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Selecting the right college can be challenging—but a new resource from Consumer Reports, “Find The Best Colleges for You” aims to make the process of researching colleges more efficient and ultimately less stressful for university-bound students.
The free guide is available at http://www.consumerreports.org/college. Published in both English and Spanish, it identifies and defines the information that matters most to prospective students, directs them to the best resources to find those key pieces of information, and includes worksheets designed to simplify and support the research and evaluation process.
Not meant to replace a college directory or ratings, the guide provides a list and clear definitions of about 20 distinct pieces of information needed to make good decisions about where to attend school. Those information elements revolved around four critical questions.
• Does the college offer what I want to study?
• How much will it cost and can I afford to go there?
• What is the educational quality and experience offered by the school?
• What type of environment does the college offer?
The guide is based on the results of quantitative and qualitative research incorporating feedback from more than 2,500 individuals through a series of interviews, polls, surveys, and focus groups.
Consumer Reports compiled the publication so that prospective college students could make informed decisions when selecting colleges, the same way the publication helps consumers make the best possible buying decisions from using its expert ratings on products from cars to dishwashers.
Choosing the right college is a complex, consumer choice and much of the data on colleges is not publicly available. If the information isn’t available, the guide provides suggested questions prospective students can ask admissions counselors such as how many internships are available, how do students spend the majority of their time, how many computers are in the lab, and how many books are in the library.
“We found that students need a consistent and straightforward process for researching colleges,” said Elena Falcone, project director. “Too many students only considered schools they had heard of from friends and family, potentially missing out on a variety of good alternatives.” As a result we outline a three step research process:
• Search broadly among different types of schools and programs,
• Explore selected schools by bringing together essential facts about each, and
• Compare schools based on how well each school and its programs meets individual interests and needs.”
Partners in the project include the Lumina Foundation, whose funding supported the research project, development of the guide, as well as the production of bilingual print materials and the Education Conservancy, a non-profit organization committed to improving college admission processes for students, colleges and high schools.
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