Which College is Right for Me?

When I was 10 years old, I was involved in a theater group that put on the play Oliver at Pepperdine University. The first time I stepped on campus I knew this was the college for me. 7 years later, I was a high school senior, editor in chief for my school's  newspaper and very involved in leadership and socializing (that's a sport, right??). Although theater was the furthest thing from my mind at this point-Pepperdine was still my top choice for college. Having further researched the school, it had the communications program I wanted, the private school environment I wanted to be a part of, and my idea of the perfect location; on the beach in Malibu!

Do you need help finding your perfect college? www.MyPlan.com offers an excellent search tool that lets you choose criteria (from location and size of school to tuition costs and majors available) that will let you narrow down which schools would appeal to you the most. After listing the schools that match your needs, you can view more information on the different colleges and/or go directly to their own school websites.

To go directly to the college database query engine on the MyPlan site,go to:http://www.myplan.com/education/db/ug/query.php 


My other favorite college search tool is on Petersons.com.

Click here to decide what is important to you, Location? Size? Athletics? Clubs?: http://www.petersons.com/ugchannel/code/searches/srchCrit1.asp

 I really like this site not only for the extensive college database but also for its search criteria. It has the Basics such as location, setting, size, cost, type, religious and ethnic affiliation, academics, student body ratio, and selectivity. Sure, that's all important stuff, but my favorite part is the Campus Life search. Calling all athletes!! Here is the perfect place for you to research which schools have your sports and in what division. Also-this Campus Life section has search functions for clubs, greek life, and unique housing opportunities available. Ya know-the fun stuff!

For example, I did a simple search on colleges in California that have Division 1 Baseball teams. I could have narrowed it down a lot more, but for the sake of time I didn't. :) My results yielded 21 schools in CA that have D1 Baseball teams with an array of information on each school.

Sometimes these search queries can be tricky, comment or email if you have questions. Enjoy!