For upperclassmen, picking the right place to spend our lives’ first four years of freedom can be a daunting task.  Here are some websites that can help with all the stress and make your selection easier for all involved.

http://www.collegeboard.org/

Known fairly well as the hub of most important college information, CollegeBoard is the general go-to website for knowledge on specific universities.  CollegeBoard also has a phenomenally detailed College Search, in which students can start from scratch and find out which universities fit them best based on topics like location, size, cost and majors.  The home and facilitator of everything related to Advanced Placement (AP) classes and the SAT, high school students of all ages should take advantage of the site’s resources.

http://www.usnews.com/education

The news website U.S. News is probably more well-known for its in depth coverage of colleges then anything else.  The biggest draw to this site is their rankings, which are updated at least annually across a bevy of categories, including their National Universities Rankings, Liberal Arts Colleges Rankings and Regional Colleges Rankings.  What this site does better than anyone is take all the data prospective students look at in comparing colleges (like acceptance rate, tuition and graduation rate) and put it all in one place, side-by-side with other like institutions.  Their annual booklet is also very sought after for its rankings and general counsel.

http://www.rockwood.k12.mo.us/lafayette/offices/college/Pages/default.aspx

In our building, the College and Career Center serves as another excellent resource to use in the college process.  They are the ones who actually take care of the things like sending out transcripts and other things to universities we apply to, so getting familiar with their services is imperative.  Furthermore, college admissions specialists Cheryl Egan and Stephanie Nesler are solely devoted to aiding students in their furthered education, so communicating with and getting to know them is very helpful as well.  Collegiate information and the email addresses of Egan and Nesler are found on the link above.

https://www.commonapp.org/Login

When it comes time to actually apply to the colleges you want to, chances are that some (if not all) of them will be on the Common Application.  A lot of private and some state universities use this service so their applicants don’t have to fill out multiple massive applications.  Taking the time to fill out this may save valuable minutes and sanity.

http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/

A crucial, but extremely boring, part of the college process is filling out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).  By giving the government their family’s tax information and earnings, students can discover if they are eligible for federal grants to help pay for college regardless of where they choose to attend.  While the process is tedious, getting free money from the government is very awesome given the astronomically high prices colleges generally command.