Dear Sarah,
I'm starting to look for colleges for my daughter. How can I find discussions and evaluations of colleges by parents and kids online?
–Kate.mom
Dear Kate.mom,
There are lots of sites that cater to the college-bound
market, but I haven't found much of the first-hand,
on-the-ground commentary you're after. I asked a few
high-school college counselors why this would be, and the
consensus is that parents and college-bound students want
hard data: substantiated advice from experts–not subjective
rants and raves from strangers. "Getting opinions from
people who don't know you is an incredibly flawed way
to conduct research on where to spend the next four years
of your life," one counselor told me. Better to seek
counsel from people you know–and from professionals.
One such professional is Bruce Hammond, who resides at
ParentSoup.com. Hammond's credits include The Fiske
Guide to Getting into the Right College. Go see his
column and ask him a question. Also at ParentSoup there's
a well-hosted message board called "Campus Report"
where you may find useful information: www.parentsoup.com/boards.
Among the recommendations there is the online edition of
the college rankings from U.S. News & World Report:
www.usnews.com.
Other helpful sites: gocollege.com, which matches the applicant's
criteria with appropriate colleges; collegelink.com, which
connects to college Web sites and offers e-application services;
weapply.com, from The Princeton Review; webdorm.com, which
sports webcammed "webdormers"; fishnet.com; collegenet.com;
petersons.com; and collegeboard.org.
Phillips Exeter Academy publishes an online financial-aid
guide for its students, including finaid.org, sourcepath.com,
and fastweb.com, which specializes in identifying scholarships.
Finally, I suggest you read up on the scads of college guides
published every year. Just go to BarnesandNoble.com or Amazon.com,
enter "college guides," and you're on your
way.
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