Step 5 Choosing a College
Where do you want to go?
There are over 4,000 degree-granting institutions in the USA. Many overseas colleges accept American students. How to choose which college is the best fit for you? These web sites and books are a great place to start.
Web: Colleges that Change Lives
A list of 40 lesser-known, but distinctive colleges and universities, each of which is unique in its own right. From the acclaimed author Loren Pope who wrote a book of the same name.
Web: StudentsReview
Reviews of colleges for students by students. High school students, see what current students and alumni have to say about the colleges you’re interested in. College students and alumni, review your college and help out prospective students.
Book: Best 357 Colleges, 2005 Edition (College Admissions Guides), by The Princeton Review
Results of a survey of hundreds of thousands of students. A good place to begin building your list of colleges.
Book: The Insider’s Guide to the Colleges, 2009: Students on Campus Tell You What You Really Want to Know, 35th Edition, by The Yale Daily News Staff
Profiles of over 300 top schools written by students for students.
Web: U.S. Universities
Where do you want to go? Here’s an alphabetic listing of US Colleges and Universities. Note that you can also choose to list by State.
Web: University and College Accountability Network
A new website resource for students and families who want to explore and compare private colleges. View college profiles in one convenient format. Saves searching multiple college websites. A breeze to use. Much better than the US News Rankings if you need a simple graphical summary of the main features of a college. We love it!
Web: Campus Compare
A comprehensive site with tools like a financial aid calculator as well as ways to help with college search and selection.
Web: unigo.com
A free, gigantic, student-generated guide to North American colleges for prospective applicants and their families. A rave review in the Sep 20, 2008 New York Times says it offers offers “an unfiltered, detailed, often somewhat eccentric view of campuses all over the country.”
