As each graduating class winds down its college search and arrives on college campuses later this month, it’s time to take a closer look at how Millennials make this, their first significant life choice. At Brand Amplitude, we have been especially involved with incoming freshman. Hanover College is a client. I teach at University of Notre Dame. Most significantly, I lived every step of the process with my 17-year old daughter this past 18 months (that’s her in the photo with a friend at one of our dozens of campus visits). College admissions professionals have been pondering how Millennials think about college for several years and much as been written about the differences relative to previous generations. As the largest generation since the Boomers, their sheer size has made getting into college more competitive. The number of high school graduates peaked in 2008 and won’t reach this same level again for a decade. As one of the most closely parented and best chauffeured generations, they are uniquely qualified with after school activities, awards, and impressive SAT/ACT scores (yes, math scores are improving). Consequently, the process starts earlier (as early as sophomore year) and requires more diligence, and applications, than ever before.

Our work suggests that the main difference is that Millennials love and demand choices, but have a hard time narrowing them down. Making a choice, means giving up the alternative, something they seem particularly loathe to do. While most will tell you that their decision process was driven by financial considerations, College Board statistics show the actual cost of attending college, adjusted for ‘tuition discounting’ (also known as financial aid), is flat or declining. Less than 10% say financing college is a ‘real concern’ (down 100% from a decade ago) and 39% say it is no concern at all.

So what is the real driver? A quick look at how many students remain close to home suggests that location is key. With the exceptions of Alaska and many New England states, most graduates stayed within their home state. In Michigan, Indiana, and Kentucky, less than 15% of 2007 graduates attended school out of state.

Academic reputation is consistently the attribute that college students say is their main choice criteria, but with so many excellent schools to choose from, the difficulty of comparing schools, and the ‘undecided major’ status of most incoming freshmen, this finding must be taken with a large grain of salt. So what is actually driving decisions? Ask an admissions officer this question, as I have at George Washington University, Notre Dame, Hanover College and Purdue North Central, and it is remarkable how often you will get a knowing smile. The true answer is that the minds of Millennials are a mystery — many times even to the students themselves. Seemingly random elements such as the tour guide’s attitude, the weather the day of a campus visit or a call from a faculty member can make the difference.

Millennial indecision makes life especially difficult for college marketers, who spend millions a year on glossy view books, web sites and college fairs. Our advice to colleges is that with differentiating based on academics so difficult, 1) details matter more than you think 2) parents are especially influential (although students will tell you otherwise) and 3) third party endorsements are key. On this last point, we found that students are likely to dismiss the avalanche of school generated propaganda in favor of peer information. At the same time, Facebook has made it easy to find ‘friends’ at other schools, so you no longer have to wait until Christmas break to hear how they are doing. Sites such as Rate my Professor and StudentReviews.com make it easy to get the “real” scoop on what other students think of their school, good and bad.

So how do Millennials decide? In the end, it often comes down to immediate questions of where they think they will ‘fit in’ and have an enjoyable experience. Schools that extend themselves and show that they really want the student, as opposed to just ‘admit’ them are likely to have the edge. For this collaborative generation, the need to ‘belong’ trumps most other considerations.