+1 on doing campus visits. My son just started college this fall. He visited several schools during his senior year and it was an eye-opener. The school he ended up choosing was the one where things just "clicked" when he visited. Of course the academic opportunities are important, but so is the atmosphere/environment. The students seemed happy to be there, seemed to be there for the right reasons (not a "party school"), the campus was just the right size and located in an area he really enjoyed.

Another thing that was a reality check for him was to create a spreadsheet comparing the costs of attending all the schools he was considering. He was offered several scholarships that initially were very appealing. But when he compared the total remaining costs of all his choices, it became very clear to him that even with those scholarships some of those schools would be quite a stretch financially.