As Gabbie approaches her senior year and the start of college applications, she has been focusing on getting into the college search and the process of deciding where to apply with Lindsay from Simply Admissions. I talked about our work with an educational planner previously and I mentioned that Lindsay had created an initial list of colleges that Gabbie might be interested in applying to. Gabbie spent time going through this list and ranking them as to whether she was somewhat interested, very interested, or not interested. This helped her to narrow down the list further.
Narrowing Down The College List
Gabbie came up with her own system of deciding which of the suggested colleges she was interested in. She checked whether they had programs in her areas of interest, whether she thought she could make the school dance team, and what sort of Jewish life was available on campus. She made notes in the chart that Lindsay provided in her personal dashboard on the website. Lindsay had already determined which of the schools may be reaches for Gabbie in terms of acceptance rates and costs, which were safety schools, and which were good matches. From there, she and Gabbie decided which colleges to research further.
Visiting Colleges Virtually
Because we cannot easily visit every school Gabbie is somewhat interested in, Lindsay recommended that she attend some virtual visits. Some of the schools offered videos she could watch to get an idea of the campus and the school culture. Some offered actual live virtual sessions with student ambassadors, and we watched one of these sessions with the University of Massachusetts – Amherst. Both Gabbie and I were impressed by this session and we think it would be a good match for her.
Visiting Colleges in Person
Because we were able to travel to NYC while visiting family in NJ, we made it a priority to sign up for an in person visit of NYU, which is a school that Gabbie is very interested in, even though without scholarships it is not quite in our budget! Because prospective students are only allowed one guest to attend the tour with them (at present time), I registered Zachary for the tour as well and this way Dave and I could both be there. We didn’t go inside many of the buildings at NYU, but we did see the campus and learned about the school from our tour guide.
Inside the library
Washington Square Park
Later that afternoon, Gabbie and I also visited Pace University. We weren’t sure if it was a good fit but wanted to see it as a contrast to NYU. It turned out that almost everyone on the tour had also visited NYU that day! While both are universities in the city, NYU actually seemed to have more of a campus, while Pace is mainly located inside one main building. As it turns out, the dance team is located at the other campus outside of the city, so that would make it hard for Gabbie as well.
What’s Next?
Gabbie says that now that she visited a city campus, she would like to visit a school with a campus that is separate from the city itself. We did visit KU and it meets those requirements, but Gabbie would really like to visit UMass in person as well as Arizona State. Visiting multiple campuses is important to see where your student feels like they belong and what sort of college they like the most.
If you think that working with an educational planner is something that you are interested in to get into your college search, Lindsay is offering my readers a 10% discount on her services! Just go to her website and sign up for a consultation and let her know that you found her through me!
