Search Engines

• Search engines like Google give broad access to information.
• Narrow your search by knowing exactly what you are looking for. Search for specifics like college home pages, financial aid help, or online applications.

Reliability/Validity

• As with all information online, consider the source before deciding its reliability.
• Websites that provide a database/list of colleges may only include the colleges that pay to be listed or may not have up-to-date deadline information.
• Visit individual college websites for specific information.

College & Training Program Websites

• Comparative sites, like The Princeton Review, Collegeboard, and CollegeNET provide information about and links to college websites.
• Search for a college by using a general search engine. Use these hints when searching college websites:
  • Read the pages for prospective students thoroughly. You will get basic information about the college and a sense of the school’s mission and priorities.
  • Look at the home pages of faculty members in majors that you are interested in. Some professors post detailed syllabi of their classes, descriptions of the research interests, and email addresses.
  • Look at home pages put up by current students at the college. View a good sampling of student pages; don’t take a few complaints on one page as gospel.
  • Visit the home pages of student organizations to check out the schedule of activities and what role they play on campus.
  • Find the alumni association pages. Explore what the alumni of the college are doing now and what the college is doing for its alumni.

Applying Online

• As the option to apply online is becoming more common, many students will find that applying online is easier and more enjoyable than the paper application.
• Whether or not you apply online has no bearing on the college’s admission decision.
• Be careful not to use casual Internet language on your online applications.
• Be aware of how many colleges you apply to, as it may be easy to apply to several colleges at the click of a button.

The Internet can be exciting and useful, but sometimes other methods are just as rewarding. No matter how detailed the website is, it will never take the place of visiting the campus or talking to people who are involved in the college.