.svg)
Waysmith Advisor covers 400+ four-year colleges, with more added each quarter. For each one, I bring together the school’s own numbers, federal data and my own research: hundreds of hours reading each school’s materials, talking to students and touring campuses. Here’s where each piece comes from and how a list gets built from it.
Each school’s Common Data Set. The standard report most colleges publish every year: how much each admissions factor counts, average GPA, Early Decision numbers, financial aid, class sizes, housing and Greek life. I use the newest one each school has posted, most from 2025–26. About 60 schools don’t publish one. For those, I rely on federal data and the school’s own class profile.
Federal data. From the U.S. Department of Education’s College Scorecard and IPEDS: size, admit rates, test score ranges, net price by family income, graduation and retention rates, student debt and earnings after college.
Each school’s own website. The 2026–27 cost of attendance, test policies, and aid policies like meeting full need or replacing loans with grants. I note when each one was checked.
Application deadlines. From the Common App and each school’s admissions site, for students starting college in fall 2027.
Other public lists. Dozens of public lists and directories, such as Fulbright’s top-producing schools, NCAA game attendance, and county and state election results.
Some of what families ask about didn’t exist as data, so I built it.
Door-to-door travel from your home. Enter your ZIP code to see the drive, or the flight route, whether a nonstop is likely and the total time door to door. These are estimates from airport locations and road data, not airline schedules.
Walkability and what’s nearby. How easy it is to get around on foot near campus and how much there is to do within walking distance, built from OpenStreetMap data and my own formula.
Setting and getting around. Each campus as rural, town, suburban, city or big city, on one scale for every school, plus the nearest airports and big city with drive times.
My own research covers the harder-to-measure but just as important parts of fit: campus culture and the social scene, how intense the academics feel, who thrives at a school, what makes it distinctive, which programs are strong and how present religion is in campus life. I read each school’s own materials, tour campuses and talk with students, admissions officers, faculty and counselors. I also factor in what students, alumni and parents say online, when it’s repeated and consistent. And I draw on my work as a college counselor.
It starts with a guided interview. The student talks about what they’re into, how they like to learn and what kind of campus feels right. They rank what matters most to them. The family shares their budget and what they expect or need in aid.
Waysmith Advisor then compares every one of the 400+ schools to the student on dozens of factors, from programs and class sizes to campus culture and cost, and builds the list from the strongest matches. It checks the student’s odds at each one, using the school’s admissions numbers and the student’s grades, course rigor and test scores. Those odds are only as good as the details the student gives me, so accurate grades, courses and scores matter. They also can’t capture everything that makes up your student, so treat them as approximate. The final list mixes reach, target and likely schools.
Each school on the list says why it’s there, its sticker price and what families at their income have paid after aid. The sticker price matches the student’s situation, whether they’re in-state, out-of-state or international.
The interview and the short fit notes use AI to understand the student and explain each match in plain language. The matching runs on the in-depth, school-by-school research described on this page.
Every figure that changes from year to year says which year it’s for. Costs are for 2026–27. Deadlines are for students starting in fall 2027. I’m always adding new data, and every six months I do a full update across all schools. Federal data runs a year or two behind, because that’s when the government releases it.
