Frank Bruni

I often get asked "what is THE BEST college for xxx" and to be honest, it is hard to answer that question in general. The best college for whatever facet you are ranking colleges on is the one that is the best fit for your student and family's priorities. This is why we spend so much time on research before even diving in to the applications - it helps us all learn about each school and refine your priorities. This refining continues throughout the process - my current seniors, about a month away from making their final decision, are still refining,as they have grown tremendously since they started researching colleges.

A few days ago, one of my favorite writers on the subject of college, Frank Bruni*, had an article in the New York Times regarding college rankings. I wanted to pass it on to show you the value of college research, college visits, and the discussions you have at home with your student about your priorities in making a college list and ultimately choosing a college. If you have a few minutes, please give it a read here.

(Let me know if you can't get through the paywall.)

In addition to the article, they've created a fun tool to "build your own rankings". It is not comprehensive, but fun to see how changing your own priorities changes the order in which colleges are ranked, and just how custom this process is.

Let me know if you have any questions on this topic - finding the right fit for your college list and final decision is the most important thing to me and the more we share, the stronger that fit will be.