When you start the college search process, you could be sifting through the thousands of colleges and universities in the United States. But we have some smart strategies to help you find the best school for you. To elevate your college search strategy, think about what you’re looking for in a school, talk to your guidance counselors throughout the process, attend college fairs, and use college search tools.
As you wrap up your final years of high school, you have a lot of ground to cover between ACT/SAT scores, scholarship applications, college applications, and your everyday schoolwork. Follow these tips and strategies to cut down on the time and stress:
Why Should You Search for a College?
There are thousands of colleges, universities, trade schools, and vocational schools in the United States. If you wanted to look at every single one, it would be difficult compare each one.
Flickr user Piyushgiri Revagar
Some students also fall prey to the idea that the local school is good enough and simply don’t search for colleges as it’s “easier” to just go to the local college. They might only apply to that single college. This can be a gamble. Even at schools with high admission rates, an acceptance letter isn’t always a guarantee. A good mix of safety, reach, and match schools is highly recommended. Plus, there’s no guarantee that that local college will match the student’s preferences, such as desired major, class size, and extracurriculars.
Searching for a college takes time, but it also helps you identify the schools that fit your wants, needs, budget, and goals.
When Should You Start Looking for Colleges?
The best time to start your college search is as soon as possible. The sooner you start, the better your application will be. Colleges look for well-rounded students. Grades matter, but so do extracurriculars, volunteer work, and experience. By starting your search early – in your junior year or even before – you give yourself plenty of time to improve your application.
Searching for a college is a process. You need to think about what you want in a school, find colleges that match your preferences, compare those colleges, visit campuses, and send in applications. This isn’t something that can be done overnight or even in a week. Trying to cram all of this in can result in lackluster applications, missed deadlines, and a whole lot of stress.
Here are some benefits of starting your college search early:
- You’ll be more aware of early deadlines, including early decision, early action, and school scholarship deadlines, and can plan accordingly.
- Some specific programs, such as art, require portfolios or other special requirements. Starting early gives you plenty of time to work on these.
- You can find more colleges. Starting earlier simply allows you more time to find and compare schools that interest you.
- You can start with a broader search, and you’ll have time to explore majors and programs, including ones you’ve never heard of.
6 College Search Tips
To find the best schools for you (efficiently), use these six college search strategies.
1. Consider What You’re Looking for in a College
Before anything else, you need to know what you’re looking for in a school. Since there are thousands of schools, you simply can’t compare them all. By identifying what you’d like in a college, you can start narrowing your search down before you even truly start your search.
Think about what’s important to you and your goals. To help you get started, begin with these questions:
- Which career do I want to pursue? And, what major will help me enter that field and career?
- What are my strengths and weaknesses in school?
- What sports or extracurricular activities do I want to participate in as a college student?
- Would I prefer to study on an urban campus, a rural campus, or somewhere in between?
- Is a larger or smaller college more suitable for my personality?
- Would I prefer smaller or larger classes?
- Do I want to attend a college close to home or out of state? Or even further away?
- What is my financial situation? How much money can I afford to put towards school, and do I want to take out loans?
- Do I need school-sponsored scholarships to attend?
- What am I looking for socially and culturally from a college campus?
- Do you thrive in a highly competitive environment or does competition overwhelm you?
- Are college traditions important to me?
- Would a research school or liberal college be a better fit for my goals?
It’s okay if you don’t know the answers to all of these questions right away. But this list of questions gives you a starting point. Make a running list of the answers as you go so you don’t lose track and think on it over a few weeks, looking at colleges to compare your options as you go.
2. Talk to Your High School Counselor
After several years of helping students apply to colleges, guidance counselors and high school college advisors have a wealth of knowledge you can tap into. It’s important, especially in your junior and senior years, to schedule meetings with them to go over your wants, needs, and goals for higher education. They can give you plenty of recommendations on schools, as well as tips to find colleges and help you improve your applications.
Some students even go a bit further and work with college admissions advisors to help them with their college search and applications.
3. Attend College Fairs
College fairs are a great place to start exploring colleges, especially if you aren’t quite sure what you’re looking for in a school or if a college you’re interested in is attending. Representatives from participating colleges will be there to answer your questions and offer you general information about the school. Most will have pamphlets and registration sheets if you’d like more details (and many have swag!).
Some high schools and local colleges offer these right on campus, but others will be held in convention halls. You can find college fair information online by searching for college fairs in your area. Talk to your high school or reach out to a local college about upcoming fairs if you’re struggling to find information online.
4. Use College Search Tools
College search tools (or college databases), such as College Raptor’s College Match, are a fantastic route for identifying the best fit schools for you. They allow you to input your personal information, wants, needs, goals, and achievements to supply you with the schools that match your criteria.
The search tools will return with a list of colleges that are matches for you, as well as reach schools and safety schools. Reach schools are colleges and universities that you have a chance of getting into, but it’s unlikely. Safety schools are colleges where you’re almost guaranteed an acceptance letter.
Even if you don’t know all of your wants and needs or if your preferences change, you can always go back into your profile and adjust your inputs to get new matches.
Using these tools, you can create a solid list of colleges that match you for both academic fit and affordability. And if you come across another school that interests you that didn’t appear on your list, you can add it!
5. Make a College List and Compare
Once you start finding colleges you’re interested in, it’s time to make a list. We recommend creating a simple college comparison spreadsheet where you can easily compare different aspects of a school. You can also use this spreadsheet to track important dates, including college application deadlines, tour dates, and more.
You should compare colleges on:
- Quality of desired major program
- Financial aid availability
- How well they fit into each of your preferences
- Pros and cons
- Statistics, including first year retention rates and graduation rates
- Acceptance chances
- Campus features, such as dorm rooms or dining options
- What students and alumni are saying
- Anything else that’s important to you
Comparing them on this sheet will allow you to narrow down the colleges you’re interested in, crossing off the schools that no longer fit what you’re looking for.
DOWNLOAD NOW >> College Comparison Worksheet
6. Plan Visits
College visits are a fantastic way to get a first-hand look at the campus where you will be spending the next few years. You can tour the grounds, have a peek inside classrooms, and explore dining halls and libraries.
When touring a college, we recommend going with an official tour but also making time to explore on your own. Official college tours walk you through the most important features of the school and you’ll have a representative should you have any questions. However, these official walkabouts only cover what the school wants you to see. Take some time to explore on your own, but be sure to stay out of any restricted areas, such as dorms, labs, or classrooms where class is in session.
Visiting colleges can get expensive, though, especially if they’re out of state. To keep costs down, you might want to visit select schools only after you’ve received an acceptance letter. Many colleges also have online tours of the campus, but keep in mind they’ll only show you what they want you to see.
Take Advantage of College Raptor Tools
Did you know that College Raptor has several tools that will help you on your college search and beyond? Check them out below!
College Match
College Raptor’s College Match is designed to help you identify the best schools for you based on your needs, wants, goals, and achievements. You’ll just need a few bits of information to get started!
You will have to answer:
- How many colleges you want to apply for
- Gender
- Zip code
- State of residency
To narrow down your results further, you can also enter:
- The degree you’re after
- Major(s) you’re interested in
- Colleges you may already be interested in
- Colleges you’ve already ruled out
- Preferred college size
- Preferred college location
- Preferred college city size
- Independent or not
- High school graduation year
- GPA
- College entrance exams and score
- Importance of college cost. If it’s important, you’ll be required to enter some basic financial information
The database will then return with valuable information and links based on the details you supplied. You can see your academic matches, the four year graduation rate for schools, net prices, acceptance odds, your “overall match” number, and links to each individual college and university.
See a school on the list you’re not interested in? You can delete it! You can also save colleges you like to your profile.
College Search
Did you know you can simply search for schools at the top of our website? Hit the little search icon and input the college you’re interested in! You can view a ton of information including admission rates, costs, campus life, and more. And if you entered in your profile information, the pages will have additional financial and admission details for you!
Financial Aid Offer Comparison Tool
The college search doesn’t end once you send off those applications. When you get back acceptance letters, you have a little more work and comparisons to make.
Acceptance letters sometimes come with financial aid packages and offers. These can be complex and they often use confusing terminology. And it doesn’t help that every college uses a different format! On top of all this, what looks great on paper, may not actually be the best deal. A school that costs more may offer more money, but will cost more than the less expensive college that offered slightly less in their financial aid package. How can you possibly compare them when the information isn’t easy to follow?
College Raptor’s Financial Aid Offer Comparison Tool does the work for you. You can simply upload, text, or manually enter the financial aid offers you received. The program will then return with an easy-to-understand format that will compare your packages for you.
And More
College Raptor also offers a host of other tools and resources to help you on your college search and after. You can find resources including
- Scholarship Search
- Major Search
- Careers Finder
- Student Loan Finder
- Refinance Student Loan Options
- College Rankings
- Articles on college planning, prep, financial aid, and more
Many students can become overwhelmed with the weight of choosing the right college for them. Plus, your junior and senior years of high school will be busy times for you, between your schoolwork, the college search, applying for scholarships, social life, and even perhaps a part time job. By having a strategy for your college search, you can cut down on the stress and time and find a school that works for you and your goals.
Want to explore colleges that match you? Head over to College Match to get started!
