The Ultimate Guide to Creating a College List

If you’re wondering what college you should go to, you’ve come to the right place. We’ve been down that road before and we’re here to help. With well over 4,000 colleges and universities in the United States, creating a list of colleges to apply to may seem overwhelming. How do you sift through all the clutter to find the right college or university for you? How do you avoid getting scammed by for-profit colleges, and how do you find the one that offers the right learning environment for your career goals? This expert guide will take you through a step-by-step process of building a college list and give you a sense of what you should be looking for as you research schools. 

But before we get started, remember there isn’t a “perfect college” out there. Each college has its unique benefits, as well as downfalls. Challenges are unavoidable. So at the end of the day, after you’ve done your research, just know that your experience is what you make it and what you get out of college is largely dependent on you, not the college you go to. What you can do is narrow down the list and make an informed choice based on your wants, needs and options, and that’s exactly what we’re going to help you do.

Feel free to jump to the section that interests you the most:

• Step 1: Make a list of what’s important to you

• Step 2: Explore your options

• Step 3: Determine how much you can afford

• Step 4: Refine your list down to 6-9 schools

• Step 5: Get your ducks in a row

The first step is to reflect on what you’re looking for in a college. Ask yourself the following questions to help you think through different aspects of the college experience. 

What do I want to study? The main reasons for going to college are to explore (or discover) your area of interest and receive an education that will prepare you for your future. So the first question to ask yourself is what you want to major in. It doesn’t help you to apply to a school with no engineering department (like many liberal arts colleges) if you want to become a mechanical engineer. 

Go to our Ultimate Guide on picking the right college major HERE for the complete process on narrowing down your choices. But for now, here are a few guidelines to remember as you think about your major:

• Find the right combination of your skills and interests and match them with your career goals. 

• Take time to think about your choice of major but don’t overthink it. You can always change your major. It sometimes helps to break possible majors down into general categories and choose a category. 

• Remember that you can always double major or minor, but it helps to start a college list with one general major in mind. 

In what environment do I learn best? Are you someone who likes participating in stimulating classroom discussions? In-depth lectures that explain the reading? Lots of hands-on projects? Crazy lab experiments? Think about the high school classes that you’ve enjoyed and try to identify what made that class stand out. Certain colleges are known for promoting certain types of learning. For example, schools like Northeastern and Drexel pride themselves on their co-op learning experiences, where students have the option of alternating semesters of full-time study with semesters of full-time work in industries related to their studies to gain professional connections and work experience.

Who do I want to meet? Who do I want to be around? Campus culture and diversity can greatly impact your college experience. Are you looking for a college with exciting athletic teams and school spirit? Or would you prefer a more geeky and techy vibe? Does your idea of college involve many late night discussions of philosophy? If so, you might choose a different school than someone who’s more interested in a strong Greek system with many sororities and fraternities. Is there a particular area of the country you want to live in (or want to avoid)? Maybe you want the classic New England college experience or maybe you would rather stay in your home state or town.

What do I want to do outside of class? Maybe you’d like to participate in a foreign exchange program in Italy. Or, if you have an enduring passion for acapella singing, you might want to choose a college noted for their glee club. Is it important to you to fully pursue your extracurricular interests in college? What would that look like for you?

Do you want to attend a college with a religious affiliation? For some students, attending a college that affirms their religious convictions is an important factor--examples that come to mind are Brigham Young University (LDS Church) or Baylor University (Baptist). Of course, not all students that attend are of that particular faith or denomination, though the school’s course requirements, chapel attendance policies, and other student life policies may be derived from their statement of faith. 

Is size important? This question can apply to a couple factors in your college list decision.

• School Size: Do you prefer a large, medium, or small school atmosphere? There are definitely pros and cons to each option. Large schools may have innumerable options for courses and extracurricular activities, while smaller schools might offer a more personalized experience and students may not need to compete with thousands of others for research and internship opportunities.

• City Size: Are you more comfortable in a city? The suburbs? In a rural area? Remember that your college experience extends beyond the academic program. It will (hopefully) become your home away from home for the next four years of your life.

Now that you have a list of what’s important to you, rank the top five most significant factors in creating your college list. 

Student Case Study

Nathan is a rising senior who has always excelled in his English and history classes. Outside of class, he’s a section editor for his school newspaper, and he has a part-time job in city hall as a student intern. He doesn’t really know what he wants to do, but he’s interested in going into teaching or law or possibly politics. After reading through Comet’s Definitive Guide To Choosing a College Major, he thinks that a communications major might fit him best and be the most flexible in terms of future careers.

After some reflection, Nathan has determined that it’s most important to him that the school has a communications major. Being a Californian, Nathan wants to stay on the West Coast to be close--but not too close--to home. But he’s also open to schools in the Midwest because his grandparents are in Ohio. It’s also important for him that the school not be in a rural area and that it’s not too small, which he’s defining as any school bigger than his high school of 2,000 students. Nathan prefers a laid-back vibe, and a collaborative rather than competitive atmosphere. He would also like to study abroad in Spain, but it’s not high up on his list of priorities.

The next step is to take the list of your priorities and start compiling a list of schools that fit your criteria--aim for 20-25 schools to start with, and you can narrow down your options later. How do you find out which colleges fit your criteria? Here are a few pointers.

1. Search online databases and plug in your desired school size, location, majors, etc. to filter the results. Good places to start researching online are Niche, College Board, and CollegeData.com. Or, sign up to be an exclusive early tester of Comet’s online college search tool that helps create a perfect college list just for you.

1. Ask others for recommendations. Make an appointment with your college counselor at school, or find a mentor, and ask him or her for college list recommendations. She or he will be familiar with the popular options in your region and what your high school’s track record has been in helping students gain admissions to the colleges on your list. After talking with your counselor, ask teachers, mentors, and friends for recommendations as well. Because they know you well, they may have ideas for which colleges may be a better fit for you.

Again, aim to assemble a list of 20-25 schools to research further. 

Student Case Study

After plugging in his priorities in a couple of online databases, which included having a communications major, geographic location preferences, and having a medium to large student population, Nathan also asked his counselor and journalism teacher for advice. He ended up adding The Ohio State University, Gonzaga University, Santa Clara University, and a few California state universities (including California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, “Cal Poly Pomona”) to his initial list of schools.

With the cost of four years of tuition averaging $38,000 for public universities and $130,000 for private universities, it’s crucial to have a solid plan to pay for college. And that’s not even accounting for living expenses (room and board in dormitories or elsewhere). College is an initial investment into your future career, and you want to make sure that all the schools that end up on your list are really worth the cost. Here’s a process to determine how much you can afford.

1. Have a clear conversation with your parents or family to determine how much they can help and how much you need to generate on your own. It’s important to have the right expectations going forward.

2. Estimate how much you might expect to receive in financial aid and how much your family would be expected to contribute to your education (this includes the amount the student contributes as well). You can also use CollegeBoard’s Expected Family Contribution (EFC) tool to help calculate an exact estimated family contribution value HERE. The FAFSA Forecaster also estimates how much federal student aid you’ll be eligible to receive HERE.

3. Research the cost of each school on your initial list. Once you have the hard numbers for your own budget, find out how much each school on your list of 20-25 schools will cost. CollegeBoard has a net price calculator for almost every school HERE. Or, you can find the net price calculator on the college’s website--every school is legally required to have one.

4. Adjust your list. You don’t need to remove every school that doesn’t meet your budget from your list, but you may find that you’ll need to include more schools that fall within your budget. Adjust your list to make sure that 80% of the schools on your initial list fit your financial requirements. This means that at least 16 out of 20 schools should be within your budget.

Student Case Study

After sitting down with his parents and plugging in their numbers, Nathan realized that out-of-state public schools, like Ohio State, might actually cost more than out-of-state private schools, like Case Western Reserve University, that have more resources for financial aid and merit scholarships. He decided to take out-of-state public schools off of his list, and add a few more Midwestern private schools known for offering a lot of financial aid. He’s also adding more in-state public schools to his initial list.

Now that you’ve compiled an initial list of 20-25 colleges that meet your personal criteria and fall somewhat within your college budget, it’s time to whittle this list down to the 6-9 schools that you’ll actually be applying to in your senior year. How do you do this? Here are some suggestions for both objectively and subjectively evaluating the schools on your initial list.

1. Visit campus, if possible. There’s nothing like setting foot on a college campus and talking with students there to help you get a feel for the culture of the school. Most schools offer information sessions with admissions officers and tours for prospective students with student tour guides. Try to visit a few of your favorites on your list for a sense of whether or not you “click” with that college.

What if you can’t visit (because of perhaps a global pandemic or any other reason)? Because most colleges have had to go online in some capacity in 2020, many have virtual tours and information sessions available. Take a virtual tour or attend an online admissions seminar. 

Even if you’re unable to go to a specific school you’re interested in, sometimes it helps to visit a campus of a similar type of school. For example, if you’d like to apply to small liberal arts colleges but your top choice is clear across the country, try to find a similar-sized liberal arts college in your region to visit in person. You’ll gain a sense of what makes each small school distinct, and it’ll give you a sense of the questions you might ask about a liberal arts college.

2. Talk with admissions representatives, alumni, and students of each college. Whether or not you visit a college in person, it’s important to talk with the people representing each school on your list. To speak with admissions representatives you’ll want to attend information sessions at your high school (many admissions reps travel from school to school marketing their college) or a college fair. Interviews are also a good idea if the college offers them--generally with an admissions representative or an alum of that school.

One of the best ways for answering the ever elusive question “What college should I go to?” is by talking with several current students or recent alumni. They represent your future self, and speaking to them will give you a better idea of what it’s like to be a student at that school than to visit the campus cafeteria or look at the catalogue of classes. Bonus--it’s even better if they know you well and can give you a sense of how you might like being a student there.

3. Look at admissions statistics. Now that you have a good sense of where you’d like to go to college, it’s time to see how likely it is that you’ll be accepted. Take a look at the average GPA and test scores of admitted students. Many colleges have this information on their website. Another good place to look is to see if your high school counseling program uses Naviance, a software that keeps track of all the students from your high school who have gotten into different universities (and their GPAs and test scores). 

Naviance is by far the most accurate predictor of your admissions chances, but if your school doesn’t use Naviance, you can also access this information either through the college’s own website or through CollegeData.com, which keeps track of average admitted GPAs and both the average test score and the middle 50% of test scores. 

For example, Nathan looked up Cal Poly Pomona’s information on CollegeData.com. 

Notice that they report the “range of middle 50%” for test scores. This means 50% of the students admitted were in this range or higher. This will be an important feature in your next step.

4. Classify each college as a reach, target, or safety school.

Here’s how they’re defined:

Safety Schools—These are schools that you have a 75% chance (or higher) of getting into. If you look at the school’s standardized test scores and average GPA of admitted students, you should be in the 75th to 99th percentile of students that they admit. So, using the example above, if your GPA is 3.7 and your ACT score is 28, Cal Poly Pomona would be classified as a safety school for you because you are above their 75th percentile in standardized test scores or well above the 50th percentile

Target Schools—These are schools that you have a roughly 50% chance of getting into. If you look at the standardized test scores and GPA of admitted students, you should be in the upper 50% of students they admit. Cal Poly Pomona would be a target school for you if you have a GPA of 3.6 and an ACT score of 25.

Reach Schools—These are schools that you have a less than 25% chance of getting into.  If you fall below the 50th percentile in terms of GPA or test scores for their admitted students, that college represents a reach for you. If a school has an overall admissions rate of under 15%, the school represents a reach for any student, no matter your grades, scores, or activities. Using the above example, Cal Poly Pomona would be a reach school for you if you have a GPA of 3.3 and an ACT score of 22.

5. Finalize your college list. Now that you have done all this research, it’s time to finalize your college list. The goal is to end up with a list of 6-9 schools, with 3-5 Safety school, 2-3 Target schools, and 2-3 Reach schools. Remember to weigh your list towards Safety schools so that you will have plenty of options to choose from when the time comes to respond to the schools that have accepted you.

Now that you have a finalized college list, you’ll want to prepare for college application season so that you’re ready to apply to each of the schools you’ve spent so much time researching. Here’s what to research for each college on your finalized college list.

• Application requirements, particularly academic requirements. Some colleges require a certain number of art credits in high school, for example. Others want you to have a certain number of math or laboratory science credits. Make sure you will have met each college’s academic requirements by the time you graduate from high school.

• Standardized testing requirements. Make sure to research any required testing, like the SAT or ACT or TOEFL (if you’re an international student), and plan your test dates ASAP. Students should have taken at least one standardized test by September or October of their senior year. This allows you to retest in the winter if you feel you did not perform well on your first test. You should also allow yourself at least a couple months to study for the standardized test before you take it--studies show that students who study for the SAT or ACT improve their scores.

• Teacher recommendations. Some colleges ask you to submit one or more teacher recommendations. Popular teachers are often mobbed with requests in the fall, so if you have a teacher in mind--generally one teaching a subject related to your intended major--make sure to ask them early. 

• Application deadlines. Application deadlines can range anywhere from October through June, depending on the school to which you’re applying and the type of application you’re submitting. Keeping track of all of them is a part-time job itself! Mark the application deadlines of each school on your list now, and set personal goals for meeting the deadlines. If the school you are applying to offers Early Action, Early Decision, or Priority deadlines, you’ll also need to decide which type of application you want to submit. Here’s a breakdown of what each of these terms mean.

  • Early Action: You may apply early and receive a response earlier, but you are not obligated to go to that college if you are accepted. You can wait until you hear from all of the schools on your list to decide. Unless the school specifies a “restrictive” or “single choice” early action plan, you may apply to other schools early action or early decision.

  • Early Decision: This is a binding decision, and you are signing a statement when submitting your application that you will go to this school if accepted. You will generally hear back earlier than March when most schools report admissions decisions. Some schools offer “ED 1” and “ED 2.” The difference is the deadline, with ED 1 deadlines generally in November (with results reported in mid-December) and ED 2 deadlines generally in January (with results reported in February). You may only apply to one school ED (and one other school ED 2 if you didn’t get into your ED 1 school).

  • Priority Deadline: This is sometimes known as the scholarship deadline. You should certainly try to meet this deadline even if there are no scholarships attached to it. Some schools with “rolling” admissions (applicants generally hear back as the admissions committee decides on their application) fill up their freshmen seats as they go along. For example, Purdue University, a school known for their engineering department, often fills up their popular engineering departments early, and students applying after the priority deadline may not be admitted with major status in their top choices.

    ***Note that some private schools require early applicants to turn in financial aid forms as early as a couple weeks or a month after the early deadline. Make sure to mark down any financial aid deadlines on your calendar as well!

Creating a college list is an excellent way to prepare yourself for college. Through this process, you’ll reflect on your preferences and goals, and you’ll also learn about the different options available. Hopefully, armed with a well thought out and balanced list, you’ll start college application season with confidence that you’ll find a college that suits you.