• Excellent College/Career Websites

    These websites are valid and provide accurate information for you to research colleges.  Others may be highly inaccurate.  In order to get the BEST picture about a particular college, go to their website.  Often, very good information is in the following areas:

    • Counselor/independent consultant page: will often give you most important information about a school.  Look for the profile of their “typical” admitted student for the most recent class.
    • Look up “freshman profile” on each school’s webpage.  They may or may not have this on a particular school’s website, but if they do, it’s helpful.  
    • Look up their admissions criteria to make sure that you match up with their expectations.
    • Check out their “Financial Aid” or “Scholarships” area to see if you qualify for any money.   Many private schools do not disclose this information, as they will want some flexibility in who to give money to, depending on their applicant pool, which varies from year to year.
    • Check out what majors they have, then look at the four-year plans for each of those majors.  Majors can vary widely from school to school, as will the expectation of coursework for each of those majors.  

    University Systems Websites:

    wue.wiche.edu – Western Undergraduate Exchange website.  Lists two and four-year schools that participate in WUE program (tuition discount at public universities in Western states).  Check out the criteria listed on each school’s webpage to see what they expect to grant the WUE.  Each school has its own policy.  Use the “List all WUE schools” option.  The “Search by Major” does not work very well.

    http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/ - admissions website for University of California

     

    https://www2.calstate.edu/apply/freshman– website for California State University system

     

    http://adegreewithaguarantee.com/ - California State University transfer information (transfer from a California Community College).

     

    http://www.sb1440.org/ - information on community college transfer

     

    http://www.edonline.com/cq/hbcu/alphabet.htm - list and links to HBCUs (historically black colleges/universities).

     

    www.commonapp.org – Common Application website

    General College Information Websites:

     

    www.collegexpress.com/lists/ - CollegeXpress website, which lists many factors (conservative, big Greek life, great at baseball, etc.) about particular schools.

     

    http://www.collegeportraits.org/ - data regarding each school that participates in College Portrait.  Retention rates, graduation rates, etc.

     

    https://web1.ncaa.org/hsportal/exec/hsAction - NCAA Clearinghouse Eligibility Center (for student-athletes wishing to participate/be recruited for college sports).

     

    http://www.collegedata.com/ - CollegeData.com provides you with a good search engine to look up schools and if you put in your own data (GPA, test scores, class rank), it will tell you if a school is a “reach”, “maybe” or “pretty sure” option for you.

     

    http://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/ - great website from the National Center for Education Statistics – government website.  Has graduation/retention rates, school search, crime rates.

     

    http://www.cpec.ca.gov/studentdata/gradrates.asp - California data base from the Postsecondary Education Commission on college graduation rates.

     

    http://www.christiancollegeguide.net/ - Christian college information

    College Testing Information Websites:

     

    http://fairtest.org/university/optional - list of schools that do not use SAT/ACT score for admission; however, be aware that many will expect to see strong academics and high

    grade point averages.

     

    www.collegeboard.org – College Board (SAT, SAT Subject Test, AP) website.

     

    www.actstudent.org – ACT website

     

    Financial Aid Websites:

    www.csac.ca.gov – California Student Aid Commission – answers questions about Cal Grant Entitlement and Competitive programs, other state aid programs and how to apply for student aid.

     

    www.edfund.org – information on federal student loans, financial planning.

     

    www.ed.gov/studentaid – Federal Student Aid Information Center.  Information on Pell Grants, other federal aid, and the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).

     

    www.fafsa4caster.ed.gov – FAFSA website.  Parents/students may uses this tool to get an estimate of what their EFC will be.  This site is NOT used to apply for financial aid.  It is an estimating tool which uses data provided by the parent (based on tax returns).

     

    Career Websites:

    www.onetonline.org/ - research tool to learn more about different careers

     

    http://www.cacareerzone.org/ - assess yourself, research job choices, make money choices

     

    For juniors and seniors at Dublin High School, we also offer students periodic dates to take the “College Major Score Card”, which helps students understand what they may potentially be interested in studying.