College Search Basics: Creating a college list that sets you up to make a great college choice

A lot of high school students have a wish list of colleges in their heads long before they have to start getting serious about college applications: maybe an Ivy League option, a football powerhouse, or the place their parents went and loved. Don’t think for a minute that you’re being unrealistic or that the schools on your mental wish list aren’t serious. They are your choices! And that mental list is as good a starting point as any for your real college list.

By your junior year in high school, as your high school counselor has probably mentioned, the time to start creating a serious college list has arrived. The College of Wooster fits into a couple of categories on most students’ college lists, but we’ll get to that part a little later. First, we’d like to share some advice and a couple of secrets to creating a college list that will set you up for success when it’s time to apply.

First, some secrets about the process:

• This should be fun. You will narrow down this list and make decisions about keeping or forgetting about certain schools later. But the starting point for your college list should be broad and it should be a time to ask the bigger questions: Am I happier in a big, crowded setting or a small, cozy one? Is being close to home important? Am I looking for a total change of scenery as I start this new part of my life? It’s a time to explore without a lot of pressure.
• The college you end up attending may not even be on your initial list. A great college list gives you a starting point for researching all the options out there. And as you do more research, you’ll get a better sense of what is your best fit. As you go on virtual or in-person tours, the choice will become even clearer. What you initially thought was a perfect school may not even get an application in the end.

Some advice for getting started on your list:

• Settle on your non-negotiables first. How far away from home do you want to be? Does a school with a religious affiliation appeal to you? Do you hope to continue with athletics in college? Do you have a major in mind already? Knowing your must-haves will keep you from getting overwhelmed by choices.
• “Schools like this” is your friend. Spend some time looking at independent college resources like the Fiske Guide to Colleges or Niche or College Simply. Your high school’s guidance office will suggest some guides, too. Start with the name of a college you know and you think you like, and look for “schools like this” for suggestions about similar places that may not be on your radar yet. Look at the similarities and then keep going. It’s overwhelming to stare at the seemingly endless lists of places, but “schools like this” will give you some context.
• Avoid unwelcome additions to your list. As you have probably already learned, everyone in your life wants to know your college plans. Share with them as much as you want. But maybe don’t share your college list for now. You are still researching and deciding the kinds of schools that are right for you. Your high school counselor will have suggestions and your parents may have opinions about schools for your list, but adding the names of colleges your cousin is visiting, too, will just make the list bigger and more confusing later.

You’ve got a list of schools. Now put together your college visit plans

Visit. We can’t emphasize this enough. Visit. Virtual visit options abound. And if your travel budget allows, set up a few in-person visits.
Start locally and pick some colleges from every category: Within a few hours of your home, you can probably think of one big public university, a small liberal arts college, a medium-sized university with some graduate options, and another type of college that interests you (an arts school, a tech option, a faith-based college). Even if you don’t know that you want to apply to any of these colleges, take the tour. It will give you a sense of what college looks like in different settings, and may help you answer some of the bigger questions about the kind of college you’d like to attend.

Where does The College of Wooster fit on a college list?

The College of Wooster is a private liberal arts college with 2,000 students in the small town of Wooster, Ohio. It’s less than an hour from Cleveland and less than two hours from Columbus. All students at Wooster live on campus all four years and have their choice of more than 100 clubs and activities. It’s a D3 school offering lots of varsity sports. Wooster is quite different from many bigger universities, but similar to other liberal arts colleges. Undergraduate research is a big focus at Wooster and many of our students go on to graduate school. A huge majority –96 percent– of our students start work or graduate school within six months of graduation.
We attract curious self-starters who like the fact that they can build an academic plan that includes chemistry but also dance, or whatever combination of interests suits them and prepares them for a meaningful career.

We’re here to answer your questions and help you discover your best fit for college. Schedule a college tour, reach out to one of our admissions counselors, or explore one of our virtual options.

Posted in Scottie Blog on February 6, 2022.