Deciding on a college can be an overwhelming experience for most students. The number of colleges in the United States alone is over 3000. While several books and articles have been written on choosing a college, students can gain a broader perspective by conducting online college searches.
College Navigator
The United States Department of Education's Institute of Educational Sciences has created a college search engine based specifically on facts and statistical information. The College Navigator lists several college criteria options for students to select. The student can choose as many or as few of the options for their own search. This site allows students to search for colleges based on SAT subtest score (minimum to maximum), extended learning opportunities, and colleges for specific student groups.
Since this site is operated by the Institute of Educational Sciences, the information is mostly statistical. Colleges have to report statistical data to the Institute every year, which is how the site is developed. The site also offers the user to save the search into their server.
College Board's MatchMaker
College Board has developed a program that assists students to quickly find college matches. The MatchMaker is arranged in eight specific categories, each with several questions. Each question is prefaced by a small description, which allows the user to understand the question more clearly. The result information is similar to that found in College Navigator; however, since College Board owns the SAT, AP, PSAT, and CLEP testing, it can provide that information as well.
Another feature of this program is that students can enter academic information in the "Organizer" and then review how on track they are towards admission to specific colleges. These features can provide students an abundant amount of personalized college information.
The Princeton Review's Counselor-O-Matic
Imagine being interviewed by a school counselor on college selection. The Counselor-O-Matic program offers questions in an interview type manner. The questions are informal and fun. The question categories are similar to both the College Navigator and Matchmaker; however, this program integrates ranking and lists based on the college guides published by the Princeton Review. Users will be prompted to register for free on the site prior to reviewing the full list of college results. This search engine is found on Princeton Review's site.
College search engines are timesavers for today's high school students. With college choices numbered in the thousands, students can quickly find a working list of college matches. The sites mentioned in this article are the most popular that are used by school counseling programs around the United States. Students can chose to use other sites; however, they should conduct at least three different site searches. This will allow students to cross reference the results from each search and to create working college list.
Kerrie Troseth - Kerrie is a licensed school counselor who works exclusively with adolescents. As a school counselor she is trained in the areas of ...
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