How To Build The Perfect College List
Your Monthly Guide
How To Build The Perfect College List with Peter & Jill Ratzan
YourCollegeConcierge.net
How To Find The Colleges That Fit Your Child ...and Your Budget With more than 4,000 colleges to choose from, how do you go about finding the handful or so that will match your child’s admissions aspirang colleges that will be incen>vized to sell you their “product” BEFORE you actually go shopping. This guide will show you how to do that so you can build a financially-‐friendly college list -‐-‐ one that maximizes your student's admissions chances at great schools that can: a) meet his/her academic, social and career aspira>ons b) offer generous Aid and Discoun>ng policies that your child will be eligible to receive c) ensure that your child is ul>mately choosing among mul>ple good college op>ons that you will be able to comfortably afford with as liHle out of pocket as possible. YourCollegeConcierge.net
4 General Guidelines To Follow When Building Your College List
1. As tempng as it may be, please make sure that your child resists the urge to 'defensively' over-‐apply to many colleges. Though today's technology and the Common App make it easy to submit mul>ple applica>ons, it’s not a good idea.
An op>mal list will ul>mately consist of only 6-‐10 ‘best fit’ schools max, with a mixture of reach, target, and safety schools (academically and financially speaking). Why? Sta>s>cally, who has beHer odds of gaining acceptance to their best fit colleges? Is it the student who applies indiscriminately to 25 schools, or is it the student who applies to a carefully whiHled-‐down list of seven "perfect fit" schools? Can you guess? It is simply wiser and in your best interest to focus 100% of your effort and interest on a fewer number of the right mix of schools than risk appearing unfocused and haphazard in your admissions strategy.
So, in a nutshell here’s what your child’s college list should look like... Think of a diamond shape. We refer to the diamond, because at the top, you want a limited number of “reach” schools, and at the boHom, maybe 2 “safety” schools. But the faHest part of the list should be in the middle with a solid number of “target” schools. We ooen joke that this is the one >me in your life when you want to be fat in the midsec>on. For some students there will be more reach than target schools; the main point is that your child includes colleges from all three >ers. Here’s what we don’t want a list to look like... Think of an hourglass shape, a list with reach schools and safety schools, but nothing in between. The problem with this is that the student could get rejected from the top >er school. Or perhaps they are admiHed, but they’re middle class with incomes in the mid-‐$100,000 range...and those schools s>ll turn out to be unaffordable because they only offer need-‐based aid and no scholarships. If that’s the case, the student is leo with fewer choices. Maybe they end up op>ng for the in-‐state public school. That’s not necessarily a bad op>on, but that wasn’t the goal and it didn’t have to be the outcome. Every student has unique preferences, so the op>mal college list will certainly be different for everybody. To recap, your child should consider the following components when pu@ng together a list: 1. A mixture of reach, target, and safety schools from an admissions basis 2. A combina>on of private colleges and public schools, ESPECIALLY in-‐state public schools 3. A recogni>on of your family’s Expected Family Contribu>on combined with student talent and achievements, so that you can an>cipate the level of discount (in the form of need-‐based aid, merit awards, or both) from the school
You and your child are now ready to make a perfect college list. Check out the College List Builder in the member area to search for schools that meet your criteria. Stay tuned for this month’s training call or look for it in the call archives on the site. You can also check out the BONUS video in your member area, “Building the Perfect List.”
YourCollegeConcierge.net
How To Build The Perfect College List with Peter & Jill Ratzan
YourCollegeConcierge.net
How To Find The Colleges That Fit Your Child ...and Your Budget With more than 4,000 colleges to choose from, how do you go about finding the handful or so that will match your child’s admissions aspirang colleges that will be incen>vized to sell you their “product” BEFORE you actually go shopping. This guide will show you how to do that so you can build a financially-‐friendly college list -‐-‐ one that maximizes your student's admissions chances at great schools that can: a) meet his/her academic, social and career aspira>ons b) offer generous Aid and Discoun>ng policies that your child will be eligible to receive c) ensure that your child is ul>mately choosing among mul>ple good college op>ons that you will be able to comfortably afford with as liHle out of pocket as possible. YourCollegeConcierge.net
4 General Guidelines To Follow When Building Your College List
1. As tempng as it may be, please make sure that your child resists the urge to 'defensively' over-‐apply to many colleges. Though today's technology and the Common App make it easy to submit mul>ple applica>ons, it’s not a good idea.
An op>mal list will ul>mately consist of only 6-‐10 ‘best fit’ schools max, with a mixture of reach, target, and safety schools (academically and financially speaking). Why? Sta>s>cally, who has beHer odds of gaining acceptance to their best fit colleges? Is it the student who applies indiscriminately to 25 schools, or is it the student who applies to a carefully whiHled-‐down list of seven "perfect fit" schools? Can you guess? It is simply wiser and in your best interest to focus 100% of your effort and interest on a fewer number of the right mix of schools than risk appearing unfocused and haphazard in your admissions strategy.
So, in a nutshell here’s what your child’s college list should look like... Think of a diamond shape. We refer to the diamond, because at the top, you want a limited number of “reach” schools, and at the boHom, maybe 2 “safety” schools. But the faHest part of the list should be in the middle with a solid number of “target” schools. We ooen joke that this is the one >me in your life when you want to be fat in the midsec>on. For some students there will be more reach than target schools; the main point is that your child includes colleges from all three >ers. Here’s what we don’t want a list to look like... Think of an hourglass shape, a list with reach schools and safety schools, but nothing in between. The problem with this is that the student could get rejected from the top >er school. Or perhaps they are admiHed, but they’re middle class with incomes in the mid-‐$100,000 range...and those schools s>ll turn out to be unaffordable because they only offer need-‐based aid and no scholarships. If that’s the case, the student is leo with fewer choices. Maybe they end up op>ng for the in-‐state public school. That’s not necessarily a bad op>on, but that wasn’t the goal and it didn’t have to be the outcome. Every student has unique preferences, so the op>mal college list will certainly be different for everybody. To recap, your child should consider the following components when pu@ng together a list: 1. A mixture of reach, target, and safety schools from an admissions basis 2. A combina>on of private colleges and public schools, ESPECIALLY in-‐state public schools 3. A recogni>on of your family’s Expected Family Contribu>on combined with student talent and achievements, so that you can an>cipate the level of discount (in the form of need-‐based aid, merit awards, or both) from the school
You and your child are now ready to make a perfect college list. Check out the College List Builder in the member area to search for schools that meet your criteria. Stay tuned for this month’s training call or look for it in the call archives on the site. You can also check out the BONUS video in your member area, “Building the Perfect List.”
YourCollegeConcierge.net
