Headed to Michigan
We're off to Grand Rapids! Our next college visit will be to Kendall College of Art and Design (KCAD) at Ferris State University. This will be the third college we've visited to date, following the University of Iowa and the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design (MIAD). Summer break has been a busy time for us, and in a few weeks we'll be heading west on a long-planned trip out to see the Grand Canyon, Zion National Park, and Taos, New Mexico. No college visits planned during that journey, but you never know!
August is right around the corner, and with it comes the first opportunity submit your Common App applications. If you're not familiar, it's the universal application form used by a growing number of colleges and universities. With it comes the reminder that early decision and early action schools and strategies are also quickly arriving. Ack! Where's the wine cooler when you need one?
I have also begun to do more data exploring, having learned about the Common Data Set, and how that trove of information holds clues as to how much merit aid a particular school might give out. Slicing and dicing numbers is what I'll be focusing on in more detail in future posts. Tell me where you're headed, and the criteria and numbers you'll be tossing around on a napkin or spreadsheet to help make sense of The Decision.
Finally, this evening I happened to run into a young man who graduated Lane Tech two years ago and just finished his Freshman year at Knox College. He remembered me from the nascent Podcast Club I helped launch back then. It made me realize that one aspect to all this is hearing from students AFTER they've made the decision where to attend and how they currently felt about their choice. He recalled applying to about 13 schools, but didn't remember all the ones that accepted him. Now he was thinking of transferring to a different school for next year. I'd love to interview any other students who made their pick and then had second thoughts. It might illuminate the choice ahead for us.