So many colleges - how do you pick ones to consider?

[Indiana]

I had a day off today.... my original plan was to lie around in the sun and read. An idle mind is not a good thing - so of course I started stressing about my rising sophomore's eventual college plans. I have spent hours online researching colleges... they are all starting to look the same. We'll do a big sit-down this fall to really get down to it, but for now the most I can get out of my DD is that she wants to play ball in college and she likes "ecology". Ecology??? That seems to be the new "in" area of study - what is ecology and who teaches it? I'm being a little toungue in cheek here - just expressing my stir craziness after hours of eye-bluring research. We are planning a trip to the Boston area in a few weeks and I'm trying to put together a selection 4-5 schools to visit. I'm bringing along a few more girls as well since we are in Colorado and it's a good opportunity for them to see schools in the Northeast.

Yale is on our list - one of the girls has a genuine shot at it and it is her dream school, so we're going down to New Haven. I'd like to visit one other school in the area that wouldn't be a moonshot - does anyone have experience with Quinnipiac (aside from their pants-whooping of Cornell in Hockey - ha ha). In Boston, we are looking at Tufts and BU; we might take a drive out to Amherst. Basically none of the girls have much of an idea yet as to where they would fit (all are rising sophomores), so my plan is to show city schools, small schools, urban and suburban - give them a tasting flight, if you will.

So I guess my question for all you veterans out there is... HOW do you narrow it down and how many schools did you visit? And especially, how to you get a feel for schools that are not in your geographical area? Everyone's website makes their school sound amazing - how do you get a true feel?

 

[RubberBiscuit]

DD and I took a week and drove from WI to Texas State for a camp there with the intention of stopping at as many different colleges along the way to get a feel for big/small and rural/city and D1/D2/D3.

It did a very good job in getting DD to land on the type of school she wanted.

I like driving too

 

[InsidePitch]

I almost think you need to visit when school is in session to get the real flavor of it. If it's up north, visit in the dead of winter to see if your kid is ok with the idea of big coats, hats, gloves and spending a lot of time indoors. DD really likes playing BB but has proclaimed SB to be her favorite sport. We watched an ESPN special on Gonzaga men's BB last spring before the March madness. When she saw the kids sleeping out for tickets, the sea or red shirts in the arena and the smiles on the students faces she thought that was the coolest thing ever, I thought, I hope Gonzaga has softball.

 

[MsDinosaur]

Yep, ecology is big with kids these days, although I don't see bunches of ecology positions in the want ads. :-D

However, a lot of the subjects that are needed for going into ecology are in the sciences and are likely to be decent degrees that will get a girl into grad school or a career. Biology, Geology, Zoology, Botany, Genetics, some Chemistry and Physics... If it were my DD, I'd try to persuade her to take as many of the "hard" science courses as possible so that she'd have the most options coming out of school. JMHO.

Yale has been DD's dream school for a while now--I'll be very interested to hear how your trip goes!

 

[Daddylawman]

I had a day off today.... my original plan was to lie around in the sun and read. An idle mind is not a good thing - so of course I started stressing about my rising sophomore's eventual college plans. I have spent hours online researching colleges... they are all starting to look the same. We'll do a big sit-down this fall to really get down to it, but for now the most I can get out of my DD is that she wants to play ball in college and she likes "ecology". Ecology??? That seems to be the new "in" area of study - what is ecology and who teaches it? I'm being a little toungue in cheek here - just expressing my stir craziness after hours of eye-bluring research. We are planning a trip to the Boston area in a few weeks and I'm trying to put together a selection 4-5 schools to visit. I'm bringing along a few more girls as well since we are in Colorado and it's a good opportunity for them to see schools in the Northeast.

Yale is on our list - one of the girls has a genuine shot at it and it is her dream school, so we're going down to New Haven. I'd like to visit one other school in the area that wouldn't be a moonshot - does anyone have experience with Quinnipiac (aside from their pants-whooping of Cornell in Hockey - ha ha). In Boston, we are looking at Tufts and BU; we might take a drive out to Amherst. Basically none of the girls have much of an idea yet as to where they would fit (all are rising sophomores), so my plan is to show city schools, small schools, urban and suburban - give them a tasting flight, if you will.

So I guess my question for all you veterans out there is... HOW do you narrow it down and how many schools did you visit? And especially, how to you get a feel for schools that are not in your geographical area? Everyone's website makes their school sound amazing - how do you get a true feel?

Just my thoughts - FWIW - you are looking at some very strong academic schools. That's great and these girls should pursue their dreams. I would point out that Boston has a huge amount of schools and you might want to consider looking at some others that are not quite so academically elite, just in case. Amherst is a fantastic school, but it's a bit of a drive from Boston and will require most of a day if you come from Boston.

I'm very familiar with Quinnipiac. I have a niece starting there in the Fall (not a ball player). The school has undergone some huge growth and has added law and medical schools. Most of the buildings are new and apparently beautiful. I think it's very much up and coming and worth a look.

Good luck to all your girls.

 

[JAD]

My DD has a top 5, middle 10 and bottom 5 when it comes to her preferred colleges, but any college that has shown interest in her also gets added to the list.

 

[Indiana]

I'm very familiar with Quinnipiac. I have a niece starting there in the Fall (not a ball player). The school has undergone some huge growth and has added law and medical schools. Most of the buildings are new and apparently beautiful. I think it's very much up and coming and worth a look.

Good luck to all your girls.

Cool, thanks. I'm excited about Quinnipiac, and so are the girls. It looks like a beautiful campus. I saw that they were #1 in the US News up and coming category. MS - I'll post a little update re: Yale when we get back in a few weeks. We're going to do the whole bit including the campus tour so I'll let you know what we thought. My personal little favorite is Fairfield, a much smaller little school, but also quite good, about 30 miles southwest of New Haven.

Thanks for your message Greenmosters - I wrote you an extremely thoughtful, Pulitzer level thank-you note but alas your inbox is full (ha ha! )

 

[Greenmonsters]

Cool, thanks. I'm excited about Quinnipiac, and so are the girls. It looks like a beautiful campus. I saw that they were #1 in the US News up and coming category. MS - I'll post a little update re: Yale when we get back in a few weeks. We're going to do the whole bit including the campus tour so I'll let you know what we thought. My personal little favorite is Fairfield, a much smaller little school, but also quite good, about 30 miles southwest of New Haven.

Thanks for your message Greenmosters - I wrote you an extremely thoughtful, Pulitzer level thank-you note but alas your inbox is full (ha ha! )

Sorry! My overdue housekeeping has been completed. Hope the girls have a great trip!

 

[3'sDad]

Indiana: This is how DD & I began the process. We complied a spreadsheet of the schools she was interested in academically. There is nothing as of now west of Chicago (we live in NJ).

From there, we looked to see if they had softball (or in her case field hockey as well). If no softball or FH, she didn't sent a recruiting profile, but the school remains on the list to potentially apply to. Schools where she can play a sport, she completed the on-line recruiting forms and emailed the coach with her requisite sports bio, GPA, PSAT test scores etc. All of these emails are tracked on an excel spreadsheet for ease of clarity.

DD emailed coaches on her softball showcase & recruiting camp schedules. It really works. The D III schools emailed back when they would be there to watch her at either camp or showcase, what they saw, what perhaps needs attention and in more than one case, an invite to please visit the campus with your parents so we can meet one another. DI contact can't really occur until 9/1 and the only DI she's really interested in are Ivy or Patriot League schools.

DD is in field hockey mode this week. I did the up and back to the 5 colleges area (Amherst, Smith, Mt. Holyoke, Hampshire & UMASS -highly recommended as its only 90 minutes or so from New Haven) of western Mass. for the Amherst Field Hockey Camp this week. Amherst Coach had her FH bio and recruiting video prior to arrival. Since your going to visit Yale, look at Sacred Heart in Fairfield in think - D I and it looked nice from the brief research we did (we have a friend there).

DD is at Stevens Institute yesterday & today for a FH College Showcase. She looked at the list of coach attendees for this Showcase - 20 coaches from schools on her list and registered for it. All coaches were notified by email what team DD was on and what number she is wearing. As she has been playing many coaches called and instructed her directly by name, so the emails were received (yes I did see the Cornell coach roaming around this morning).

I'm happy to send the excel file set up if you's like if you provide an email or I can via PM.

Best of luck.

BK

 

[Softball_2]

Indiana... Check out Camp Riseball High Honors and see if it is the same week you will be out east. Virtually all of the Ivy schools will be there instructing, along with several other high academic institutions in the area. PM me for more information.