Look online when researching college options

BY LARRY MAGID
Special to the Mercury News
April 8, 2001

When our daughter Katherine was born nearly 17 years ago, I figured she'd probably go to college someday. We didn't realize how fast the time would go by.

Now a junior in high school, Katherine's starting to think seriously about where she'll go. Fortunately, she has resources that weren't available back in 1984 when she was born. Many colleges and universities were pioneers on the Internet and most are using Web sites to provide extensive information and services to prospective students. What's more, there are several independent Web sites that help students find the right college and the right financial-aid package.

If you or your child has some ideas to where he or she wants to go to school, you can start with the college Web site directly.

Almost all campuses have an admissions area on their site with plenty of good information. University of California, Berkeley (www.berkeley.edu) for example, has an ``Applying to Berkeley'' link on its front page that takes you to an area with information about the campus, fees and financial aid, typical student ``budgets,'' housing, application deadlines and more. You can find out the ethnic mix of the student body, range of SAT scores and lots of other information that can help you determine whether you're right for Berkeley and Berkeley is right for you.

You can even apply to any UC campus and many other colleges online. The UC application process is accessed via the Pathways system at www.ucop.edu/pathways/. Regardless of whether you apply online or on paper, you also can check your application status from the university Web site.

In addition to U.S. colleges, you'll find plenty of information from overseas universities. The University of Edinburgh (www.ed.ac.uk) in Scotland, for example, has plenty of information on its site, including fees and tuition and a page that includes scholarships available for students from the United States.

Many of these sites have a virtual tour of the campus but, having visited many universities, I can assure you that a virtual tour is not the same as an in-person visit. You might see pictures of the campus buildings, walkways and ponds but it's not the same as rubbing shoulders with students, smelling the air and hanging around the local coffee shops. Despite the richness of the Net, we plan to take Katherine around the country to visit some schools to get an even richer experience.

If you need help focusing on what college to attend or want a more general overview of colleges and universities, there are a number of commercial sites that can help you locate, apply for and finance a college education.

Embark.com, for example, is divided into five areas: ``research,'' ``prepare,'' ``apply,'' ``finance'' and ``get ready.

The research area includes a college matchmaker where you fill out a questionnaire and let the site suggest colleges that meet your criteria. You're asked to specify geographic preference, if any, along with the size of the school, typical high-school grade-point average and SAT scores of students, student-faculty ratio, ethnic mix of students and, of course, academic offerings.

You can also specify tuition levels, percentage of students on financial aid and preferences for special services, athletic programs and more. The process should take about 15 minutes unless you have to spend a lot of time thinking about your answers to the questions. But that may turn out to be the best part of the process. Answering the questionnaire about the type of school I want for my daughter forced me to think about some issues I hadn't confronted before. And, when my wife and I compared our answers to Katherine's, we discovered that there are some things about her interests that we didn't know.

When you're done with the process you get a list of proposed schools that includes a link to information about the school on Embark's Web site as well as a link to the school's own Web site.

The site also has an application form that you can fill out online. In some cases, applications are submitted electronically but in others you're required to print them out and mail them the old-fashioned way.

Many colleges accept a ``common application'' that you fill out online only once. You answer questions on screen and can upload an essay that you write with a word-processing program.

When you're finished completing the application, an automated ``app inspector'' inspects the application to make sure it's complete. Once you're done, it appears on screen as a PDF file (that requires you have the free Adobe Acrobat reader) that you can print out.

Even if you're not ready to send in an application right now, completing applications online is worthwhile early in your college search because the process itself can be very informative.

In addition to helping you find a college, Embark.com also helps you prepare with free practice SAT tests and advice on choosing a major.

CollegeLink.com is similar to Embark.com. Its advanced search process allows you to enter a number of criteria after which the site recommends possible colleges. The site also provides plenty of help when it comes to financing, scholarships, loans and other factors to consider when making a decision.

WiredScholar.com, operated by the Sallie Mae student-loan service, is a good place to look for advice about financial aid and loans. There are all sorts of online worksheets to help you calculate the cost of college and advice about savings plans and how to determine if you qualify for financial aid.

I know this will sound like a standard disclosure but, really, these sites should be used as a rough screen to give you some ideas. They're in no way a substitute for advice from high-school counselors, friends, relatives and other knowledgeable people or, for that matter, a good college advice book. My wife has purchased numerous college advice books and each one has its own twist.

Although the Web sites have good information, that information can be hard to find online whereas with a book, it sometimes jumps off the page. Nevertheless, online search tools make it possible to enter your criteria and, when used in conjunction with books and personal advice, they can be extremely useful.

Another advantage of these sites is that they can help reassure students and parents. It's not uncommon for students -- even good ones -- to worry that they'll never get into a good college and many parents worry that they'll never be able to afford to pay for their child's college education. Some time on the Net will show there are far more options than you might have imagined.