If you want to make a better college list, don’t limit your potential list of colleges to just schools you have heard of. There are over 1,600 four-year US colleges-there is no reason to start off with a short list of five institutions. Having a larger list of colleges opens up opportunities you haven’t even considered at prices you didn’t think possible.
Assume you are buying a car. All other factors are equal. Do you pick the one that costs $15,000 or $30,000? Seems like a no-brainer–go with the cheaper one.
Okay, assume all other factors are equal. Do you pick the red one or the blue one? Now it depends on what colors you happen to like.
Do you know which state, New York or Texas, offers more college baseball teams? You’re wrong if you said Texas. Texas offers more D1 and Junior College programs but New York has more D2 baseball teams and over three times the number of D3 teams. Knowing which states offer which types of college baseball teams can improve your chances of making a college team. (This combined with the DIY College Rankings Baseball Spreadsheet forms the foundation for your college search.)
(Updated for 2022) I just finished updating the list of 50-50 colleges with the latest IPEDS data release and, as usual, thought I would share some statistically non-significant (as far as I know) observations. For those who don’t know what I mean by 50-50 colleges, these are colleges that accept at least 49% of students and have at least a 49% graduation rate. There are currently 600 such institutions with at least 500 or more full-time undergraduates up from the previous year’s 561.
Most students will not submit Early Decision college applications for the same reason that most students will be accepted at their first-choice school. Students generally apply Early Decision to improve the admission chances at a limited number of extremely competitive colleges. Only 10% of all four-year colleges accept less than 40% of students. Since most students aren’t going to these colleges, there is no reason to apply Early Decision. If you are considering applying Early Decision, you need to understand the following:
With 81 public and private higher education institutions with 500 or more full-time undergraduates in Texas, how do you decide which are the best colleges in Texas? Well, a lot of people will just look at US News Best College Rankings and consider it problem solved. In that case, the list of best colleges in Texas is easy:
US News Best Texas Colleges Ranked Nationally
Rice University (16)
The University of Texas at Austin (42)
Southern Methodist University (66)
Texas A & M University (66)
Baylor University (76)
Texas Christian University (80)
Students looking for the big city attractions shouldn’t overlook colleges in Chicago. It’s the 3rd largest city in the United States and has all the expected amenities to go with it. There are 39 colleges with at least 500 full-time undergraduates in the Chicago Core Based Statistical Area (CBSA). While 14 of them are 50-50 colleges, unfortunately only one is a public institution.
As I went through the college search process with my son, I was constantly amazed at the way numbers are and are not used in the process. Everyone talks about student’s GPA, class rank, test scores, and college acceptance rates but no one seemed to know anything about their Expected Financial Contribution (EFC), four-year college graduation rates, or percentage of students receiving non-federal student loans.
College consortiums offers students the opportunity to take classes at participating colleges through a cross registration system. Students don’t have to go through the admissions and enrollment process at the other college. Through various options, they are allowed to register for a course at an institution on the consortium lists while only paying tuition at their home school. These programs can dramatically expand the courses available to students as well as networking opportunities.
