Researching
There are a ton of online resources to help families research colleges. But to find a good fit, you might want to research careers and think about why you are going to college. For both career and college research, Xello is the best place to start! After you check them out, look at some other online resources.
Career Research:
Sites Sponsored by US Department of Labor:
O*Net - https://www.onetonline.org/
My Next Move - https://www.mynextmove.org/
https://career.berkeley.edu/Resources/Majors2Careers
Great Blog Post about the difference between a job and a career:
Major Research:
Your career research may point you towards majors and areas of study that align with your career goals. But students should drill down - learn more about available majors and exactly what the requirements are in each major of interest, and understand the difference between a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Bachelor of Science degree, understanding that a major can have the same name, but a BA and a BS will have different course requirements. Here are some major research websites, but the best spot will be each college's course website and course catalog.
College Board Big Future - https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/majors-careers
https://blog.collegeboard.org/what-college-major-and-how-choose-one
https://blog.collegeboard.org/the-ultimate-guide-to-choosing-a-major
UC Irvine - https://career.uci.edu/undergraduate/explore-a-career/choosing-a-major/
My Majors - https://www.mymajors.com/college-majors/
Niche - https://www.niche.com/colleges/majors/
College Research Websites:
CollegeXpress - www.collegexpress.com
College Data - www.collegedata.com
College Navigator - http://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/
College Transitions - https://www.collegetransitions.com/dataverse/
Cappex - www.cappex.com
Common Data Set - www.commondataset.org
College Scorecard - www.collegescorecard.ed.gov
And don't miss this terrific blog post by Lynn O'Shaughnessey (of The College Solution) who talks about universities not being monolithic entities that are either terrific or terrible - that's just not the case. It is incumbent upon students to do their research and find out if their colleges of interest employ engaged professors and provide great student outcomes in academic areas that interest them.
https://www.thecollegesolution.com/digging-deeper-when-researching-colleges/