Why You Need to Get Clear on Your College Vision Before You Build Your List
For high school juniors, the pressure is mounting to build your college list and for sophomores, you are probably starting to think about college and what steps you should be taking now.
Maybe you’ve started exploring colleges and maybe you even have a couple of colleges that you think you’ll apply to…
Maybe you’ve even jumped onto a couple of the college search tools like College Board’s Big Future or Naviance to click on a few of the colleges that sounded familiar to you...
Maybe you glanced through the annual college rankings put out by US News and set your sights on one or more highly selective colleges...
Wherever you are in your list-building process, I want you to hit the “pause” button and consider if you have a clear vision of what a great college means to you.
Have you thought through what you hope to experience while at college and the type of learning environment that matches your strengths and will provide you the opportunity to thrive?
What about campus culture?
Do you want to participate in work-based learning experiences through structured research, internship, or co-op opportunities?
There are hundreds of amazing colleges out there but, they are all amazing in their own unique way. A school that is a great fit for your friend or neighbor could be a poor match for you. That’s because what makes a college a great school for you is determined by what YOU want out of YOUR college experience!
So the question becomes, how do I figure out what I want out of my college experience? These are the steps I recommend to build a great college list:
STEP 1: EXPLORE AND LEARN
Learn about all of the possibilities out there by exploring a variety of colleges. Spend time researching colleges that are big and small, research universities and liberal arts colleges, public and private, urban and rural. Take note of the specialized programming they offer and where they place their institutional priorities.
STEP 2: CREATE YOUR VISION
Decide what experiences and environments are most important for you and begin to develop a clear vision of what your “ideal college experience” looks like. Create a concrete vision including characteristics and priorities.
STEP 3: BUILD YOUR LIST
Take the vision you have developed and begin to build your college list. Plug the priorities and college vision characteristics into one of the college search tools (like College Board’s Big Future) to begin developing your list. Start with a broad list of 20-30 colleges that meet your key college search criteria.
STEP 4: NARROW AND REFINE YOUR LIST
Use a tool like College Navigator to help you gather data to help you narrow and refine your list. Ideally, your final list will include 6-12 colleges that match both your key college criteria AND your academic profile.
The biggest mistake I observe is when students try to start with one of the college search tools without knowing what they want. While there is A LOT of information available, not having a clear process to follow can easily lead to feeling frustrated and overwhelmed. That is why I developed the College List Building Blueprint, a 6-week course to walk students step-by-step through the entire exploration and list-building process.