Official Campus Tour Alternatives: 6 Better Ways to Actually Get to Know a College
Vanderbilt vs. WashU: How Two of the Most Selective Mid-Sized Universities Really Compare
On paper, Vanderbilt University and Washington University in St. Louis look like near-twins: private research universities of roughly 7,000 to 8,000 undergraduates, top-tier acade…
Five Campuses, One Metro Map: A College Visit Itinerary for Washington, D.C. and Baltimore
Few regions let you see five very different universities in one long weekend without renting a car. Georgetown, George Washington, American, the University of Maryland, and Johns…
Your Campus Visit Is Your Best "Why Us" Essay Material — Here's How to Use It
Many Early Decision and Early Action deadlines are approaching in early November, while Regular Decision season is next — which for a lot of students means a stack of "Why this co…
Hoops Heaven: The Best College Basketball Campuses to Visit This Winter
College basketball season tips off in early November, and at a handful of schools, it changes the feel of the whole campus for the next five months. For prospective students who w…
Best Colleges for Sports Management and Sports Business: Where the Industry Actually Recruits
Sports management is one of the most popular "I love sports, now what?" majors, and the programs vary more than most families realize. Some live in business schools, some in kines…
Deferred From Early Decision or Early Action? Your Next 90 Days
Early Decision and Early Action results start arriving in mid-December, and for a lot of students the answer won't be yes or no. It'll be "deferred." It's a frustrating word, but…
Best Colleges for Nursing: Direct-Admit Programs Worth Touring
For most majors, a student can arrive undecided and figure it out. Nursing is different. The single most important question for a future nurse isn't which school has the best rank…
Touring Boston in One Weekend: Harvard, MIT, BU, Northeastern & Tufts
No city packs more major universities into a smaller area than Boston. Five of the most-searched schools in the country sit within a few T stops of each other: Harvard and MIT in…
Does Visiting Campus Actually Help You Get In? Demonstrated Interest, Explained
Every fall, families ask the same question: does it actually matter if we visit? The honest answer is that it depends on the school, and you can find out exactly how much it matte…
Boilers vs. Hoosiers: Purdue vs. Indiana — Which Big Ten School Actually Fits?
Indiana's two flagship campuses sit about two hours apart, and they could hardly be more different. Purdue University in West Lafayette is an engineering-and-science powerhouse th…
The Best College Research Tools for Families: Cost, Outcomes, Admissions and Fit
There's no shortage of college search websites. The problem is that most families use them in the wrong order — starting with rankings, falling for a school, and only checking cos…
The Best Virtual Campus Tour Tools — and When You Still Need a Real Conversation
Virtual tours have gone from pandemic stopgap to a normal part of the college search. Used well, they save families thousands of dollars in travel by ruling schools in or out befo…