John’s picks for college search tools

Recommended (and used often) by Mr. Spear and the Northwood College Counseling team:

• Family Connection, from Naviance, is Northwood’s college-planning service. It’s the starting point for all Northwood students for the college search and application process.

• BigFuture, the new free college planning website from the College Board, is filled with interactive tools, videos and information that can help you guide your students to the colleges where they will be successful.

• Rugg’s recommendations  is an outstanding list of colleges and universities recommended by program. Looking for an engineering program for a student with average grades? Ruggs will have it.

• The Fiske Guide to Colleges is another dog-eared reference on John’s desk.

• Colleges That Change Lives is a book and a web site that profiles 40 liberal arts colleges that aren’t widely known yet offer an education as good as, if not better than, ivy league universities.

• Athletic Guide Publishing‘s Men’s College Hockey and Women’s College Hockey are must-haves for advising college-bound hockey players. Another key resource for hockey prospects is USCHO.com.

• K & W’s Guide to Colleges with Learning Disabilities is a good directory of schools that best serve students with learning differences.

• 100 Colleges Where Average Students Excel is also useful.

• The Common Application is the recommended form of nearly 300 colleges and universities for admission to their undergraduate programs. Many of these institutions use the form exclusively. All give equal consideration to the Common Application and the college’s own form.

• The College Board’s International Student Handbook is a must-have for international students, especially those considering applying for financial aid. It contains all the information foreign students in the U.S. and abroad need to know about entering a U.S. college.

• And don’t forget this very blog and John’s Twitter feed. And follow College Counseling on Facebook. They contain valuable college admissions tips and are updated often.

Other Web Sites for the College Search

College Search Sites:

• Cappex: http://www.cappex.com/
• College Navigator: https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/
• College Scorecard: https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/
• Niche: https://www.niche.com/

Other Important Web Sites:

• College Board: http://www.collegeboard.org
• Coalition App: coalitionforcollegeaccess.org/
• SAT: http://sat.collegeboard.org
• ACT: http://www.actstudent.org
• TOEFL: http://www.toeflgoanywhere.org/
• NCAA Eligibility: http://eligibilitycenter.org/
• ZeeMee: ZeeMee.com

Financial Aid Resources:

• Financial Aid Overview: https://johnspear.me/category/financial-aid/
• Federal Student Aid: https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/
• FAFSA on the web: https://fafsa.ed.gov/
• FinAid: http://www.finaid.org/
• Micro-scholarships: raise.me