on USNWR rankings before tackling the biggest and most problematic factor in their methodology.
The annual college rankings from US News and World Report (USNWR) were released this week in the wake of an announcement about subtle new changes to the magazine’s methodology. For better or worse, these rankings inspire a great deal of conversation about the quality of American higher education, and influence big choices made by students and their families. We’re here to break down that methodology in order to help students and families determine what to tune out, and what to turn up.
College Coach experts, all former senior admissions and financial aid officers, are available to work privately with your student to achieve admissions success.
