Balanced List Builder
A fit-first way to find well-matched colleges — a starting point for conversation, not a prediction.
A fit-first way to find well-matched colleges — a starting point for conversation, not a prediction.
Pick a few you already like. The tool finds better-aligned schools like these and folds that similarity into the ranking.
These weights decide the ranking inside each band. Fit factors are weighted above selectivity on purpose.
With a free College Scorecard API key set in the file, this tool automatically loads every U.S. four-year college from the U.S. Department of Education each time it opens (then caches it for 30 days, so it's instant after that). Get a key in about two minutes at api.data.gov/signup and paste it into scorecardApiKey at the top of the file. With no key, the tool runs on a small built-in sample set. What it reads per school:
| This tool | College Scorecard field |
| name | school.name |
| state / region | school.state · school.region_id |
| setting | school.locale (city→urban, suburb→suburban, town, rural) |
| size | latest.student.size |
| admit % | latest.admissions.admission_rate.overall |
| SAT mid | sat_scores.midpoint.critical_reading + math |
| net price | latest.cost.avg_net_price.overall |
| program strengths | latest.academics.program_percentage.* (real CIP field shares) |
| net price by income | latest.cost.net_price.{public|private}.by_income_level.* (5 federal income bands) |
| merit-aid signal | inferred — how much a school discounts latest.cost.attendance.academic_year for its $110k+ families |
| must-haves | religious_affiliation, men_only / women_only, minority_serving.* |
| program search | latest.programs.cip_4_digit.title (specific program names) |
Scorecard data typically lags ~1–2 years — fine for list-building. The API key is a free, rate-limited, public-data key: it's visible in the page source but grants no access to anything sensitive. Net price is an average; students should confirm figures on each school's own site.