As we’re well into October, seniors should have their college lists set at this point. Early Action and Early Decision deadlines are fast approaching (most are either November 1 or November 15), and the UC and Cal State applications are due November 30th.
What tools to you use for your college search? I like Cappex, which gives you scattergrams that can help you understand how strong of a candidate you are. I also like the College Board’s Big Future website, which allows you to search by school type, size, location and major.
If you’re looking for smaller, liberal arts colleges with a more personal touch, you can’t go wrong with the Colleges That Change Lives – I’ve written about them many times. This group of 40 colleges across the country were selected by the late Loren Pope, former Education editor for the New York Times. The colleges were recently updated, with a few added and a few removed – but don’t think that these particular 40 are the only ones where you can get a hand-tooled education.
And if you’re open to single-sex colleges, take a look at the Women’s Colleges website, with details about dozens of colleges for women. Many of these schools are close to, or in consortia with, other colleges, so don’t let your daughter think she’ll go four years without seeing any men.
These are just a few tools for starting to look at colleges. It’s never too early! Start looking in 10th and 11th grade so that by this time senior year, you will have chosen your schools and already begun your applications. The more you do now, the less stressful the process will be down the road!