The Definitive Guide to College Selection - An Overview
Level 2 - Admissions 101
Welcome!
Today we are going to start a long series devoted to one thing - developing a list of colleges and universities to apply to.
This is THE definitive guide that you will need to be able to build a list of colleges and universities to apply to. Although it will be focused on undergraduate, it can be applied to graduate school (though we will likely write something just for this in detail later).
Before we get started, let’s focus on the important things.
Why is selection important?
College selection is arguably the most important aspect of the college admissions process.
When we mention college selection, we mean the actual process of choosing the colleges that you will apply to.
The problem most people have is that they fail to select the right colleges to apply to. That has catastrophic consequences:
Suboptimal college outcomes
Outright rejection
Increased likelihood to transfer schools
Not finishing college
Graduating with unintended degrees
Year after year, we get messages from families where they applied to 5 schools and are rejected from all of the schools.
This does not happen based on chance or unfairness - it happens because families fail to understand how to actually select colleges to apply to.
We cannot stress the importance of selection - you have to choose the right schools or you are setting yourself up for a poor outcome.
Why is selection so difficult?
For the most part, families tend to view college selection through a singular lens. When we say that, we mean that parents or students will view it based on a single factor:
Cost
Alumni
Sports
Proximity to Home
None of these factors individually are problematic. In fact, they can even be useful in helping manage the selection process.
But the problem with single views is that they lead to incomplete analysis. For example, if cost is the only analysis you choose, you ignore how strong the academics are, or if the academic programs are actually useful in your given field.
So now that we know what can go wrong and why it often goes wrong, the question is, how do you actually select colleges?
The Selection Process
The first thing to note about selecting colleges is that there are hundreds of different variables and criteria to use to select a college.
It is impossible to go through all of those different criteria. For example, we have worked with applicants where a college’s position on sustainability was one of the top criteria for selection. That is not typical.
Criteria can also carry different weight for different applicants. For some families we work with, cost is irrelevant and prestige is everything. For others, cost is the biggest determinant. You will have to work through the individual weight assigned to each item based on your own situation.
Our selection process is grounded in quantitative analysis - meaning that we are focused on how to quantify things that matter.
Focusing on quantifying various selection criteria makes it easier to follow - colleges that are scoring higher are probably better options than those that score lower.
But that does not mean there is no place for subjective analysis. In fact, the subjective step is arguably more important. But we start with the quantifiable because it eliminates the chances of a biased decision.
In other words, it is like a diet strategy. Sure, you can make good choices even if there is cake in the house, but it is a lot easier to stick to the diet if you only surround yourself with healthy choices. You cannot eat what you do not have.
In a similar way, if you run an analysis on various schools, you reduce the chance you will actually select the wrong schools for the application process.
Finally, the selection process is designed to be refined. That means that although you may generate a list of schools initially, your feedback and progression through life should refine the list.
For example, you may not rate the location of a school that highly as a factor. But over time, as you visit colleges and get to know yourself, you may find that location matters more. This happens all the time - a student thinks they want to be in the city, visits a college like NYU, and then realizes that there is such a thing as too urban of an environment.
That applicant then goes back and refines the list to remove colleges in an urban environment. Or perhaps they realize that proximity to home really matters, and they emphasize attending a college within 100 miles of home.
Each time you gain an insight, you have to modify your selection criteria and then reassess your options.
A bit of caution though - the selection model is designed to help you figure out the kind of school you should be looking for, not the specific school.
This reflects our core belief - you should let the process guide you to your intended college, not a college guide your process.
When students let a college guide their process, they answer questions and reflect on everything relative to a single university. That can be extremely problematic - everything becomes about getting into one school, and success is binary - either you get in or you do not.
But when you let the process take you, it inherently sets you up for success. Don’t have strong SATs? No problem, the colleges you select will not value standardized testing that strongly. Want to go to colleges with strong sports programs? You can inherently eliminate colleges that will not fit that social need.
That helps when you have to make difficult decisions to cut colleges that do not meet your criteria. That can hurt, but is it not better to know the college will not meet your expectations?
If you use this guide, you will know EXACTLY the type of colleges you need to include in your selection list. While we will not guarantee admission to any school, the process is designed to optimize your chances at acceptances.