So you see the sun starting to set on your high school years and you’ve realized now’s as good a time as ever to start the college searching process. There are a lot of questions you need to ask yourself before finalizing your decision. What type of college environment would best fit you? Does it matter how large the institution is? What degrees are you majoring in and where can you receive the best education? It can all be mind boggling and a tad overwhelming as there are so many good, and bad, colleges to choose from and you don’t want to be stuck at an institution for four years regretting ever filling out the application. If decided on a major, there may be colleges that look good overall but offer not-so attractive departments inhibiting you of receiving the best education in your major. On the other hand, there may be a less-than-prestigious institution with one highly-acclaimed program that can give you a better chance of finding success in your career but is hidden in obscurity. It all depends on how well you did your research and, more to the point of this article, how accurate the college matchmaker tool you used was in helping you finalize a decision. There are many college matchmakers online, but how do you know which one is right for you? Below are a few popular college matchmaking tools that, if tried altogether, might give you the best choices possible.
College Board
The College Board has been a faithful resource for college students for over a century. These guys are the ones who gave you that SAT during your junior year. But besides handing out tests, they also prove to be a valuable resource for those seeking more information about colleges and universities. They’ll provide detailed explanations on various degree programs, while giving you advice on how to pick a school with a strong department. They also have a college search tool that’ll assist you in finding the perfect institution whether your preference is on cost, majors, locations, sports, or housing programs. And in most cases, you might need help funding the high price that universities often carry, so they offer help with finding scholarships as well. College Board is a useful site that’ll prove to be a valuable resource as you weed through the college process.
Zinch
Another useful, albeit unique sounding, college matchmaker comes from Zinch. This website provides helpful tips for students searching for colleges and also has scholarship matching tools to assist you in paying for tuition. They have blogs, events, a nice little Facebook page and super Easy Scholarships like their Three Sentence Essay program that awards students one grand if they give the best three sentence answer to a question. Free money that can help lessen the average $25,250 amount in student debt (according to Project Student Loan Debt’s findings) taking years to pay off will, I’m sure, be well-received by many prospective college students nationwide. This site was named in Red Herring’s Top 100 North American Tech Startup so definitely keep this site in mind as you search for colleges.
CollegeProwler
If you want a comprehensive process when it comes to searching for college, using more than one college matchmaking tool is always a good move. CollegeProwler does pretty much the same thing the previous sites do, they offer scholarships, provide college matchmaking services and post reviews written by college students. You can also rank colleges by either highest tuition, living conditions, preferred for transfer students, oldest institutions and more. They give you recommendations based on your SAT and ACT scores and what major you’re pursuing. When it comes to finding a college, they offer a basic and advanced college search tool (depending on how much help you need), so that even if you’ve already found a college matchmaking tool, you can still compare the results from various tools, aiding in the refinement process and giving you the best choices possible.
Online College Matchmakers
There are many more college matchmaking tools out there to further assist you in the college process. Fastweb is another popular site students go to find scholarships and colleges. And if you’re searching for an online degree, Education Connection matches you with online universities so you can go the college in pjs route to attaining a career. Also, there are paid services, like College Admissions Assistance that’ll help with the college process. If you’re willing to do a bit of research, you’ll find there are a ton of resources available to assist in finding a college that best matches you. Also, be sure to investigate further the results you get from various college matchmaking tools to get a better understanding of what that institution is about.
