Looking to find the right college to fit your lifestyle, personality, financial, and educational needs? College Cures has the list for you!
It can be really difficult when trying to choose a college, especially when you are in high school and you don’t know ANYTHING about college, aside from the things your family and friends tell you.
As a transfer student myself, I know how hard (and scary) it can be to change schools, especially when you didn’t have a great experience at your first school.
You are going to be spending A LOT of money (or your parents will be) so you might as well go to the right school the first time around and skip all the drama of transferring schools.
1. CollegeProwler.com
My Rating: Great source for all the stuff you REALLY care about, 10/10
This site is AMAZING! I wish I had a site like this when I was choosing schools. Whether you are currently a student, alum, transfer student, or still in high school, this site is definitely worth checking out!
On the surface, the site features information about each school including price, number of students, and information about the surrounding area.
The site takes it a step further by featuring rankings, the option to compare similar schools, a calculator to see if you can afford the school, quizzes to determine whether your personality matches that of the school, and a brief (but incredibly accurate) student overview for each school, to name a few.
The site also offers individual student reviews of the school and a “report card” for each which features a grade ranking system (A+ through F-) for all aspects of college life.
Items on the report card include everything from the attractiveness of males/females on campus to academics, athletics and dining halls (and everything in between!)
Rankings are broken down by category so they are easy to understand.
For instance, if you clicked “food” you would find the overall rating for the school, as well as each INDIVIDUAL score/review so you can see what different people had to say. Each of the rankings gives you information about the student reviewer as well, such as major and year standing so the reader can better understand the contributors’ perspective.
Already graduated?
Check out the site and see how accurate you think the reviews are! You can even upload your own review of the school, so if you have an opinion, put it out there; you may be helping someone make a really important decision!
2. MyPlan.com
My Rating: you could not ask for more, 10/10
This site is another hidden gem. It has so much valuable information in it, it makes me giddy!
Let’s start with the basics. First of all, the site has information ABOUT CAREERS!
As a former student with a lack of direction in the career department, I cannot tell you how IMPORTANT a site like this is to someone like me (and others who have struggled to find their way at school).
It not only lists available industries, but it breaks each of them down into a list of careers and ranks them in terms of keyword relevance.
The site then goes on to give a description of said job, the job requirements (education, training programs, etc), significant points about the job, the average salary, related careers, gender profiles, AND SO MUCH MORE! It even goes into the top skills, important areas of knowledge and specific abilities of those working in the field. You could not ask for more as far as I am concerned.
Not only does this site feature information about careers, it also has all you would ever want to know about each school!
The site breaks down each school into statistical information (like tuition, number of students, ratio of teachers to students, etc), but it also has a brief overview of the school as well as overviews of academics, athletics, student life and more.
Don’t forget to check out their majors database which allows you to not only search for specific majors (and the top universities that go along with them), but also browse the list of available majors throughout the US and the careers that go along with them!
The site also recently added student reviews and rankings, so now it REALLY has it all!
3. CollegeStats.org
My Rating: Great for someone looking for “facts”, 8/10
If you are looking for pure, statistical data to make your decision, this is the site for you!
CollegeStats is great because it gives you the information you are looking for without the fluff, fuss or details other sites provide.
This site can give you all of the stats on your college of choice including: the size of the school, the number of students attending, tuition (both in state and out), the number of students on financial aid, the ratio of teachers to students, the graduation/retention rate, the SAT scores needed to get in, the total number of applicants, the ratio of men to women, and it JUST GOES ON!
The only things this site doesn’t provide are reviews from students and information about majors; other than that, this site can give you everything else you need to know about the college of your dreams!
4. StudentsReview.com
My Rating: Great information, site can appear overwhelming/hard to navigate, 7.5/10
This site is a lot like CollegeProwler, but you may find a few things on this site that you can’t find anywhere else.
For instance, the site offers humorous ratings like “Biggest Rip Off” or “Social Nightmare” but it also offers important/serious ratings, like “Best Engineering School” or “Best Christian University,” and includes actual numbered rankings.
The site also offers a pie chart with statistics on whether or not students from this school would return to the school if they could do it all over again, which I think is a great indication of whether or not a school is worthwhile.
It also tells you right off the bat the number of reviews for each school and how many of those reviews were negative and positive so you don’t have to waste your time even looking at a school with a high number of negative reviews.
The site also provides information from former students on what is required to get into the school, tips on the application process, and information on attaining scholarships, to name a few.
Don’t be put off by the appearance of the site; it has a lot to offer so if you can navigate your way through it, you will DEFINITELY find useful/helpful information!
5. CampusFact.com
My Rating: Great for students who know what they want and are looking to find it, 6/10
This site is great for those who are looking to explore career options and all of the majors available to them.
What makes it so great is that it ranks schools according to majors.
For instance, if you are looking to go into Psychology, but want to stick to schools in Florida, the site can show you the top schools for Psychology in Florida. The site makes it easy by allowing students to search for schools by major, state, or religious affiliation.
As you scroll down the list of schools, you are also provided with the in-state tuition, the number of students at each school, and the type of degree program offered.
This site is also perfect for tje student who knows exactly what he/she wants to do, but doesn’t know which schools offer the best programs.
