A really basic question from someone just starting the college search

[Anonymous]

We're starting to think about college for my sophomore. Where is the BEST unbiased site to enter in some criteria and find colleges you may not have thought of? For example, he wants to go somewhere small, with excellent writing programs, where not too much math and science are required to graduate, etc.

He is an excellent writer who does pretty well in school but takes the easiest math/science classes available to him. He is not looking to go to UVA or Harvard or Stanford - but I know there are some great schools out there that would be a great fit for him -- I just need to figure out how to find them!

Thank you!!

[Anonymous]

College search is trial and error. A lot of different opinions by a lot of different people with different perspectives. You will have to spend time researching. There is no magic tool that will give you what you are looking for. College Confidential is a good website to start. DCUM isn’t.

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure if there is a program/app out there that helps you narrow down like that. However, all of the college books/online descriptions will have the information you are looking for. So while it may not be efficient, you should be able to go through the material and start a long list.

[Anonymous]

Do you mean Creative Writing major OP? My guess is most liberal arts programs won't have onerous STEM requirements. I would do google searches for best creative writing programs if that's what he wants, and then look closely at their requirements, email admissions people, etc., and put together a spreadsheet. Your son's interests may change if he is just starting sophomore year so I think starting in 6-9 months makes more sense. You might want to start visiting some campuses next summer or fall.

[Anonymous]

No magic answers to give you, but you can use any online college search site (there is one in Naviance, Big Future at College Board, Petersen's, Cappex, etc) and plug in some things that you do know (small size, geographical limits, setting (city/rural)) and see what pops up. Doing a few might give you more options. Then you'll need to do research on majors and class requirements to narrow it down more. But do be prepared for his ideas to change a bit as he gets closer to application time.

Off the top of my head, St. John's College in Annapolis might be worth exploring.

[Anonymous]

Get a book like Princeton Review Guide to America's Best Colleges. They have all kinds of lists that you help you begin creating one for your son.

Good luck

[Anonymous]

Guidance counselors could be a good resource (although my experience is with a small private HS, not sure how the public counselors are in this arena). Also just from reading this forum, I've learned about schools I had no idea existed. We've taken our junior to some of them to visit.

We also ordered the Princeton Review and Fiske books from Amazon, not a bad idea to just flip through those to get some ideas.

[Anonymous]

Others have given advice on resources, but your child should take a look at both Grinnell and University of Iowa. Both are a little off the radar for DC folks but have outstanding writing programs.

[Anonymous]

Tour some local colleges so you have a baseline to compare other schools to. Public vs private. Urban vs. rural. Big vs medium vs small.

[Anonymous]

A lot of surprising schools have good writing programs, e.g. Hopkins, I think MIT (?), several state schools, etc. Depends on whether OP's DC wants creative writing or something else.

[Anonymous]

Go to the library check out several recent college guides and have DC tab schools that sound interesting.

[Anonymous]

Hamilton College in upstate New York has a great reputation for writing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Others have given advice on resources, but your child should take a look at both Grinnell and University of Iowa. Both are a little off the radar for DC folks but have outstanding writing programs.

University of Iowa is the BEST school in the country for writers.

[Anonymous]

Fiske Guide is a great place to start.

[Anonymous]

We are new to the search process as well. Our district uses a program called Naviance? I have heard it is a helpful research tool.