In-State Colleges versus Out-of-State Colleges
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
The age-old dilemma of in-state vs. out-of-state... stay close to home or venture off away from your family... save some money or go to the best college possible.
Many of you are going to grapple with this question, and it's not always an easy one to answer. We're going to share a few thoughts on the benefits of both staying close to home at an in-state college and going off to an out-of-state college.
The Benefits of In-State Colleges
In-State Colleges Make Financial Sense
So the main reason most high school students opt for an in-state college is the cost. You typically get a really good deal on tuition when you go to a public school in your home state.
Easier to Get Into In-State Colleges
You'll typically have an easier time getting into the state schools in your home state. For example, the bar is much higher for a New Yorker to get into the University of California, Berkeley than a Californian.
There May Be Money In It For You
A number of scholarship opportunities at public colleges and universities are reserved for in-state students. Many states want to encourage top high school students to stay close to home, figuring that they are much more likely to work in that state after graduation.
The Benefits of Out-of-State Colleges
See a New Place
One of the biggest benefits of venturing off to a college far from home is your newfound independence. You'll experience a new place that may open your eyes to new ways of looking at things. Going to college in Massachusetts is likely a very different experience than going to college in Florida (if nothing else, the weather will be dramatically different).
Meet New People
You'll also meet a whole new set of people. That was a big draw for me as I looked at colleges. I lived within a 2-mile radius my entire life and I wanted to meet people from all over the place. That's not to say there won't be a diverse crowd at most in-state schools, but it's likely that the majority of students will be from that state.
Go to the Best College Possible
You may have to venture out of state to find the college that has the best program for you. If you're an engineer, you probably can't beat MIT or Cal Tech. If you want to study visual or performing arts, Juilliard or RISD may be the best colleges for you.
Labels: college, college search, in-state, out-of-state
Your College Search... Reach Colleges, Safety Schools, and Good Matches
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
So you're wondering how many colleges you should apply to? How do you decide when you've filled out enough applications? Much of this decision depends on what type of colleges you are applying to. When doing your college search, it's important that you have a sense of which of the following three categories each of the colleges you are considering falls into.
Reach Colleges
Are there certain colleges on your list of colleges where you think to yourself "You never know... they may love my admissions essay" or "I don't have an 1800 SAT score, but I really would love to go to college there"? You've probably identified a reach college for you. Reach colleges are schools that may be a stretch given your high school "resume." For these colleges, your SAT scores may be on the low end of the range or your GPA may not be quite up to snuff.
You can probably come up with a dozen reasons not to apply to a reach college: it's one more application to complete, the application requires an additional essay, or it's going to cost another $50 to apply. If it's a college you really want to go to, and you think you've got a shot (even if it may be a long shot), why not apply? What do you have to lose? For these colleges, you're likely going to need to put some extra work in on the essays to really knock them out of the park. If they offer admissions interviews, definitely take advantage of the opportunity. It's these additional factors that are going to help the admissions committee make a case for admitting you even though your academic stats may be on the low end.
Safety Schools
Is this whole college admissions process making you nervous? Are you really stressing out about where you are going to get in? Applying to one or two safety schools can really help calm the nerves. Safety schools are colleges where you are going to be at or near the top end of the applicant pool and your chances of admission are extremely high. State colleges can often serve as really good safety schools since they usually offer preferential admissions for in-state students. It's even better if your safety school has rolling admissions or non-binding early action admissions so you can find out early on whether you got in somewhere. It will be a huge relief to know you got into a college you'll be happy at, even if it may not be one of your top choices. And, at the very least, you'll know you're headed off to college next year.
Safety schools can also serve another purpose. They can give you options when it comes to financial aid packages. If you can avoid it, you don't want to leave yourself evaluating just one financial aid award package. The cost of college can often be a major factor in the college decision and having a few choices certainly can't hurt. Often times, you may be eligible for honors scholarships at your safety school, meaning that it may end up being significantly more affordable than your other options. In a worst-case scenario, you may even be able to use a financial aid award package from one school to highlight shortcomings of a package from another school.
You can use our Financial Aid Award Evaluator to compare packages side-by-side.
Good Matches
So good matches are the middle ground between reach colleges and safety schools. These are colleges where you likely fall toward the middle of the applicant pool. Checking out the profile for last year's freshman class can often help you make a call on whether a college is a good match for you (at least academically). You're likely not a shoo-in at a good match school, but you also won't be surprised if an acceptance letter comes your way.
Planning Your College Applications
Once you have some sense of where the colleges you are considering fall within these categories, you can take this knowledge and use it to craft your own college admissions strategy. Your ultimate goal is to get into a school you'll be happy at. A mix of colleges in each of these categories can help ensure you receive a fat admissions envelope from a few colleges, while also allowing you to take a chance applying to a few long shots.
If you are looking to apply to 5-7 colleges, it might be a good idea to shoot for the following mix of colleges:
- 1-2 safety schools
- 2-3 good matches
- 2-3 reach colleges
A little bit of strategy can help make the whole process a little less stressful and may even end with you receiving an acceptance letter from a college you considered a real reach.
Labels: college, college search, safety schools
2008 U.S News College Rankings: The Great Debate Rages On
Friday, November 9, 2007
A few months back, the 2008 U.S. News College Rankings were released. Princeton topped this year's list, edging out Harvard and Yale. As usual, the release of the U.S. News rankings sparked considerable debate about whether they help or hurt students' efforts to find colleges that are a good fit.
Some argue that high school seniors get caught up worrying about where a college is ranked rather than focusing on their own preferences and finding a college that matches these preferences.
Proponents counter that the U.S. News college rankings can be used as one of many tools to help high school seniors and their parents assess the quality of colleges.
How You Can Effectively Use College Rankings
We do not recommend basing your college decision solely on the U.S. News College Rankings or any other ranking system (unless you've devised your own personal ranking system). However, these rankings can often have significant value for you in your research. If you take some time to look beyond the actual ranking of a college and look into the underlying data, you can uncover some very useful information.
First, these rankings can often serve as a quick barometer for how competitive a college will be to get into. The top colleges on the list will generally be the most selective colleges in the U.S. Colleges further down are generally a little easier to get into. That can be a huge help as you start narrowing down the list of colleges you want to apply to. You should be thinking about whether a college is a reach, a good fit, or a safety school. You ideally want to have a school or two in each of these categories when you are applying to colleges.
Second, the U.S. News College Rankings, as well as other rankings, often provide quick snippets of data in a single location on a number of colleges. The U.S. News College Rankings can be a useful place to go to find SAT Scores for the 25th and 75th percentiles of the incoming freshman class. The Washington Monthly does their own college ranking, scoring colleges on what they are "doing for the country". These rankings provide interesting data for students who might be interested in ROTC or public service. You can find out which colleges have the most graduates go on to serve in the Peace Corps or which university work-study programs have the most money going to community-service efforts.
Finally, a major bi-product of rankings efforts is that they encourage colleges to share information. The Common Data Set, an effort to standardize data reporting and data sharing by colleges, was largely a result of the proliferation of college rankings. All college-bound students have benefited from this data being more readily available.
Create Your Own College Ranking System
We've created a tool that allows you to come up with your own college ranking system. Our College Scorecard lets you to decide what criteria are important to you and then allows you to rank up to 4 colleges using these criteria. You'll end up with your own personal college rankings... which are the best college rankings of all!
U.S. News College Rankings - Top 50 Colleges with Links to their College Profiles
1. Princeton University (Private)
2. Harvard University (Private)
3. Yale University (Private)
4. Stanford University (Private)
5. California Institute of Technology (Private)
5. University of Pennsylvania (Private)
7. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Private)
8. Duke University (Private)
9. Columbia University (Private)
9. University of Chicago (Private)
11. Dartmouth College (Private)
12. Cornell University (Private)
12. Washington University in St. Louis (Private)
14. Brown University (Private)
14. Johns Hopkins University (Private)
14. Northwestern University (Private)
17. Emory University (Private)
17. Rice University (Private)
19. University of Notre Dame (Private)
19. Vanderbilt University (Private)
21. University of California-Berkeley (Public)
22. Carnegie Mellon University (Private)
23. Georgetown University (Private)
23. University of Virginia (Public)
25. University of California-Los Angeles (Public)
25. University of Michigan-Ann Arbor (Public)
27. University of Southern California (Private)
28. Tufts University (Private)
28. University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill (Public)
30. Wake Forest University (Private)
31. Brandeis University (Private)
31. Lehigh University (Private)
33. College of William and Mary (Public)
34. New York University (Private)
35. Boston College (Private)
35. Georgia Institute of Technology (Public)
35. University of Rochester (Private)
38. University of California-San Diego (Public)
38. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (Public)
38. University of Wisconsin-Madison (Public)
41. Case Western Reserve University (Private)
42. University of California-Davis (Public)
42. University of Washington (Public)
44. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Private)
44. University of California-Irvine (Public)
44. University of California-Santa Barbara (Public)
44. University of Texas-Austin (Public)
48. Pennsylvania State University-University Park (Public)
49. University of Florida (Public)
50. Syracuse University (Private)
50. Tulane University (Private)
Labels: admissions, college, college search, rankings, selective, U.S. News