Building a Better College List Ideas for our monthly columns come from many different places, but after the umpteenth conversation with my colleague, Tim, about people's misguided notions that we can "just make a college list", I decided to write about the considerations that we put in to each of the college lists we create for our clients. In truth, we never get "the list" right on the first try and, in fact, we don't try do. Figuring out which colleges are the best matches is an iterative process, but the more the client understands their options, the more they learn about what is important to them, and the better the ultimate list will be.