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Creating a College Search Spreadsheet

By Wendy L Nelson

As soon as you start thinking of schools you may be interested in researching during your college search, you should start keeping track of them. A spreadsheet is a useful tool to keep track of colleges and narrow down to the list of those you want to seriously consider.

You will want to include the following basic information on your spreadsheet:

1. School Name

2. School Location - city and state

3. Number of students

4. Cost to attend

You will also want to add additional information that is important to you. Some examples are:

• How many miles is the school from home or what is the estimated driving time?

• What types of scholarships might you be eligible for?

• Does the school have a major you think might be your first choice?

• When are visit days available?

• What special programs does the school have that you are interested in - honors program, study abroad, leadership program, etc.

• What athletic division is the school?

• Does the school have a varsity sport you are interested in?

• How selective is the school in its admissions?

One benefit of using a spreadsheet for this information is that it gives you the ability to easily sort by any column you create. For example, you could sort the schools by distance from home, by cost, or by size. You can also filter by any of the columns you create, like maybe you want to only see a list of schools that have your intended major or have Division 1 athletics. Another benefit of using a spreadsheet is the ability to add columns as you decide to track additional information.

At the start of your college search process, it is helpful to add any school you think of to your spreadsheet. Record the details and explore the school further. Once you start visiting schools, you can start eliminating some of the schools on your list according to your likes and dislikes. For example, maybe you realized that your ideal school size is less than 2,000 students. In that case, you can eliminate any schools on the list that exceed that number. Maybe you have decided you want to stay within two hours of home - eliminate any schools that are farther away.

As you start narrowing down your original list, you can add detail to gauge your interest level in each school. A color-coding process can be helpful for this. Use a color to signify all schools you plan to visit. Use another color for the schools you visited and liked. Add a column to record your overall impressions of each school.

A college search spreadsheet is a great tool to keep you organized throughout your college search and help you in making your ultimate college choice.

You don't have to create your own college search spreadsheet. I have created one for you. Just visit the following link to download my college search spreadsheet for free. You can customize the columns to fit your needs.

http://www.mykidscollegechoice.com/resources
You have read this article College University with the title Creating a College Search Spreadsheet. You can bookmark this page URL https://apt3e.blogspot.com/2012/12/creating-college-search-spreadsheet.html. Thanks!

8 comment for "Creating a College Search Spreadsheet"

  1. Here’s my basic Excel spreadsheet for tracking the colleges that our kids have started considering. I maintain a list that starts out pretty long as they tour, talk to their guidance counselor and research options. This is an easy way to quickly comparing schools using some key data. I like being able to link quickly to the college websites and the admissions websites. Feel free to take the spreadsheet, change it and make it yours.

    As we go through the process, I add and change columns for average test scores, deadlines, cost comparison, interview dates, sending the standardized tests, etc. One of the things that my son is interested in is playing club sports in college, so there’s space for individual interests. I filled in information for Harvard, just as an example.

    When a college is no longer on the list, I move the information to an area below, but I do not delete. You never know when a school might pop back into favor.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Useful things can be applicable to have in this content. These are all best essentials in making a college research spreadsheets. Thank you for giving a lot of interesting ideas about this things.

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  3. what a great post - i truly look forward to reading your blog everyday, thanks for sharing so much of your self - you're an inspiration!

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  4. Yes, this is definitely be a great ideas for obtaining our college degree. some things are very useful in our studies specially when we are doing some of the research in school. Using the spreadsheet tool would be a great advantage to have an efficient searches too.

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  5. Hi Nelson your spreadsheet tool is very useful for me....I can spent a lot of time in your blog.I am so interested in college search....Thank You

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  6. Hi your spreadsheet tool very easy to college search..Thanks for sharing....
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