Try Finding Your Choice On Internet

Sun., Oct. 19, 1997

Jeff Sackmann Mead High

Stuck for that last tidbit of information about your favorite college?

If you’re not afraid to get an encyclopedia of information to answer that tidbit, try searching the Internet.

“There’s a virtual treasure chest of information if kids know what to look for,” says Kenneth Hartman, author of “Internet Guide for College-Bound Students.”

You can find everything from application information and the student newspaper to faculty reviews.

Nowadays, the Internet is as common as the phone book, and a heck of a lot more complete. So, when embarking upon your college search, it can be an incredibly useful tool to find out virtually anything you want to know, from the average SAT score of admitted freshmen at Washington State University to the phone number of the admissions director at Harvard.

The Internet can provide you with so much more information than what’s available in brochures and viewbooks.

For instance, several college-interest sites offer searches for prospective students. My favorite is CollegeEdge at www.collegeedge.com. At this site you enter several pieces of information about yourself and in a few minutes the service will suggest a dozen or so schools that match your criteria.

Similar searches are available for scholarships, like one located at the College Board Online (www.collegeboard.org). Here you can search a database of thousands of scholarships to find ones that you are eligible to apply for.

Perhaps the best place for information about higher education are the colleges own web sites. Nearly every school from Spokane Falls Community College to Georgia Tech has its own site, housing admissions information and just about anything else a prospective student might want to know.

Through these web sites, future enrollees can browse course catalog, explore a list of student organizations, take a virtual tour of the campus, and find out about financial aid.

In some cases, there are lists of student home pages created by current students of that school.

Student pages give a unique insight into a college. While they rarely come out and make a positive or negative statement about their school, a comment about a recent kegger or all-night study session can provide personal information an admissions officer wouldn’t know or wouldn’t admit to.

In addition, these sites usually give e-mail addresses of the students who created them.

If you have questions about a school and you can’t find the answer anywhere, e-mailing a student might be the way to go. After all, they should know.

An important note to keep in mind when browsing the Internet: Consider the source.

Some sites, like the College Board and CollegeEdge, are relatively complete and unbiased. But you’re not likely to find anything negative about Whitworth on its web site.

xxxx SCHOOL SURFING After spending hours searching the Internet, Jeff Sackmann recommends these sites as good places to start: Best College Search CollegeEdge: www.collegeedge.com Best Scholarship Search College Board Online: www.collegeboard.org Best Unbiased college information The Princeton Review: www.princetonreview.com Most Complete College Information Peterson’s Education Center: www.petersons.com/ugrad Best Local College Website Washington State University: www.wsu.edu

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