- Nov 6, 2019
- 92
- 18
What tools do your daughters use to research colleges? My daughter has a few she like from just being a fan of the school, but no real knowledge of what they are like.
Researching colleges
- Thread starter wconn1979
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- May 27, 2013
- 2,385
- 113
Is she is HS yet? If so, does her school use Cialfo or Naviance? Those tools help, as well.
I use College Board and Naviance with my clients. In the real world, I do financial aid and college planning for my clients, so I find both of those sites to have good selector tools.
Naviance tends to be more detailed than College Board, so some get intimidated by the number of questions and stick with College Board. Naviance is good because it populates the student's grades and compares them to other students who've applied there from your school.
An example of questions they'll ask are:
1) Size of school
2) Geographic location
3) Urban, Suburban, Rural setting.
4) College major.
5) Affordability and aid.
6) Sports.
All of these tools can only go so far. Every year, I have clients whose sons or daughter do exhaustive research on colleges, visit several times, go away in August, and are transferring in December. Heck, I usually get one or two who come home within a week or two.
Good luck with your search.
Naviance tends to be more detailed than College Board, so some get intimidated by the number of questions and stick with College Board. Naviance is good because it populates the student's grades and compares them to other students who've applied there from your school.
An example of questions they'll ask are:
1) Size of school
2) Geographic location
3) Urban, Suburban, Rural setting.
4) College major.
5) Affordability and aid.
6) Sports.
All of these tools can only go so far. Every year, I have clients whose sons or daughter do exhaustive research on colleges, visit several times, go away in August, and are transferring in December. Heck, I usually get one or two who come home within a week or two.
Good luck with your search.
Use all the tools that are available. See if these schools have a sub reddit. You will find college students posting on these boards that will give you insight into the school that you would not otherwise be able to find. Note: There will be a introverted slant to these posts given the population that frequent these boards.
- Mar 8, 2016
- 315
- 63
I am sure all of those are really good tips. For my dd when it came time to visit schools she crossed some off the list without getting out of the car. She crossed one off because the food was bad (even the coach admitted it, not sure why she had her eat a meal with the team). She visited the school she is at now and fell in love in 5 minutes and never wanted to go to another school again. I always said I couldn't understand the mind of a 16 year old girl when I was a 16 year old boy and I haven't gotten any better.
It is tough to pick schools when softball is involved. You are asking 14-17 year old girls who are living text message to text message what they want to do for the rest of their life.
I know I didn't provide any resources but there are a lot of things that go into the decision. I was not in favor of the school dd chose for a number of reasons but it has worked out great from an education, college experience and softball perspective
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It is tough to pick schools when softball is involved. You are asking 14-17 year old girls who are living text message to text message what they want to do for the rest of their life.
I know I didn't provide any resources but there are a lot of things that go into the decision. I was not in favor of the school dd chose for a number of reasons but it has worked out great from an education, college experience and softball perspective
Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk
- Nov 6, 2019
- 92
- 18
She is an incoming 9th grader that loves Baylor but will be a stretch to make D1 ball. We will be looking for schools in Texas mostly.
Currently her education goal is to get a degree that allows her to become a softball coach.
Currently her education goal is to get a degree that allows her to become a softball coach.
- Feb 7, 2014
- 553
- 43
Awesome! It's nice to hear of a kids going to school for this. Keep in mind that could change over the next 8+ years?
I think it can help just to have her close her eyes and imagine the type of school she sees herself at. Big or small? In an urban, suburban, or rural setting? Close to home or far from home? Type of weather? These kinds of questions can help you narrow things down quite a bit.
One of things that has helped us the most is just informal visits to the schools. As someone mentioned above, we have crossed some schools off the list just by driving around them. When we are traveling for tournaments, I try to make a point of getting to an informal visit or two with prospective schools.
Seems like I was just having these kinds of conversations with my DD and she’s a HS Junior this fall. It goes quick.
One of things that has helped us the most is just informal visits to the schools. As someone mentioned above, we have crossed some schools off the list just by driving around them. When we are traveling for tournaments, I try to make a point of getting to an informal visit or two with prospective schools.
Seems like I was just having these kinds of conversations with my DD and she’s a HS Junior this fall. It goes quick.
1)schools that have her major
2) school size-visit all size schools even if it’s just to walk around
3) city, suburbs, country-where does she feel comfortable
4) is it a division she’d be able to play at
DD wanted city and wanted to be no more than 4 hours from home. This left Boston, Hartford & NY. We then ruled out schools that didn’t have her major (this changed sophomore year any way though). Ruled out schools that were too big, too small, not city enough etc.
At that point she had decided that Boston was her target area so we toured a few, drove through campuses of a few more and she started emailing coaches. The school she’s at checked all the boxes and in her words “immediately felt like home”. She just graduated and is staying for 2 more years for grad school and playing a 5th year.
2) school size-visit all size schools even if it’s just to walk around
3) city, suburbs, country-where does she feel comfortable
4) is it a division she’d be able to play at
DD wanted city and wanted to be no more than 4 hours from home. This left Boston, Hartford & NY. We then ruled out schools that didn’t have her major (this changed sophomore year any way though). Ruled out schools that were too big, too small, not city enough etc.
At that point she had decided that Boston was her target area so we toured a few, drove through campuses of a few more and she started emailing coaches. The school she’s at checked all the boxes and in her words “immediately felt like home”. She just graduated and is staying for 2 more years for grad school and playing a 5th year.
