Planning your future for college and career takes time, research and thought. To help you, we’ve gathered some great online tools for you to use:
The College Planning Process
- https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/ – a great overall college planning website that covers almost everything for college-bound students, including: college prep planning in high school, college search, majors, careers and scholarships.
- http://www.parenttoolkit.com/ – a great resource for parents to help prepare students for college, even starting as early as Pre-K.
Choosing a Career and College Major
- http://www.mymajors.com/ – take a quiz to find out what majors might suit you, or dive into hundreds of majors and learn about the courses you will take, schools who offer them, and the careers they match.
- http://www.collegemajors101.com/ – explore dozens of college majors in depth with videos and other information.
- https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/majors-careers – again this key site is a great resource to explore career possibilities and find the matching college majors.
Selecting a College
- http://www.collegeconfidential.com/college_search/ – search a database of over 4000 schools for your best match based on a number of factors.The site also hosts a great student forum and lots of informational articles on all subjects college-related.
- https://www.unigo.com/ – learn all about schools you are considering from the students themselves. Also provides information on applying for college, a scholarship match database and other advice for college students.
The Application and Admissions Process
- https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/get-in/applying – once again, the College Board is a valuable source of information, tips and general guidance to help make your application process easier and more successful.
- https://admitted.ly/ – great visual tool for get a quick and useful profile of the schools you are considering – the school’s “personality”, student reviews, tuition and living costs, admissions, even the weather. And, they have lots of other information and advice to help students applying for college.
Find Scholarships
- http://www.fastweb.com/ – a great online scholarship matching service that will help you find scholarship opportunities that are a good match for you. It also offers information on financial aid, jobs and internships.
- https://www.scholarships.com/ – well established (1999) scholarship listing service that includes a huge number of scholarship listings in their database along with financial aid information.
Financial Aid
- https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/ – explore and access the federal student aid program.
- http://www.nerdwallet.com/nerdscholar/fafsa/ – a great tool to help you fill out those daunting federal student aid applications.
Jobs, Internships and other Student Resources
- http://www.chegg.com/ – resources for prospective and current college students – everything from buying/selling textbooks to scholarships, jobs and internships, colleges and careers.
- http://www.internships.com/student – also from Chegg, a comprehensive search, match, advice and information site to help you find the right internships for you.
- http://www.idealist.org/ – if you are looking to give back and build experience at the same time, this is the site to connect you with volunteer and internship opportunities in the non-profit sector. Great for students planning careers in the non-profit sector.
- http://www.studentrate.com/ – all students need to save money. Check this site for student discounts on all sorts of things from textbooks and travel to Tassel Toppers.
- http://www.ratemyprofessors.com/ – before you sign up for that class, find out more about the professor.
- http://www.ted.com/ – for those term projects, Ted is a great place to find all kinds of innovative and interesting ideas.
