I only have two bits of advice to offer

by Greg, seemingly ranch, Thursday, April 09, 2026, 14:56 (7 days ago) @ Grantland
edited by Greg, Thursday, April 09, 2026, 15:13

First, there are a lot of schools out there - a huge number of schools - and we found that first visits were for weeding out the ones where the kid could tell quickly they wouldn't be happy. But we encouraged and abetted multiple follow-ups in the spring so they could find where they would be happiest. A lot of that, once you get through the fall and the weeding-out process, is figuring out the geography and how it meshes with what the kid wants. The rest is based on student body (I am presuming he's only looking at schools where his desired major is offered). There is a school I fell in love with for each of our kids; gorgeous campus, good majors and job placement, beautiful surroundings; unfortunately it was in a smaller town/city that had no "college" area (despite having two colleges) and really felt run down while at the same time being like 2 hours from anywhere you'd want to go.

Second, do your own research. There is a website I used https://highereddive.com, and I'm sure some will take issue with it. But it did a good job of chronicling and cataloguing closures of schools as well as other money issues. I also used https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/ and it helps you dig into the financials of the schools you're looking into. By using those tools and doing your own work, you can get a good feel for whether a school that seems to be expanding really quickly (sounds like you've seen one!) is actually expanding too quickly and is financially unsound. You can also get a feel for whether a school that looks like it hasn't changed much has done so with intent or because it is financially unsound.

For our 3.25 student, finding a place where they fit and felt like they were going to be challenged but not overwhelmed was key. But as you seem to have already picked up, those schools can be tricky because on their face it's hard to figure whether they are in great financial shape or barely getting by. So doing the dive into financials will help you feel comfortable that when he finds the place where he really feels he fits and really wants to spend the next stage of life you can feel that the place will be there and not be undergoing weird changes or facing cutbacks that in retrospect you will kick yourself for not having seen coming.

Overall, it is actually a really fun process for kids like your son and our similar student. Getting beyond the chase for prestige and really getting into a search to find a place that you think they'll love is a joyful thing as a parent. And that's not to knock higher-GPA kids either - our first was in a somewhat different place; still no Ivy and not even ND-level; but wound up picking his school over one with higher prestige/status because the chosen school really felt like home. As graduation nears, I couldn't be happier with that choice.

Enjoy!

--
The 2007 ND-UCLA game was a once in a lifetime experience, I hope