Note: This post is a repeat of the e-mail that was sent to each of you individually. If you have already read that e-mail, you do not need to read the following post.
- Please have at least 12 schools on your preliminary list. This does not mean that you will necessarily be applying to each of these schools, but it is better to be overinclusive rather than underinclusive.
- As you are working on your spreadsheets, I will be reviewing the documents you all have sent to me and I will suggest three schools to each of you that you may not have otherwise considered. Of course you will not have to apply to these schools, but I would recommend that you at least do the necessary amount of research to include them on your spreadsheet. I will have these suggestions to each of you by next Wednesday afternoon.
As for the spreadsheet itself, here are some data points that I would like you to collect for each school on your list (for each of the following bulleted points/questions, you should create a separate column on your spreadsheet):
Basic Information
- College/University name
- City
- State
- Setting (i.e. Rural, suburban, midwestern)
- University or liberal arts college? (e.g. does this institution award Ph.D degrees or primarily bachelor’s and/or master’s degrees?)
- Approximate distance from your home
- Number of undergraduate students
- Number of total students
Selectivity
- Overall admissions rate
- SAT selectivity (schools will differ in how they report this. Some will have averages, some will report quartiles, etc. It doesn’t matter which specific number you use so long as you have some idea of how selective the school is on this criterion).
- GPA and/or class rank selectivity
Academics
- Approximate number of different academic departments (e.g. English, Economics, Philosophy, Molecular Biology)
- Top three academic departments that you are most interested in.
- Student/Faculty ratio
- Most popular majors
Campus Life
- Exact or approximate number of student organizations
- Male/Female %
- Residential setting (i.e. do most students live on campus or commute?)
- School housing (i.e. some schools have particular setups like residential colleges, themed housing, etc. Try to determine whether the school on your list has these).
- Top three extracurricular activities that you would be interested in pursuing at this school.
Financial Aid
- Does this school guarantee to meet 100% of demonstrated financial need? (it should indicate this on the financial aid website)
- Does the school offer “no loans” as part of its financial aid package?
- Does this school have certain guarantees based on your household income level? (e.g. some schools will waive tuition for students from households earn an income below a designated level)
- What is a typical or average financial aid award/package from this school like in terms of dollars?
- What percentage of students receive some form of financial aid from this school?
- Does the school offer some or all of the following as part of its financial aid package: Grants/scholarships, loans, work-study?
QuestBridge College Match
-Do you plan to apply to this college or university through the QuestBridge College Match Program?
Additional comments
- Add any additional comments that might shed some light on why you are particularly attracted to this school and/or any reservations you might have.
Most of this information you should be able to retrieve from either the school’s websites (particularly the ones on admissions and financial aid), 3rd party websites (like the Princeton Review’s review.com) or other 3rd party publications (like college guides or magazines). Please let me know if you have difficulty finding any of this information.
In terms of how to construct the spreadsheet, I would recommend using either Microsoft Excel (if you have this program) or Google Documents, if you don’t have Excel. Google Docs is free, but some people like the Excel interface more. Let me know if you’re having any trouble building your spreadsheet.
