Alternatives to College Tours

Driving and flying across the country to visit all the colleges you are interested in is not always a possibility. College visits can be expensive and it takes a lot of time to travel. If you are someone who can’t go on college visits, this post is for you. There is no need to worry! You can find the colleges for you by taking advantage of the internet. Here are a few resources to look into: 1) Campus Tours The CampusTours.com website is useful if you really want to get a feel for the looks of a campus. Most colleges have filmed virtual video tours of their campus. This website compiles all of those videos in one place. Using this you can see if the college campus fits your vibe. 2) College Confidential College Confidential is the google for colleges. You can search ANYTHING. If you are curious about how competitive a college is or whether you should get notebooks or binders for college, you will find your answer on College Confidential. What’s great is that actual students post on this forum so you will find honest answers. Yay for honesty! 3) Niche College Niche is a great sight if you want to have a snapshot view of the college. The website provides a letter grade for a whole range of metrics from academics to campus dining to weather. There are even student written reviews about the school. All in all, this another great resource for finding comprehensive and honest information about any college. (!Bonus! College Niche provides their very only scholarship opportunities you can look into.) 4) Rate My Professors Rate My Professors is another great website, however it serves a more specific purpose. Though you can search for colleges and get an overall quality rating based on metrics like academics and social life, the main function of the site is to give honest reviews on college professors. You can research the names of professors on the college’s actual website and then search for them on Rate My Professor. This way you can look into which programs at certain colleges appeal to you the most. Hopefully, some of these resources help you narrow down your college search. Good luck and high five!