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College Prep:�Creating a College List

LHS College & Career Center

College & Career Specialists: Becky Wachtman, Jillian Moss

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INTRO

Purpose of today’s session

When should my list be done?

Ideal: Final list by end of June
Minimal: Final list by end of summer

Agenda

Define your college fit
Researching colleges
Document your research
Finalize your list

[Jillian]

Hi everyone, we are Becky and Jillian, your College and Career Specialists.

Purpose of today’s session

You each have a copy of our College Application Overview and Tasklist. Today’s session is focused on the first checkbox, entitled “Create and Finalize your College List”
You should be here today, because you’re looking for advice on how to create or improve the list of colleges you’ll apply to
We’re here to help you move beyond college rankings and name recognition and focus on criteria that target the kind of environment you want to live and learn in.
How many of you have started your list?

When should my list be done?

Ideally: Final list by end of June - so you can get to work on your applications this summer
Minimal: Final college list by end of summer
Advice: This is one step of the college planning process you'll want to get right. The fewer colleges on your final list, the less work you're signing yourself up for!

Agenda

Define your college fit
How to research colleges
How to document your college research
Finalizing your list

Note: Hold questions until the end, we’ll do Q&A time permitting

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COLLEGE FIT

What is College Fit?

A school that is compatible with your personality and lifestyle

A school that meets your academic, social, financial, and other needs and interests.

A school that feels comfortable and feels like “you.”

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COLLEGE FIT

What is College Fit?

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COLLEGE FIT�QUESTIONS

Type of College: Public, private, religious, technical?
College Location: Geography & Weather
Type of City: Urban, Suburban, Rural
College Size: Ideal size of undergraduate class?
Major: What programs should it offer? Or, is it supportive of undecided majors?
Living: On campus or off? Type of dorms? Car?
Campus Life: Sports, programs, clubs, activities you want your school to offer?
Cost: Is cost a factor you need to consider?

[Jillian]

Each of you has a copy of our College Fit scorecard, which asks you some of the most common college fit questions. After this session, you should find some time to sit quietly, be introspective, and think about your personal answers to these questions. You can use this form to write down your answers and rate the importance of each question to you

Common College Fit Questions include:

Type of College: Public, private, religious, technical?
College Location: Geography & Weather
Type of City: Urban, Suburban, Rural
College Size: Ideal size of undergraduate class?
Major: What programs should it offer? Or, is it supportive of undecided majors?
Living: On campus or off? Type of dorms? Car?
Campus Life: Sports, programs, clubs, activities you want your school to offer?
Cost: Is cost a factor you need to consider?

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COLLEGE COST:�AN IMPORTANT�FACTOR

Know your budget upfront

Identify Net Price for each college

Colleges offer Net Price calculators:

https://collegecost.ed.gov/net-price

[Becky]

We just talked through a list of college fit questions, and we want to draw your attention to an important one: Cost

Know your budget upfront

Make sure you’re applying to colleges that cost what you’re willing to pay
Talk to your parents NOW about how much they’ll help (in actual numbers)
Don’t waste time applying to schools that cost more than your budget

Identify Net Price for each college on your list

Sticker price – A college’s published price (tuition, room and board)
Scholarships and Grants – money a college gives you that you don’t have to pay back
Net price – What you actually pay

Colleges offer Net Price calculators

Most colleges offer an online calculator to estimate the net price you'll pay to attend. The calculator tells you what students like you paid in previous years, after taking grants and scholarship aid into account.
These estimates provide important context for how your cost will differ between colleges.

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RESEARCHING COLLEGES

College Search Tools

College Search, by BigFuture

https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/college-search

College Navigator, by US Government

https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/

Xello

https://launchpad.classlink.com/issaquah

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RESEARCHING COLLEGES

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RESEARCHING COLLEGES

Common Data Set (CDS)

Benefit = All college data in one spot

Helps identify school selectivity

Good source of accepted student data
Acceptance rates, GPA ranges, test scores

Find CDS for a school with online search

e.g. "University of Washington Common Data Set 2023"

[Becky]

Once you have found a college that is a good fit for you, you might want to know more about that school than what online college searches offer

Benefit = all college data in one spot

Most schools have a Common Data Set document that contains a whole bunch of information about that college in one place.
Using the common data set to learn about a school can sometimes be faster than browsing through several pages on their website

Helps identify school selectivity

The common data set can be especially helpful in determining how selective a school is
You can easily see information about the students they accepted, so you know things like how many students they accepted, and what those students GPAs and test scores were

You can find a school’s common data set with a quick online search.

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RESEARCHING COLLEGES

Common Data Set (CDS)

e.g. University of Washington GPAs for 2023-2024

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RESEARCHING COLLEGES

Connect with Colleges

College Rep Visits in Liberty Library

Wednesdays, 9:30am, October/November

NACAC National College Fair

Oct 4 and 5, 2024, Seattle Convention Center

Visit Colleges (Virtual or In-person)

Small – UPS
Medium – Seattle University
Large – Western
X-Large – UW

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DOCUMENTING YOUR RESEARCH

Make a college spreadsheet

Template available on LHS CCC Website

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DOCUMENTING YOUR RESEARCH

Academic Match

Reach

Not likely to admit you, but it’s possible. Schools with low acceptance (<25%) are reach for everyone.

Target

Match your academic credentials and where you have a competitive chance of getting in.

Safety

High chance of getting admitted based on your academic profile.

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FINALIZE �YOUR �LIST

A high quality final list will be:

Balanced = 1-2 Safety, 1-2 Target, with some Reach

Financially Realistic = Schools you afford

Reasonably sized = No more than 4-8 schools

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RESOURCES

All links and documents are on our LHS College and Career Center Website:

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Questions?