START YOUR COLLEGE SEARCH HERE

If you have not read any of the articles in the Getting Started section of our College Connection page, it would be wise to do so. Especially, read: A Winning Path to College Admission.

As you start on your college search it is important to know what you are trying to accomplish. You are trying to go to a college that fits you. That is, you are trying to match up these things:

  1. Who YOU are and what you personally want in a college experience
  2. Your Academic Skills and Record in high school
  3. Your Test Scores
  4. College Selectivity

As you think about and learn what you want, you will create a list of colleges that will expand and contract. In the end you want to apply to several schools that match who you are and what you want. A few reach schools, a few probable schools and a few safety schools has been a successful formula for a long time. Be sure the list has at least two colleges that you know and like and that WILL accept you.

DON'T FORGET! This is a process that can be both confronting and joyful. Because these are competitive times and the process is filled with uncertainty, too many people focus on worry. We live in abundance and if you really want to …you can go to college! Enjoy the college search.


IT STARTS WITH YOU

If you have not done any thinking about what you are looking for in the college experience, it will help you immensely to look at these first:

Don't just look for famous and name schools. Not only might famous schools be exceedingly difficult to get into, they may not match what you want in a college experience. Many people are in name schools and are miserable because the schools are inappropriate fits.


COLLEGE SELECTIVITY

This is one of the trickiest parts of the process. As you start to hone in on a few schools, how can you tell if you can get in?

The GUIDE BOOKS will give you general acceptance percentages: how many applied; how many got in. This can be deceiving because an important factor is left out: who were the kids who applied? A hint to the academic level is in the SAT range of accepted students: both Fiske and Princeton Review give the middle 50% SAT and ACT range.

FRESHMAN PROFILES

In recent years, as the web has evolved, many colleges are providing great information about who applied and who got in. These pages are usually found in the admission sections of the individual college sites. If you start to get interested in a college, be SURE to find the profile (if they have one) so you can get a sense of who is applying and who is getting in. In the Admission and Applications section of our College Connection page, we provide links to several schools so you can see what types of information they offer.


There are several sources of information to get you going on your college search.

  1. Your Counseling/ College Center
  2. Search Engines on the web
  3. Web sites that will help you find different types of colleges
  4. Individual college web sites
  5. Books: We recommend a couple of the comprehensive books, but check these books out carefully (in your College Center or at your bookstore) before you spend a bunch of money.

 

Bill Ames — Ames Seminars