Starter School & college skill
College list
Build a college list the person can defend.
Build a college list with a student, from their actual numbers and their actual constraints. The artifact is a comparison sheet — eight to twelve schools they would genuinely attend, each labeled reach, match, or safety, with verified admissions data and honest cost estimates side by side. The list is theirs; your job is to make every row true.
Rule zero: real data, real costs
Every number on the sheet comes from a source you opened this session: the college's admissions page, its Common Data Set, or the federal College Scorecard. Never quote acceptance rates, test ranges, or prices from memory — they drift every year and this decision is too expensive for stale numbers. And cost gets equal billing with admissions from the first minute: a school they cannot pay for is not on the list, however pretty the campus.
Their side of the equation
- The numbers: GPA (weighted and unweighted if they know both), test scores or test-optional intent, course rigor, class rank if their school ranks.
- Hard constraints: what the family can actually pay per year — ask them to find out if they do not know, because everything hangs on it — plus distance from home, size, setting, and any must-haves (a specific major, a sport, a community).
- Soft preferences, honestly held: what they want out of the four years, in their words. Push past brand names to reasons.
Research each candidate
For every school they name plus ones you surface from the constraints, look up and record:
- Admission reality: acceptance rate and the middle-50% GPA and test range from the school's own site or Common Data Set. Use reach, match, and likely only as rough planning labels, never promises. Admission is holistic and no school is guaranteed. A likely option requires both a strong admission case and a credible way to pay.
- Cost reality: sticker price, then run the school's own net price calculator with the family entering its own figures privately — do not ask them to paste tax or account data into the chat. That output, not the sticker, goes on the sheet. Note merit-aid patterns and whether the school meets full demonstrated need.
- Fit facts: does their major exist, program strength, graduation rate, distance, size. From official pages and Scorecard data.
Balance and build the sheet
- Include several options they would happily attend that appear both likely and affordable, plus match and reach options if desired. Replace any school they would not attend. The labels organize research; they do not predict an individual decision.
- Build the sheet as a spreadsheet they keep: one row per school, columns for label, acceptance rate, middle-50 range, net price estimate, major, distance, deadline type (ED/EA/regular) and date, and a notes column in their words.
- Read the finished sheet together bottom-up, safeties first. If the safeties feel fine, the whole process loses its terror.
--- name: college-list category: school description: Build a college list the person can defend. Compares admission likelihood, academic fit, and affordability using current official sources. Use when they say "where should I apply", "help me pick colleges", or their list has no realistic affordable options. --- # college-list Build a college list with a student, from their actual numbers and their actual constraints. The artifact is a comparison sheet — eight to twelve schools they would genuinely attend, each labeled reach, match, or safety, with verified admissions data and honest cost estimates side by side. The list is theirs; your job is to make every row true. ## Rule zero: real data, real costs Every number on the sheet comes from a source you opened this session: the college's admissions page, its Common Data Set, or the federal College Scorecard. Never quote acceptance rates, test ranges, or prices from memory — they drift every year and this decision is too expensive for stale numbers. And cost gets equal billing with admissions from the first minute: a school they cannot pay for is not on the list, however pretty the campus. ## Their side of the equation - The numbers: GPA (weighted and unweighted if they know both), test scores or test-optional intent, course rigor, class rank if their school ranks. - Hard constraints: what the family can actually pay per year — ask them to find out if they do not know, because everything hangs on it — plus distance from home, size, setting, and any must-haves (a specific major, a sport, a community). - Soft preferences, honestly held: what they want out of the four years, in their words. Push past brand names to reasons. ## Research each candidate For every school they name plus ones you surface from the constraints, look up and record: - Admission reality: acceptance rate and the middle-50% GPA and test range from the school's own site or Common Data Set. Use reach, match, and likely only as rough planning labels, never promises. Admission is holistic and no school is guaranteed. A likely option requires both a strong admission case and a credible way to pay. - Cost reality: sticker price, then run the school's own net price calculator with the family entering its own figures privately — do not ask them to paste tax or account data into the chat. That output, not the sticker, goes on the sheet. Note merit-aid patterns and whether the school meets full demonstrated need. - Fit facts: does their major exist, program strength, graduation rate, distance, size. From official pages and Scorecard data. ## Balance and build the sheet - Include several options they would happily attend that appear both likely and affordable, plus match and reach options if desired. Replace any school they would not attend. The labels organize research; they do not predict an individual decision. - Build the sheet as a spreadsheet they keep: one row per school, columns for label, acceptance rate, middle-50 range, net price estimate, major, distance, deadline type (ED/EA/regular) and date, and a notes column in their words. - Read the finished sheet together bottom-up, safeties first. If the safeties feel fine, the whole process loses its terror. ## Done - 8–12 schools, balanced, every one they would attend - Every number sourced this session, net price not sticker - The sheet saved where they and their family can see it Next step is the apply-to-college-system skill — this sheet is its input. And if net prices broke the budget, the scholarship-search skill works the other side of the equation.