Here’s where people go wrong. Many parents will start taking their kids to visit schools in February of junior year, or perhaps over spring break.
They’ll go visit Brown and think “Wow, it’s amazing.”
Then maybe they check out Stanford and say, “Oh my goodness, it’s even MORE amazing.”
Each tour ups the ante. Their priorities keep shifting. They can’t make a decision, because what if something even better is right around the corner?
In economics, this approach is called “Maximizing.”
To a real estate agent, maximizers are the worst possible clients. They’ll spend years hunting for a home, and become increasingly frustrated, because they don’t actually know what their priorities are. They’re simply searching for an ideal that doesn’t exist: “the best.”
The better way to shop for colleges (and homes)?
Economists call it “Satisficing.”
Those who approach decisions through a satisficing perspective are clear on their goals, priorities, and non-negotiables. Their thinking is, “Once I find an option that fits those priorities, I am satisfied.”
Knowing your college priorities means you’ll need to go on fewer campus tours and you’ll actually know what to judge them on — rather than simply hoping to be wowed.
This is why clarifying priorities is the first thing I do with my students, ideally in the fall of junior year.
At that point, teens usually have no idea what their college goals and preferences are. And that makes sense. Up until now everything in their life was either chosen for them, or inconsequential enough to follow their whims and instincts.
They need a structured process for reflection to identify what will suit them best.
My job is to help them discover:
- What learning environment will they need in a college?
- What are they dreaming about for their experience?
- What are their interests and passions?
- What kind of social environment will they thrive in?
- What sort of careers could they see themselves in?
From there, we start to have a sense of what matters to them in school. From the size of the school, to the type of institution, to the campus setting.
It’s the first step in building your college list, and every high school junior needs one.
Before they plan their summer, figure out their standardized testing strategy, or seek out recommendation letters, this list needs to be made and it needs to be done right.
Not through a “maximizing” perspective, but with a “satisficing” lens.
This approach is a big reason why 95% of our students get into a top choice school that satisfies both the student and their parents.
Our Senior Admissions Consultant Joanna Graham breaks it down for you in detail in this free masterclass:
Sign up to watch the replay of this class and learn:
- Our cure for the “I-don’t-knows” so your kid gets engaged in the research process
- Why the “Princeton or Bust” strategy fails and how to be both ambitious and realistic
- What goes into building a college list that makes your kid uniquely competitive
There’s a lot to consider when it comes to choosing colleges. And it’s easy to be misled by the marketing hype and glamorous campus tours.
This class helps you focus on what matters and ignore all the rest, so you can guide your kid towards the best possible school for their future.
