How to Research Schools

I talked about building a balanced list last week. How is a student supposed to build a balanced list if they don’t know about any colleges other than the public flagships of their state? Parents of juniors, here is task two: research schools. There are so many amazing, free tools to use. I love Big Future (by the College Board) and College Navigator (by the Department of Education). Students can enter criteria that appeal to them, and they will receive lists of schools with tons of information about each. The Fiske Guide book is great because the reviews of each school are so thorough. It also gives overlaps for each school, so if a student reads the review of Cornell College, it will tell them that similar schools they might want to check out include Coe, Lawrence, St. Olaf, Augustana, Luther, Loras, Colorado College, and Carleton. Also, all colleges have virtual tour options on their websites these days. There are quite a few other great sites listed in yellow on the picture below. Juniors should be spending time researching schools that might appeal to them. Schools should appear on their list because of specific attributes the school has to offer rather than because it’s a name they’ve heard of or that they know lots of students from their high school go to that university.