🔥Quick Burn: Create a Simple Starter College List
A perfect first task for families early in the college search process!
Coming Next Week… A New Scholarship Series!
Over the next few weeks, I’ll be sharing a short series about outside scholarships — what they actually do, where families get stuck, and how to decide whether they’re worth pursuing at all.
This series is for you if:
You have a capable, responsible high school student, not a résumé superstar.
You’re middle-class and looking at college costs thinking, “We’re going to need a plan.”
Scholarships feel like the obvious answer, but the process feels confusing, overwhelming, or discouraging.
You want to help your teen make smart decisions without burning them out.
You value clarity, strategy, and calm more than hype and hustle.
This is not a series about chasing the biggest scholarships, gaming the system, or applying to hundreds of awards “just in case.” It’s about understanding how scholarships actually work — so you can decide when they’re worth your time, and when they’re not.
If this sounds like your family, the next few posts should be clarifying (and hopefully relieving). Can’t wait to see you next week! And now… on to this week’s good stuff!
Welcome to 🔥Quick Burn! This series is designed to offer you a simple, no-hassle college planning task you can complete in 5 minutes or less. 🔥Quick Burns are designed to get you out of procrastination mode and into action with zero stress or worry, just as rockets use quick burns to overcome gravity, generate thrust, and propel themselves into the atmosphere. Every step you take towards planning and applying for college is one less thing to keep you up at night. Stop overthinking and take action!
🔥Quick Burn Challenge: Create a Starter College List
Two schools. That’s it.
When I first meet with students to discuss making their college list, they often have no idea where to start. Most teens have very little exposure to college campuses. And even if they have visited a few, one campus is much like another if you don’t know what you’re looking for.
So one of the first things I do, after chatting for an hour or so to get to know the student, is suggest a small number of colleges for them to check out.
Sometimes these are colleges that are on the teen’s radar for whatever reason. But often they are schools that seem to me to have one or more features that might appeal to the student, but that he or she hasn’t considered before.
The goal is not to say yes or no to this particular school. It’s to practice getting to know a college and to observe their own reactions to it.
So this week’s 🔥Quick Burn Challenge🔥 is to play the part of counselor for your own teen and create a starter college list — two colleges that you think have some feature or features that would be a fit for your student. Maybe they’re close to home, or near the mountains, or downtown in a major city. Maybe they are known for their athletics, or are top-notch in your student’s field of interest. Maybe it’s your alma mater, or a college that draws a lot of students from your teen’s high school.
This exercise doesn’t require you to be a college expert. Think of just one or two campus features that you anticipate will be important for your teen and look for colleges that match them.
Voila! You have the beginnings of your student’s list. And successful journeys begin with baby steps.
If your student is starting to react to certain colleges — this one feels exciting, that one feels wrong — pay attention! Those early reactions are often more useful than rankings or reputation, and they’re the raw material for building a smart college strategy.
Got 10 More Minutes?
Spend a few minutes checking out one of your college choices with your student (that part’s important!). A few things you can try:
Take the virtual tour on the college’s website. Notice what the college emphasizes. Its coffee shops and rock climbing wall? Its state-of-the-art classrooms? Its active campus life? This gives you some insight into what this community values.
Browse the admissions page. What coursework does the college expect your student to have completed? Does it require test scores? When are the application deadlines?
Peruse programs of interest. If your student doesn’t have a major in mind yet, look at the full list of majors offered. What cool or unique programs stand out? Do students seem to spend a lot of time in the classroom? Doing field research? Collaborating on projects?
Explore social media. Look past admissions! Search Instagram or TikTok for clubs and other groups related to the college. What was happening on campus over the last week? The last month? Are those activities you’d enjoy or does this campus seem lame?
Listen to your gut. What’s something you loved about this college? Something you think you would hate? Could you see yourself living here for four years?
Again, the goal here isn’t to evaluate this specific college per se. It’s to look for patterns. What features are important to your student — either things a school must have, or things that are major turn-offs?
As a parent, pay attention to the subtle reactions. You know when your teen is impressed or UNimpressed, even if they don’t say it out loud! You’re building a mental checklist of what makes a college a good fit for your unique teen, and helping them to see which differences matter most. This will help you to build a full list of colleges that are compatible for your student.
If this activity helped your student articulate what they like (or don’t like), you’re already ahead!
Parents don’t need to have all the answers—they just need the right next step.
Exercises like this one help clarify direction, but most families benefit from support in figuring out what comes next. This kind of early exploration works best when it’s followed by a plan that helps families interpret what those preferences actually mean.
Ready for the next step?
Ever wish you had your own personal guidance counselor? Let’s talk.
