Category Archives: College Process

By Tuesday I need to turn in a preliminary questionnaire to my school’s college counseling office and indicate some preferences. Is college/university size important to you? If so, rank preference of a) small college (3,000 or less, e.g. Pomona, Amherst, Trinity, Macalester, Kenyon), b) medium sized college (3-7,000, eg. Yale, Dartmouth, Stanford, Columbia, U of Chicago, Dartmouth, Tulane), or c) large university (6,000+, e.g. Northwestern, Cornell, U of Pennslyvania, USC, NYU, Boston U, any UC campus). Is geographic location important to you? Is the size of the surrounding college community important to you?

I really have no idea what my preferences are. I’m thinking I like being in a big city and want to be at least near a big city, but also like the idea of an enclosed college campus. Geographically, I’m game for anything other than the deep south I think. West coast, midwest, or east are all attractive for different reasons.

There’s plenty of time but over the next several weeks I’ll need to firm up my preferences around these topics and I’ll also get a sense as to which schools are “hard” “medium” or “easy” for me to get into. I am open to any and all feedback from anyone on anything college related. Once I have a better idea of schools I’m looking at, I will be requesting specific feedback!

It’s become a tradition at my high school for the seniors to post all their college rejection letters online or physically on a wall in school. To see all the letters it is at once amusing, sad, and exciting. I know next year I will be partaking in the same process. (One of my very first posts on this blog was titled Opt Out of College Admissions Mania.)

So far, a bunch of my senior friends have heard about their early decision applications. For any of you readers who weren’t in college recently or don’t have a kid who is going through the process, it is more competitive that you could ever possibly imagine. One friend of mine had 1600 SATs and a 4.0 GPA (at my school a 4.0 is amazing) and just got deferred early from Harvard. EVERY applicant is packaged in way to make him or her look perfect.

Starting in January I will be starting to meet with our college counselor and doing some thinking. At this point, my mind is wind open. I expect to visit colleges starting in the spring or summer. I DO know that given where my grades and board scores are, and given my dislike for the traditional approach toward education, the traditional “top” schools are probably not in my future. My #1 goal is to find a college that would be a good fit for me and that I could learn a lot while pursuing my other interests.

At the moment I’m still high on the idea of taking a year off after high school to either work at my own company, work at another company or entrepreneurial-like organization, and travel.

As I go through this process, I will blog my thoughts and experiences along the way. I will also be looking for specific feedback or suggestions or any “insider” tips from alumni.