Spark Admissions
The most important thing when building a college list is to remember that this is your college list. You may have heard names of different colleges from friends or family members, but this is about discovering what is important to you or your child academically and socially so that they can attend college in the right setting and reach their academic and career goals.
Starting to answer these questions will help you to think about your ideal college.
Once you’ve begun to answer those questions, try to rank the various factors in order of their importance to you. Maybe you absolutely must attend college in a big city, but you can be flexible about where in the country that city is located. Or maybe the college must offer a very specific academic program, but it doesn’t really matter to you if there’s tons of school spirit or not. Or maybe it is most important how close to home the college is.
You may not know yet how much you value each of these factors and what is important to you, but a college visit will help demystify this for you. As you start visiting schools and thinking more about these questions, you will figure this out over time. And, if you feel overwhelmed by all of these questions, that is normal. This can be a stressful process even for excellent students. If you are feeling stressed about creating a balanced college list, please schedule a free initial consultation with a Spark Admissions college consultant.
This step is important because you don’t want too many colleges on your list where you might not be able to gain admission. Most schools require students to have a certain GPA, and some have an expected SAT/ACT score as well. Additionally, higher ranked colleges expect you to have a very deep resume and academic profile that you have built throughout high school. The best colleges are looking for a lot more than just grades and test scores.
You can ask your guidance counselor at school if they can help you make a balanced list, or you can work with a private admissions consultant (schedule a free consultation with Spark Admissions). Working with a private admissions consultant will allow you to better understand not only which schools may be in range for you, but also what more you can do to improve your chances at “hard to reach” schools.
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If you don’t have outside help or want to start looking for colleges on your own, start researching colleges and universities, taking note of any schools that meet your goals, particularly if they also check off a lot of your nice-to-have boxes, too. Some great resources for conducting that research include: U.S. News and World Report, Niche, and the latest edition of the Fiske Guide to Colleges.
At this point, you may have a very long list of possible schools to consider. Now you’ll want to do a deeper dive into these options. Sign up for online information sessions at the top colleges in which you are interested. If you can’t visit colleges in person, you can go on virtual college tours. Talk to friends and acquaintances who attend or have attended the colleges on your list. Speak with admissions representatives at college fairs or call the admissions offices at these colleges. Spend lots of time on college websites, as they have so much information.
As you research, remove any schools from your list that you lose interest in, and add any that get mentioned as good fits for you that you might not have considered before.
Once you have the list down to 15-20 schools, you’ll want to make sure that you’ve amassed a mix of schools, including both reaches and safeties. College admissions consultants can help you determine those categorizations as accurately as possible, but you can also ask your guidance counselor or use acceptance rates and other data to make your own estimates. Particularly if you feel like you don’t have enough “safe” options, do some digging into schools that are less competitive to find one or two more that will fit your needs and excite you.
We generally recommend that you apply to about 10 colleges: 4 Reaches, 4 Targets and 2 Safeties. Make sure you are being realistic about these categories and ask for help if you’re not sure. Finalize the list by cutting it down to a reasonable number of applications, while still maintaining a good mix of reach, target, and likely options. Keep in mind that for every school, you may have to fill out an application form, write one or potentially several essays, submit a transcript, your test scores and letters of recommendation, participate in interviews, and more. So, you want to keep the overall number of college applications manageable, given how busy and stressful your senior year can be. Also, each application costs roughly $50 to $85 to submit. If you believe you may qualify for a fee waiver, ask your guidance counselor for assistance.
We recommend putting the longer version of your college list together at the end of your sophomore year or beginning of your junior year. Then you can use the following school year to explore your options and produce a narrower, more focused list by the end of eleventh grade. You will also know by the end of junior year where your grades stand, how you performed on standardized testing, and how strong of a resume you have developed during high school.
If you are overwhelmed and would like some help, please set up an initial consultation with Spark Admissions.
Work with Spark Admissions to get into your dream school by scheduling a free initial consultation!
Our College Visit Rating Chart is designed to help you evaluate and compare colleges during campus visits allowing you to rate each aspect to make informed decisions about your choices.
