Don’t let your senior’s college research stop at 'What's available?' The more useful question is 'How available is it?'

For the top 2-3 schools your senior has narrowed it down to, build a rough four-year grid. Years across the top. Activities down the side — clubs, internships, research, study abroad, whatever is on their bucket list. Then have them fill it in.

Back to "Nick," my engineering student from last week.

Year 1

• Get actively involved in an engineering design team — Formula One or rockets
• Start undergrad research with a professor working on robotics
• Find and join a bouldering club

Year 2

• Move into a project lead role on the design team
• Land a summer internship at a deep tech startup
• Get involved in theatre tech

Year 3

• Participate in a co-op program
• Do a semester in East or Southeast Asia
• Take a policy class focused on energy
• Seriously explore co-founding something

Year 4

• Take a life design class
• Live off-campus with a close group of friends
• Graduate with a job offer (or startup?)

Now you have something concrete to investigate:

• How competitive is it to get onto the engineering design team as a freshman? How many teams are there?
• What percent of students do co-ops? Is it rare or very common?
• What facilities and mentorship exist to support entrepreneurship?
• Is there even a rock climbing club? How close is the nearest gym?

More selective schools are often just as selective internally. That spot on the design team, the desirable co-op, the exciting undergrad research — at some schools it’s hard to come by, others make it easy to access. Now is the time to burrow into the details.