College Fit

There are so many factors that go into college decisions. Figure out what is most important to you. 

Go to corsava.com, and if you are game (read the Learn More and Privacy sections--opt out of the third party information sharing by writing an email like this), sign up. 

• Do a Card Sort 
• Review your priorities
• Set it aside for a few days and then come back. Does the sort represent you? 

If you wish, take it further on Corsava with their suggested next steps.

At least use the priorities to weigh factors. Your weighting will be different than your friend's weighting. 

At minimum, consider your learning style, academic goals, social needs, and what balance of comfort and challenge will be right for you. 

Use these tools to help you look at yourself: 

• Self-Survey for the College Bound which asks about your educational attitudes, goals, and perspectives. 
• Self-Knowledge Questionnaire which helps you think about yourself as a college student.
• Audit of College Success Traits, a more extensive and recent version of the Self-Knowledge Questionnaire 

 Approach these tasks as the first steps to really considering aspects of yourself. 

Linked files by Steven Antonoff, Author of College Match and The College Finder. 

Before you look at particular colleges, think about how your needs intersect with what a college has to offer. At minimum, consider these questions by ranking them.*

What do you want college to do for you? Here are 12 possible reasons: 

1. To learn about different cultures, peoples, backgrounds, etc.
2. To expand my potential lifetime earnings
3. To learn essential life skills so that I can be a better parent and citizen
4. To find a vocational direction in life
5. To gain more independence and a greater sense of freedom
6. To create long-lasting relationships and professional connections
7. To have a fresh start where no one knows me
8. To gain new skills and experiences
9. To enable me to receive a degree from a high-quality school
10. To explore the U.S. and perhaps the world
11. To take advantage of college life: spectator sports, clubs, activities, etc.
12. To get the best education possible at a reasonable cost

Use this College Planning Values Assessment which focuses on the above questions and has great advice no matter what your priorities. If the list above does not capture your goals, then figure out what you want college to do for you. 

Handout by Steven Antonoff, Author of College Match and The College Finder.

Before you look at particular colleges, consider the qualities themselves. 

Rather than immediately saying you want a big school or a selective school or one in a particular location, delve in to figure out what difference those each will make for your experience and goals. 
Students often overgeneralize and limit themselves too soon. 

Use this Qualities that Will Make a College Right For You worksheet (it's a fillable PDF, so you can do it on the worksheet!) to help you consider: 

Size

Academic Environment

Academic Offerings

Cost/ Availability of Financial Aid

Religion

Ethnicity

Coeducation or Single Sex

Student Body Characteristics

Student Life

Activities, Including Athletics

Big Name School or Best Fit School?

Admission Difficulty

Location

Academic Success in College

Fitting In/ Being Comfortable in College

Materials by Steven Antonoff, Author of College Match and The College Finder.

Most people start with the popular college lists, but explore lists that are more specialized first. You want a breadth of options. 

Use the lists on How to Create a Great College List
There are about 200 hyperlinked lists on pages 2, 3, and 4, with titles like: 

Colleges with Unusual Majors

Top Ten Activist Schools

Colleges Offering Community Service Scholarships

Colleges Where Humanities Ph.D.s Received Their Undergraduate Degrees

Colleges Most Like Hogwarts

Colleges for the Independent Learner

Colleges with Unconventional Grading Styles

Colleges with the Greatest Diversity

Alma Maters of Astronauts

How to Create a Great College List College Essay Guy based on work by Steven Antonoff and Ted Fiske. 

Also explore college lists on CollegeXpress. From the dropdown at the top, you can browse Student Life or Majors or College Costs lists, or by typing in an aspect--bands, particular sports, an academic approach, or hundreds of other qualities--you can access lists that way. 

Even though numbers are only part of the entire scenario, they can give you an idea of range. You should be in a school’s general GPA/ test score range to put that school on your list. 

Scoir (access via Classlink) has tools to help you see how you compare with other Shorewood students who have applied to a particular school. 

Scattergrams

Many colleges have a scattergram in Scoir. Colleges that are not often applied to by Shorewood students will not have one.

Find scattergrams:

Scattergram for Sample student with 3.1 GPA and 1070 SAT and Shorewood applicants to Western Washington University. This student is in the ballpark for admission. Please use scattergrams to give you a general idea of admissions chances rather than an exact forecast.   

It is essential to check the GPA and test score ranges of particular schools. For many reasons, the sweet spot to be in is the top 25% of the range. You will get better aid if the school wants you. 

• Search “XYZ College freshman profile” to locate a set of statistics about the most recent class for a particular school. Identify the GPA range, and , if applicable, the SAT/ ACT range. 
• Go to CollegeData.com and search for a school. Use the Admissions tab and scroll down for GPA & test scores.

Below is a screen shot from the Enrollment Statistics page of the Seattle University website, found by searching "Seattle University freshman profile."

Unweighted GPA

Washington State requires school districts to have an unweighted GPA on a 4.0 scale, in which all course grades are weighted the same. Some states have a weighted GPA in which grades for honors or AP courses are worth more than grades in standard courses. Thus, a state might have a GPA on a 5.0 scale. 

Colleges receive applications from various states, and applications will always ask if your high school has a weighted or unweighted GPA. Select unweighted when filling out applications. 

Colleges know that Washington State has an unweighted GPA, and our Shorewood High School Profile also describes our grading scale, so admissions committees will make a fair comparison. Colleges usually use high school transcripts to convert all applicant GPAs to one common scale. 

Test Optional / Test Flexible Schools

More than 90% of colleges are test optional or test blind.  Scores are better at indicating student socioeconomic status than predicting college performance. 

If your test scores are not an asset, then aim for test-optional schools. More than 2000 4-year colleges are test optional or test blind. Check Fairtest.org  and check college's websites for details. 

All Four Year Colleges in Washington are Test Optional

In September 2021, the public colleges in Washington announced that they are permanently test-optional. As of November 2021, we do not know of any in-state four year colleges that require test scores. 

UW Seattle is officially test optional, but they are as close as you can get to being test blind. They only look at scores in about 1 in 200 applicants, and you cannot elect to have them consider your scores. 

Two Year Colleges Do Not Require SAT or ACT Scores

Community colleges have open enrollment, which means that all students are admitted. The vast majority do require some sort of placement test in order to place students in the correct course. In Washington, there are multiple ways to satisfy the testing requirement. See Shoreline Community College Placement to see how placement can be accomplished via:  SBAC scores, high school transcript, the Accuplacer, or AP/ SAT/ ACT scores. 

The reality of admission rates means that not all students who meet the admissions criteria of a particular school will get in. 

• Research admission rates using either a general search or a tool like CollegeData.com. On College Data, look under the Admission tab and scroll down to Profile of Fall Admission.  
• Don’t have lists comprised only of schools with admission rates below 10%. That gives the schools too much power. You want to have choices and make decisions for yourself about your future. 
• Do not regard low admission rates as an indicator of quality. Schools can manipulate admission rates to a great degree. 
• Try to not regard denials as personal rejections. Some schools receive tens of thousands of applications from qualified applicants. 
• Don’t think that all schools have low acceptance rates. Search:  “XYZ College acceptance rate”. A few:  Gonzaga University 70%; Linfield College 85%; Purdue University 50%; UW Seattle 45%; Earlham College 69%; University of Puget Sound 88%.  

Numbers Sweet Spot:  Know This!! 

Optimal place to be in the range: students in about the top 25% of the range will get the most money at schools that offer their own merit scholarships.

If your numbers are below the range for a school you are considering: 

Check to see how the school weighs factors when viewing applications. Different schools put differing emphasis on numbers when evaluating candidates. 

If you have a less than optimal GPA: 

• See if the college has a holistic admissions review. This means that they look at multiple factors, not only at your numbers. If they do have holistic admissions, investigate the factors they value. Most colleges will consider personal qualities and also will consider if adverse circumstances affected your grades. 
• Go to CollegeData.com, search for the school, then select Admissions and scroll down to Selection of Students. If both GPA is regarded as "Very Important" and other factors are not, then think hard before you spend time and money on an application. If the school evaluates using many factors, then consider how your application may come across. 
• Be able to write about circumstances that adversely affected your grades. Perhaps there was a divorce or a move or other situation. Be able to write what happened, how it affected your grades, what you have learned from the experience, and how you plan to handle difficulties from now on. You will put this into the  "additional information" section on applications to offer an honest explanation of your numbers. Back up your statements with evidence from other academic experiences. 

Your SAI is your Student Aid Index and will be used in the formula to figure out if/ how much aid you will receive.  This number used to be called EFC, Expected Family Contribution. In the 2023-24 school year starting with the 2024-25 FAFSA, the formulation and the terminology has changed. 

Calculate your SAI using 

• Federal Student Aid Estimator on the same site as the FAFSA, which you will fill out starting in fall of senior year. 
• 
College Board’s EFC Calculator 

Use your SAI to guide your search 

• 
If your SAI is low-ish, you want to find schools that meet close to 100% of student need. Look for great need-based aid, which is often simply called financial aid.

• If your SAI is high-ish but you cannot pay for college outright, then you want schools that offer great merit aid.
• 
Most schools use the SAI to calculate any need-based aid you might receive.

The net price of any particular college varies according to family circumstance and the college's particular financial aid practices. 

Use Net Price Calculators to

• estimate what your family would pay for a particular school;
• test academic scenarios (what if test scores go up?);
• weigh impact of assets;
• refine what type of schools will work for your family. 

Do not use the Net Price Calculators to

• create an exact budget; consider the net price result to be a ballpark figure. 

To estimate your net price for particular schools, use one, two, or all of the following 

1. Use individual Net Price Calcuators on each college’s financial aid page. The easiest way to find it is to search “XYZ College Net Price Calculator.” 
2. Use the College Board’s Net Price Calculator, which is well-regarded. 200+ schools are available.

Note that the more questions an NPC asks, the more accurate the results will be. Some NPCs are too simple and the figure may not be a reliable estimate. 

There are now several tools that aggregate data from colleges' Common Data Sets to help you figure out: 

• If/ how much colleges will cover financial need 
• Which colleges offer merit aid and to what % of students
• Average size of awards

These vary from a simple spreadsheet to more complex search & pricing tools. Some are free and some have free starter tools with more sophisticated tools for a fee: 

• College Transitions Dataverse, with various presentations of Merit Aid, Cost of Attendance, Need-Blind Colleges, and more
• Big J Educational Consulting Resources including a summary of Need and Merit Aid
• College Insights from Road2College; enter several schools and compare costs, average awards, and view actual crowdsourced offers
• TuitionFit aggregates actual offers, so you will have to create an account. Watch the video to see if you want to try it. 
• MeritMore has a merit aid search tool and other options.
• CollegeAidPro has some free resources and annual plans for a fee to access more tools. Try a free account first, then decide if you would use the tools involved with a fee-based plan. The tools here have a lot of potential. 
• Moore College Data has aggregated a Moore College Dataset.
• MyinTuition (free) is best for calculating need-based aid at 70+ colleges, though few Northwest colleges as of Fall 2022. Check MyinTuition.org to see if the colleges on your list have joined.  

Your goal is to find schools that will meet a high percentage of your need. 

Start with this list Full Need Colleges and the links provided to look up the norms for colleges that interest you. Realize that most of the colleges on the list are very selective, and college formulas for assessing need vary. 

Other methods: 

• Search for “colleges that meet 100% of need” and you will find several lists. Look through those, but do not limit yourself to schools on that list. With any criteria, there are schools that are very close to being on the list. 
• Be a good student. Many schools on “meet full need” lists are very selective. Colleges will provide more aid to students they want, and academics matter.
• Use this spreadsheet:  Domestic Need-Based and Merit Aid Class of 2026 which will give you an idea both of the need coverage and the college's norms about merit aid. 
• Look up each school's average need coverage.
  • On CollegeData.com, search for a school, then go to the Money Matters tab and look at the Profile of Financial Aid showing the latest year available. You will see both the average % of need and the average indebtedness of graduates.
  • On the College Board’s Big Future page, bigfuture.collegeboard.org, search for a school. When it comes up, click Paying on the left then Financial Aid By the Numbers on the top. Look for: % of need met, average need-based package; % of students who have their full financial need met.

Note: be cautious about loans.

The national average loan load for college graduates is above $30,000. Zero is best; anything around or above $30K total is high. Beware of schools that have high student indebtedness. That isn’t truly meeting need. Federal student loans have several advantages over private student loans, but any student loans can be tricky and there may be national changes coming that add complications and cost. 

Not all schools offer merit aid. Generally, the most selective schools—Ivies and the most elite private schools—do not offer merit aid because plenty of families are willing and apparently able to pay full price. There is not one centralized method to finding merit aid options. Try the following:

• Use colleges’ own financial aid websites to determine whether they offer merit aid, and if they do, what the thresholds are. 
• Use this spreadsheet Domestic Undergraduate Need-Based and Merit Aid (August 2023) for compiled figures for over 400 colleges.  
• Use this Merit Aid Tool by College Transitions www.collegetransitions.com/dataverse/merit-aid, which includes 360 selective colleges. At colleges like Harvard or Reed, 0% of students receive merit aid; at UW Seattle, it's 9%; at Whitman, it's 61%; at Gonzaga, it's 100%. Also see average awards. If your college is not listed, try the other methods below. 
• Use CollegeData.com; look up a school, go to Financials and look for the Profile of Financial Aid. See Merit-Based Gift under both Freshmen and All Undergraduates. Note the % of students who received merit aid and the average amount of the gift. 

Many public schools in the Western US have a mutual agreement that will reduce tuition for qualified students. This program is commonly referred to as WUE, pronounced woo-eee. Note that:​​

• For public colleges, out-of-state students normally pay about 300% of what in-state students do.
• WUE students pay 150% of the in-state tuition, which can mean significant savings.
• Requirements vary:  academic achievement and the timing of your application usually make a difference, and not all majors are included.
• Participation varies:  UC schools in California do not participate, and neither do the Oregon Flagship schools (Oregon State or U of Oregon). However, the University of Idaho, Boise State, Montana State, and the University of Montana do participate, and the cost of these schools can end up being comparable to Washington public schools for many students. 
• Search the list on www.wiche.edu/wue to find participating schools and programs.

Search and ask for details and apply early; participating schools give out a limited number of WUE awards.

Please note that the “in state tuition is less expensive” guideline only applies to public schools. Private schools do not have in-state/ out-of-state pricing. 

• College will cost more if you have to pay for more years. The best way to contain college costs is to graduate in four years, but that can be difficult at some schools. In fact, most students take longer than four years to graduate.

  • In Washington, the average four year graduation rate for public 4-year colleges is 44.1% and the six-year rate is 68.1%.
  • In Washington, the average four year graduation rate for private 4-year colleges is 57.8% and the six year rate is 70.8%.

  To check rates

  • Use College Completion to look up by college or by state. 
  • Use CollegeData.com to look up by school. Use the Students tab to check 4-year, 5-year, and 6-year graduation rates as well as retention rates. 

   

You do not want to be drowning in debt during or after college. A dream school can quickly become a nightmare if you are saddled with an insurmountable financial burden.

If you think you may rely on loans to help cover college costs, check the average indebtedness at each school you are considering.

• Go to CollegeData.com and search for a school. On the Overview tab, scroll down to the Money Matters section, and look for Average Indebtedness of Graduates. 
• Use College Navigator to check the Cohort Default Rate of graduates who took out loans. If this is high, ask why. 

Understand how Scholarships Work & Start Searching for Them

Most financial assistance will come through the institution, but students & families should also investigate outside scholarships. See the Scholarships page for information and ten ways to search for Scholarships.