Getting into college doesn’t happen overnight. Neither do the scholarships that will make it possible to attend after you’re accepted. This is the reason why most college websites for high school students are gaining popularity.
With admission rates as low as 9% for schools such as the University of Chicago, it’s not a bad idea to get some help with college planning, maybe a little extra college advice about the highest paying majors, and best extracurricular activities for Ivy League admissions.
Based on a little college research formula and some dutiful research, We compiled this list of 11 college resources that will make your life easier. And just to keep things interesting, the top resources are at the bottom!
Table of Contents
9. Chegg
Chegg is primarily an education technology company which focuses on providing physical and digital textbooks. But they also offer other student services like student tutoring and scholarships.
On their website, you’ll be able to browse 25,000 plus scholarships. You just have to input some information like the application type you are interested in, your current school level, your age, and your GPA.
8. College Portrait
College Portrait is part of Voluntary System of Accountability™ (VSA) which is a program which aims to provide information about different college institutions. You can either create an account as a student, family, advisor, or policymaker.
7. College Navigator
We’ll be honest, College Navigator isn’t the prettiest website to look at initially. But when you use their College Search you’ll find that this site is jam-packed with solid college admissions statistics.
Turns out College Navigator is run by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), which is the #1 federal entity responsible for collecting and analyzing educational data — so you can bet they know their stuff.
As you may have noticed in the image above, College Navigator has all of the following:
- General information: Links to important admissions, amount of faculty, etc.
- Tuition, fees and estimated student expenses and their percentage of change from year to year
- Financial Aid and the average net price to attend
- Enrollment for Graduates and Undergraduates in relation to gender, race, ethnicity, residency, and more
- Admissions requirements and average score percentiles
- Retention rates aka the number of undergraduate students who return for graduate school
- Graduation rates
- Programs & Majors offered and to what extent (grade level)
- Information about service members and veterans
- Varsity athletic teams statistics and genders
- Additional info such as campus security and criminal activity
The data here is very straightforward and trustworthy — not to mention helpful in determining which college will be right for you!
Having a trustworthy and vast database at your disposal ranks College Navigator as #7 of the top 11 college resources for high school students.
6. College Board
#6 of the top 10 college resources for high school students, College Board is another great college resource. Their College Search allows you to apply a variety of filters including:
- Test scores and Selectivity
- Type of school
- Location
- Campus & Housing
- Majors & Learning Environment
- Sports & Activities
- Academic credit
- Expenses
- Support services
- Diversity
They also offer help with test prep including information on the SAT, PSAT, and NMSQT.
The site’s “YouCanGo!” extension allows you to pledge your goals for college, view video interviews from real students about their experience, and find colleges within your proximity.
College Board also offers you guidance in “your next steps” toward college, helping students to develop goals toward getting into college starting in middle school.
5. FastWeb
Fastweb is a great college site for finding and applying to scholarships.
Create a free, online profile that outlines details about yourself that play a role in scholarship selection, and Fastweb shows you which scholarships you should apply for.
From here you can view scholarship deadlines and click directly on the names of scholarships to learn more about them and apply.
Not only is Fastweb great for scholarships, but it supplies additional college resources for high school students, which ranks it as #5 of 10.
4. Unigo
Unigo ranks at #4 of the top 10 college websites for high school students with useful college planning info, stats, and more. This includes student ratings and reviews on a number of aspects you may be interested in.
By taking a quiz on the site and answering specific questions about yourself, Unigo helps you find your best possible options for colleges and scholarships.
There is also the Unigo $10K Scholarship available.
Unigo also offers something that no other college resource listed here does: live-streamed college events.
3. College Confidential
The majority of college websites for high school students we listed in this article (and the ones I don’t list) have a standard “College Search” feature. College Confidential is no exception to this.
However, there are other goodies to be found on this site, such as additional free college resources including online calculators for estimating your Academic Index and Financial Aid Eligibility
College Confidential’s best feature (and the main reason for it’s 3rd ranking out of the top 10 college resources for high school students) is its student forum.
This resource is packed with questions and answers by real students looking to get clarification on any number of college-related topics. You can find plenty of advice for College freshmen.
A newer feature within the forum is called “CampusVibe” and allows students who have visited a college to:
- Add a visit report
- Post campus photos
- Share videos from their campus visit
Like College Reality Check, you can compare the colleges that you “pin” (an option that acts like a bookmark or shopping cart for your top choices during the college planning process)
2. Niche
We may be ripping Abe Lincoln off here, but one could say Niche is another one of the college websites for high school students that is “of the students, by the students, for the students”.
What are we talking about?
One of Niche’s most characteristic features is that it allows students to rate schools on different aspects and provide individual reviews.
This is only one of Niche’s many offerings. Niche ranks 2nd in the top 10 college resources for college students because it has just about everything else you may need.
1. Cappex
What makes Cappex one of the best college websites for high school students is its at-a-glance convenience. Cappex is great at displaying beefy college statistics in a way that is easy to read.
Cappex also takes the time to spell out your expenses for you, which means you’re not sitting there staring at the tuition tag and wondering how much you’ll ACTUALLY spend after books and fees and living expenses.
In addition to a College Search, it also offers a Scholarship Search which includes $30,000 in Cappex-issued scholarships and College Reviews.
Virtually painless to use and packed with a plethora of helpful information, Cappex ranks as #1 of the top 10 college resources for high school students.
Conclusion: Top College Websites for High School Students
The college resources listed above are of course 9 of several that are out there, and free for your use. However, they’re Student-Tutor’s Top #9 College Resources for High School Students because they’re some of the best we’ve seen.
All 10 of these college resources:
- are easy to use
- are comprehensive & practical
- provide quality information
So let’s test your recall memory… can you remember all 10?
We’ll help you out.
- Cappex
- Niche
- College Confidential
- Unigo
- Fastweb
- College Board
- College Navigator
- College Portrait
- Chegg
Do you think we missed some college resources in this list or know of any that should be added? What resources did you discover during your college research, and what is your opinion on them or the ones above? Tell us about it in the comments below!
Todd VanDuzer
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