College websites are full of information you can use, but remember that they are essentially advertisements. A good resource for impartial descriptions of colleges can be found in the Fiske Guide to College, available in book form or as an iPad app. With Fiske, you can get a pretty complete and accurate description of a school in just two pages.
The quickest way to learn more about campuses is through an internet search engine. Sites like College Prowler can give you a student’s perspective, while the search engine on College Board can give you a broad overview of campuses. The campus websites themselves are much more comprehensive and therefore more time consuming, but I would recommend you pay a visit there as well.
Clearly the internet has made researching colleges quicker and easier than ever before. But you can get bogged down in the glitz of a website. Instead of randomly browsing a site, pick out several elements that are important to you, then compare only those features of college websites you visit. That way you’re comparing the same elements. Here are some suggestions to get you started: majors offered, study abroad opportunities, greek life, online student newspaper, faculty accomplishments, admission profile. Add or subtract elements as you refine your search. And take notes or make a spreadsheet of facts and observations about each college.
I suppose that the quickest way to research a college/university is to go to the institution’s website. You can find out information about how to apply, financial aid/scholarship options, activities, campus facilities, facts and data about the institution, and so on. An advantage to the website over printed material is that, depending on the school, the websites are usually kept up-to-date on an ongoing basis.
Take virtual tours on the Internet, talk to current & graduate students, visit schools close by if they’re on your list.
www.collegeboard.org/ go there!
If you know what you want to study, start with academic programs. The College Finder by Steven Antonoff will help you identify colleges that should be on your radar screen for specific majors. Antonoff also has a website called InsideCollege.com. US News & World Report ranks some undergraduate programs, such as engineering and business.
Take virtual tours on the Internet, talk to current & students who graduated, visit schools close by if they’re on your list.
Typically, I encourage those with whom I collaborate to use the following three web portals:
Search engines have become the fastest way to investigate just about anything. There are several excellent avenues to research colleges: college fairs, personal visits/tours, guidebooks, brochures, alumni interviews, community meetings hosted by college admissions officers, and reps coming to high schools. Take advantage of all of these options whenever possible. For speed, use the internet. 1. Begin with the college website. Look for tabs that say things like, ‘Fast Facts’, ‘Quick Links’, ‘Prospective Students’. These will provide highlights and important information you need to know as an applicant. A majority of college websites offer virtual tours so you can see the campus in action. 2. When you don’t know which colleges have the degree or major you want, turn to the variety of search engines that provide ‘college matches’. Obviously, you are using one of the biggest right now, Unigo. Use the “Find a College” section to match you with prospective colleges and see data, pictures, & videos of campuses. 3. The two major admissions tests sites – ACT & SAT, each provide free college searches and data on universities. 4. Other sites that may be helpful include: CollegeMajors101.com, MyMajors.com, CollegeConfidential.com, and Naviance. You can experience information overload quickly, so take notes as you research and create your own computer files to store the information you want to retrieve later.
There are many good college search engines: college board, princeton review, naviance, etc.
most online tools are only good for academic match making process, the counselors can help students to finalize the list of schools and come up with the strategy for admissions. it will save time, money, and achieve better results.
I appreciate that on Google, you can do an “advanced search” using specific words, phrases, or majors. I always have one tab opened to Collegeboard and one finger jammed inside The College Finder, my dear mentor and colleague, Steve Antonoff’s indispensable and utterly relevant book of college lists.
1. College Navigator allows user-defined searching on a number of key parameters. http://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/
Obviously the web will give you an immediate read on colleges. Whether you use school-specific sites, Unigo.com, or other search engines; there is nothing like the instant feedback from the internet. Talking to folks is another avenue to pursue when gleaning information. Guidebooks, view books, and educational consultants/guidance counselors are other options to consider.
Here is my advice on researching colleges online: INFORMATION TO CHECK ON EACH SCHOOL WEBSITE:
In the case of dance and the performing arts, outside of the usual search methods, a very savvy way to research the departments is by reading bios of artists in dance companies, orchestras, opera, theatre to learn which colleges they attended. These bios are often on the company websites and also in the playbills of the performances you may attend. If you read enough of them, you may see a trend toward several schools and get a feeling for which departments graduate the artists who work in companies to which you aspire.
It’s easier than ever to access information about colleges. Official websites, guidebooks, and online college resources like Unigo offer many ways to learn about potential schools and explore whether they might be good fits for you.
1. Ask for their brochure and go to their website! 2. Contact any alumni friends your parents, brothers/sisters, or teachers might have who would be interested in discussing it with you–remember it’s not an interview, it’s an opportunity for you to see whether you’d be interested. 3. Google them! See what they’re about. Check out college forums, college profiles–their website, college newspapers and publications…
The quickest ways to research colleges is by usuing guide books and rankings. But use both to narrow your choices and get further information from other sources.
In this day and age the internet is without a doubt the quickest way to undertake initial college research. Whether you are focusing on size or location, program or cost, a few strategic, appropriately chosen words entered into a “Google search” can lead you to a wealth of first impression information from which you can later expand your search and get a more defined sense of the schools you might be interested in. Whether through lists or rankings, in numeric or narrative form, there is a wealth of information out there to be had, but much of its real value will stem from how carefully you have identified what it is you want to know. The search–even at its earliest stages—is about trying to find the best possible fit for the individual student.
– Research guides and websites like Unigo are the quickest ways, because they provide many qualitative and quantitative statistics and details in one place so you can easily compare schools with each other, as well as get a superficial snapshot of what the school is like.
the internet
I love using the College Board’s college search tool: http://collegesearch.collegeboard.com/search/index.jsp
Use the internet. That is the sure fire quickest way to research an institution. Use sites like Unigo, Collegeboard, or if your school uses Naviance. Make sure that you check out each schools specific sites too.
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