Second only to completing the applications themselves, a critical element in anyone’s college admissions process is coming up with a good college list, the 9-15 colleges that fit who you are as a person and whose academic requirements in test scores and GPA match your academic background. Before you jump into the college selection process, step back and think about why you want to go to college and what you want from the experience.

1. Identify what you need and want in a college. Some factors you might consider in choosing colleges are:
   • Geographic location and weather
   • Whether a college is in a major city, suburb, a college town, a small town or in a rural area
   • The cities which you would love to be near
   • How far or close to your home
   • The kind of college: liberal arts college, research-oriented large university, Ivy League, single sex college, military academy, public or private college or university
   • Size of student body
   • How available professors are; the size of classes
   • In general, what the students are like
   • What the campus environment is like
   • The academic programs you want

   Once you identify the characteristics you desire, write them down. As time goes by, add to and refine this list of things you want.

2. Start an initial college list by identifying the schools you already know you’re interested in. Then use your list of characteristics to find other colleges that match those characteristics.

   Do this by:

   • Asking people you respect–your high school counselor and teachers, independent counselor, parents, older siblings and others–for suggestions of colleges that fit your preferred characteristics.
   • Making use of Internet search programs
   • Checking the US News & World Report America’s Best Colleges to see how your test scores compare with previously successful applicants to different colleges.
3. Once you have a list of colleges, research them in different guide books, talk with people who know about colleges and look at their respective websites. The best of the objective guidebooks are The Fiske Guide, The Insider’s Guide, and Colleges That Change Lives.
4. Visit as many schools as you can. For advice about how to do this, see Guide 6: Visiting Colleges.
5. Finally refine your list, choosing colleges that seem to really match you personally and academically, remembering
   • There is no shortage of high quality colleges to which high school students can apply, get accepted and be happy.
   • There is a good deal of evidence that shows many smaller, liberal arts colleges provide students with overall higher quality academic and personal experiences than larger universities. Some small, liberal arts colleges even have better records for getting their students into graduate schools than larger, more prestigious schools.

	Freshman Year If you’re ready, it’s never too early to begin thinking about and visiting colleges to identify what you want in a college experience.
	Sophomore Year If you’re ready, it’s never too early to begin thinking about and visiting colleges to identify what you want in a college experience.
	Junior Year Fall Semester Ideally, this is the time to put together your first college list, so that you can use the rest of junior year for researching and visiting colleges. Spring Semester Continue researching different schools Spring Break is a great time to visit colleges Before the end of your junior year, take your college list to the high school counselor for his/her comments and feedback Summer Before Senior Year Narrow down your college list to 15-20 colleges
	Senior Year Finalize your college list to 9-15 schools, broken into categories of Reach, Good Chance and Pretty Sure Thing.
	Parents It is so easy for parents to get either under or over-involved with their child’s college list. Both extremes have their negative consequences. A balanced approach is to “be there” for your child, identifying and providing information and resources about different colleges, purchasing guide books and supporting college visits, helping him or her think through what characteristics he/she needs and wants, and also encouraging your child to identify colleges where there is a good fit. It is too easy for parents to fall into the trap of thinking that the best college for their son or daughter is a high prestige college, rather than a college that is the best college for him or her as a student and person. As one parent said, “I’ve learned that no matter how strongly I think or feel about a school, the most effective approach is to be low key in what I say and do (and sometimes say nothing at all). After all, this is my daughter’s life, not mine. The real question is how to help her choose a school where she will thrive.”

If you want more information about any of the above, or

• Access to the adMISSION POSSIBLE College Selection Questionnaire to help you identify what you need and want in a college
• Specific directions for coming up with an initial college list
• A listing of all the different types of college guides/resources and how to use them
• Directions for organizing your college list into selectivity categories of Reach, Good Chance and Pretty Sure Thing
• How to refine your college list so that it takes into your GPA and test scores and also meets your needs
• What’s involved in choosing colleges for a final college list
• Sample colleges list for students from a variety of backgrounds, including high, medium and low grades, high, medium and low test scores, different interests and backgrounds.

If you want to gain access to Guide 5, Your College List, click here for an online, bare bones version.

You can also purchase an illustrated, formatted, printable, PDF color version of this guide for $2.50. We offer this and 14 other printable color guides in order to support the upkeep of this website and to develop a future Spanish language version.

How the color PDF version differs from the free online one can best be demonstrated by your viewing a free guide by clicking here.