Anybody trying to figure out how to organize and track their college applications should take a look at ApplyKit.com. The premise is pretty straight forward, select the schools you are going to apply to and the application pulls all of the relevant deadlines onto one easy to use webpage.
Website Reviews
Can Virtual Campus Tours Replace the Real Thing?
Since I’ve mentioned several times that it’s not necessary to do campus visits, I thought I should discuss some of the alternatives. The obvious one is a virtual campus tour. Most college websites offer some form of online tour through either video, 360 photos, or a map-based walking tour of the campus.
More Useless College Rankings
I would suspect that the average parent of a high school junior would think it would be nice to know the most expensive colleges in the country so that they can stay away from them. The more astute parents would really like to know which actually have the highest net price since they realize that most students don’t pay the listed tuition price.
College Search Websites: Princeton Review and US News
The last two college search websites, The Princeton Review and US News College Rankings, take a different approach than the previously reviewed sites. Rather than provide different factors for you to rank and search on, they essentially rank the schools for you. The user is expected to use the rankings to select colleges for consideration and then take a look at location, school size, graduation rates etc. Both sites have multiple rankings to choose from but do allow for a basic search with US News being much functional than the Princeton Review’s.
College Search Websites: College View
The College View website is a comprehensive search website along the lines of Big Future and College Data in that it includes more than just the search function. The site includes information on Financial Aid and the Application Process. It also has sections on Campus Life and Careers & Majors. The Student Lounge is basically a selection of posts and other resources from College Confidential which is done by the same company.
College Search Websites: College Results Online
The Education Trust’s College Results Online website is based on the Integrated Postsecondary Education System (IPEDS) which is the same data used by the College Navigator reviewed last week. Obviously the differences between the two sites will be presentation, access, and selection of the data available.
College Search Websites: College Data
The College Data Your Online College Advisor website has a variety of interesting features besides its College Match service. Registered users can track college admission results based on test scores and GPA entered by other website users. They can also calculate their chances for admissions at different colleges and estimate net cost.
College Search Websites Reviews: Big Future by the College Board
(You can see an updated review of Big Future here.) 
Big Future is the college search website by the College Board. Since the College Board is the source of all things SAT, you would expect it have a pretty good college search function. It is also a member of the Common Data Set consortium which means it has access to data that isn’t readily available to other websites.
College Search Websites: Introduction
If you were to visit the major college search websites, you would conclude that people have just a few considerations when choosing a college. Based on the search options common to eight of the most popular websites, students want to be able to pick a college based on its location, the location’s setting, size, tuition, selectivity, test scores, majors, whether it’s a community college or four-year institution, and if it’s public or private.
