Want to research and tour colleges without spending money on guide books and travel? Finding college & career information and visiting schools on the Internet is easy and cost-effective thanks to many useful search tools and web sites. If you know where to look, you can access a wide range of college-bound resources & information such as: admission statistics, graduation rates, course offerings, financial aid & scholarships, careers and majors, application forms and filing dates. You can even tour the campus and find students ratings and opinions.
InLikeMe’s Ultimate College-Bound Resource List (http://www.inlikeme.com/resources) contains hundreds of valuable resources.
You’ll find a sampling below:
- College Matchmaker: Looking for the right fit? Tell “College Matchmaker” (from The College Board) what you’re looking for, and it will recommend some colleges and universities that meet your needs: http://apps.collegeboard.com/search/advhome.jsp
- College Majors: Before searching for colleges by the majors they offer, take the time to learn about some of the over 600 majors and careers profiled here: http://www.collegeboard.com/csearch/majors_careers/profiles/index.html
- Exploring Careers: Check out the Bureau of Labor and Statistics Career Guide to link your favorite subject in school to a possible career: http://www.bls.gov/k12/
- College Navigator: This comprehensive site from the U.S. Department of Education includes an excellent college search engine and side-by-side comparison tools: http://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator
- Student Opinions, Editorials & Ratings: Check out College Prowler to get the “inside scoop”: http://collegeprowler.com
- Student Reviews & Candid Video Interviews: Check out Unigo to find out what students have to say about 250+ colleges and universities: http://www.unigo.com
- Campus Tours: YOUniversityTV.com features entertaining and informative video tours of college campuses from Florida to California to Hawaii. http://www.YOUniversityTV.com
- Best College Values: Kiplinger’s ranks the top values in Public Colleges and Universities. You can use various criteria to search and sort: http://www.kiplinger.com/money/collegevalues/
- Accredited Institutions and Programs: The U.S. Government provides a database of Accredited Institutions and Programs. http://www.ED.gov
- U.S. News – The World’s Best Colleges: Features “top” schools and provides helpful information about selecting and paying for college: college-search-top-ten-power-engines
Lynn Radlauer Lubell, Publisher of InLikeMe.com and Founder of Admission By Design, an Educational Consultancy based in Boca Raton, Florida.