Favorite resources for sifting through colleges

[chlobo]

My daughter who is a rising senior and seemed to be making progress on her college choices, has suddenly said she feels overwhelmed.

Does anyone have a favorite resource for sifting through colleges? One that deals with things beyond grades, such as what college life on a particular campus is actually like? Or have advice?

[NCGrandma]

I’ll be watching this thread with interest — not trying to hijack OP! DGD1 is a rising junior (not sure how that happened!!), and they are starting to try to identify options that will allow her to pursue her strong interest in art without closing out an academic emphasis. At this point, she is not focused on art schools. Any "sifting" help that might help us identify schools that are strong in both art and traditional liberal arts fields will be much appreciated.


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[SnuggleBuggles]

I honestly went old school and read guides, like the Fiske one and US News. I sat down at B&N and noted any that looked like possible options then had ds1 look at those. I enjoy doing stuff like that so was happy to do some research. Niche was good and there were some others as well.
Did she tour any? Setting foot on campus is really useful.
Also, don't stress! If you can afford the application fees and to cast a big net, let her. See where she gets in and then read more and do the accepted student visits (which were way more useful than the general tours). Once the acceptances come in, you can join the Facebook groups for parents and she can join for students and really get a lot of good questions answered. I'm sure there are groups for prospective students too but we didn't seek them out.

[ezcc]

DS used the Fiske guide as well, that is what his counselor recommended and it was good to flip through together after dinner or whenever- we just had it sitting out. It has some nice lists that are helpful. Niche was good for reading reviews. I do think tours are helpful, sadly we didn't get to do any (covid) but once he was able to set foot on a couple of campuses this spring it confirmed his choice from his accepted schools.

[Kindra178]

My daughter who is a rising senior and seemed to be making progress on her college choices, has suddenly said she feels overwhelmed.

Does anyone have a favorite resource for sifting through colleges? One that deals with things beyond grades, such as what college life on a particular campus is actually like? Or have advice?

I loved the Fiske guide to colleges when I was in high school. I just purchased it again. I still love it!

[essnce629]

Another vote for the Fiske guide. We always read over each school overview in the book before any in person or virtual tour, info session, etc.

[NCGrandma]

Another vote for the Fiske guide. We always read over each school overview in the book before any in person or virtual tour, info session, etc.

Glad to hear all the recommendations for the Fiske guide. Ted Fiske is one of my neighbors—when he and his wife moved to our CCRC, I think I was the only person who didn’t already know about his guide!


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[gatorsmom]

One of the most helpful guides that was recommended to us is Ruggs Recommendations. https://www.ruggsrecommendations.com/ It is divided by areas of study and majors. It lists the universities with the strongest programs in that area of study. It further breaks those programs down into the schools by most highly selective, very selective, and selective. It also describes the size of those schools by student population. This guide is very particularly helpful if your child is looking for a specific program and already knows what size school s/he’d like. NcGrandma, this might be helpful for your granddaughter.

[gamma]

I just saw Bigfuture recommended.

[WatchingThemGrow]

Glad to hear all the recommendations for the Fiske guide. Ted Fiske is one of my neighbors—when he and his wife moved to our CCRC, I think I was the only person who didn’t already know about his guide!


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That is so cool!


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