College Raptor’s Toolset:
- College Match Tool – Find the best fit school for you.
- Scholarship Search Tool – Find FREE money* to help pay for college.
- Career Finder – Explore 1,000s of careers.
- Majors Search – Discover degrees that you can pursue.
- Financial Aid comparison Tool – Compare offer letters.
- Student Loan Finder – Find and compare lenders.
- Student Loan Calculator – Estimate your monthly loan payments.
- College Rankings & Hidden Gems – See top ranking colleges.
- College Planning Blog – Tips to help guide your college journey.
Register now – for FREE to start using these helpful college planning tools.
Thinking about college and not sure how to get there? Where will you go? How will you pay for it? College Raptor has you covered. We offer a wealth of college planning tools, resources, and information that will make college planning a breeze.
We know it can feel like a lot to go through and figure out – especially if you don’t have the resources to assist. See below why College Raptor can be your one-stop shop for college planning.
1. College Match Tool
Our College Match tool is at the center of everything we do. It helps students and their families find the best college for their unique needs, wants, budget, and more. It’s completely free and students can sign up at any time.
How to use College Match:
- Sign up for your free account.
- Follow the prompts to complete your profile. Not all information is required, but the more info you provide, the more accurate your feedback will be.
- After inputting information about desired major, grades, achievements, test scores, and other details, College Raptor’s College Match returns with a list of schools that are excellent fits for you. Not your neighbor. Not your friend. You.
And if you don’t see your dream school immediately on that list – don’t worry. You can simply look at the college’s profile page to see why it isn’t on your match list. You might discover they don’t have your intended major, for instance. Or you could see your SAT scores are below what they’re looking for in a student.
This tool gives you a roadmap of the steps you need to take to get your dream college on your match list! You might have to slightly pivot your major or you need to improve your SAT score for example.
Right on your profile, for each school, you’ll be able to see
- Your admission chances
- Match scores
- Match categories (safety, match, reach)
- Net price vs sticker price
- And more!
College Match is great for high school students and adult students looking to go to college. It’s an invaluable resource that can point you to amazing standout colleges that are perfect for you that you never even heard of.
2. Scholarship Search Tool
One of the more popular college planning resources is College Raptor’s scholarship search tool. Scholarships are essentially free money sources that students can use to help pay for college. And most students simply don’t take advantage of it enough. Many awards simply go unpaid because there aren’t enough applicants. And students may not be quite sure how to find these scholarships.
Enter our scholarship search database. Just like College Match, the Scholarship Search Tool uses your unique information to find awards you qualify for. You don’t have to sift through countless awards just to find you don’t qualify for half of them – College Raptor does the work for you. You’ll only see scholarships you’re likely to qualify for, and you’ll receive notifications if new ones pop up.
DID YOU KNOW? College Raptor also has its own scholarship. The College Raptor Scholarship awards $2,500 four times a year (and another $1,000 per quarter to the runner-up). To apply, you simply need to:
- Sign up for a College Raptor account.
- Use our College Match tool to find the best colleges for you.
- Submit your essay before the listed deadline.
No purchase necessary. See the full list of eligibility requirements right here!
3. Career Finder
Just like our Major Search tool, students can also search by career! This can be extremely useful if you know your dream job but don’t quite know what you should major in or where you should go to school.
It can also be extremely useful to see what career options you have if you’re not positive about what you want to do after graduation.
Students using the Career Finder can search by college or career – or discover the top careers in the United States to find some inspiration. You can even With over 1,100 careers listed, you’re sure to find the job that matches your goals.
GET STARTED NOWEvery career profile also contains a wealth of information such as:
- Median salary
- Projected growth rate
- Best colleges for the career
- Required education levels
- Popular majors for the job
- Required skills, knowledge, and abilities
- What to expect in the position
Choosing a major can impact the rest of your life, and so can your career. Having all the information you can improve your approach here. Use the Career Finder for free to get started.
4. Major Search
Deciding on a major is an important step in the college planning process. After all, you want to study something that you enjoy and will help you get your dream job after you earn your degree! But you also need to find a college that has a strong program for your desired major.
In comes our Major Search tool. This resource allows you to search or sift through hundreds and hundreds of majors, common and niche, to find the perfect one for your aspirations. You can look at options under various types of degrees or you can opt to simply search for a major that interests you.
On every Major’s profile page, you’ll be able to view
- The top schools in the United States for the particular program depending on the degree
- Details about what to expect from the major
- Where in the country this program is popular or offered
- Top-paying careers for graduates of this major
- Student demographics
Start searching for the perfect major right here.
5. Financial Aid Offer Comparison Tool
Financial aid offer letters are often confusing and don’t follow a single format. When you receive multiple offers from different schools, knowing exactly which is the best deal can be tough! With our Financial Aid Offer Comparison Tool, we take the guesswork out of the equation.
Through this resource, students and their families can upload all of the financial aid offers and see each one explained in comparison to one another. You’ll be able to clearly see the actual net price you’re expected to pay at each college and estimate your future debt. This is much-needed insight if the cost of college is a part of your decision-making process.
And it’s completely free! Compare offer letters here.
6. Student Loan Finder
Sometimes, savings, financial aid packages, and scholarships aren’t enough to fully cover the cost of attending college. In this case, private student loans can be the difference-maker students need to attend their dream school.
Our Student Loan Finder makes finding and comparing lenders and rates simple. You don’t even need to give your Social Security number or undergo a credit check to see your options. Simply enter your information and goals to start finding private student loans that are available to you.
7. Student Loan Calculator
Student loans have to be paid back. We provide a simple calculator that estimates details of how long it will take you to repay the money. This insight allows you to plan for your future financial needs and create a game plan for your finances.
Those using the calculator will be able to see:
- The in-school monthly payment
- The post-school monthly payment
- Total interest expected
- Total cost of the loan
8. Rankings
Every year, College Raptor releases our choices for the top colleges and universities in the United States. We don’t only talk about the top 50 and call it a day. We explore the best colleges out there for different factors such as affordability, endowment, and more. Through our rankings, you might discover top institutions are a perfect match for your goals or you could find a school you never even heard of that quickly becomes your dream school.
Our rankings cover a wealth of preferences including:
- Overall Ranking
- Total Enrollment
- Middle Class Affordability by State
- Middle Class Affordability by Major
- Student-Faculty Ratio
- Graduation Rate % (4 Year)
- Acceptance Rate
- Most Profitable Sports
- Diversity
- And more
In addition, we also release our annual picks for Hidden Gem Colleges. These are smaller schools that are accessible and rank in the top third of our overall rankings, but don’t get quite as many applications as the big names. To be named to a Hidden Gem list, the college has to receive fewer than 5,000 applications a year, have fewer than 7,000 undergraduate students, have at least 5 majors, and accept 10% or more of applicants.
Our picks for Top Colleges are released every year in late summer, and you can see the latest schools that made it to the list right here.
9. College Planning Advice
In addition to these helpful college planning resources, we also offer thousands of up-to-date articles that will help you with everything from financial aid to the SAT. Learn about the latest in college planning so you can make educated decisions about your future. We regularly provide advice on
- College affordability
- The college search process
- Planning myths
- Careers and majors
- Student loans
- College application tips
- ACT and SAT updates and test-taking
- College trends
- Essay tips
- And more!
See our blog for the latest news, tips, and advice.
We at College Raptor understand the college planning process can be stressful, and we’re dedicated to providing accurate tools and resources to make it as simple as possible for you and your family. These resources and tools are designed to help make planning for college worry-free. Be sure to sign up for College Raptor so you can start taking advantage today.
*While a scholarship does not have to be repaid, there may be other obligations associated with the scholarship.
