Finding Your College

There are about 2,500 four-year colleges and universities in the United States alone!

That number can seem even larger and more overwhelming for high school juniors and seniors who are in the process of sifting through the piles of mail, countless emails, anecdotes from friends and family, and websites, trying to determine which schools fit their interests, and academic profile.

How to distinguish?

Every school looks beautiful in a brochure and on their website (and if the pictures don't look very nice in print, that's a big red flag). Colleges and universities spend millions of dollars every year on print and online publications to put forth the most enticing marketing campaigns, and to paint their school in the best light.

College fairs are a great way to learn about information from many schools at once.  Admission representatives will (or should) be able to tell you about their academic programs and campus life more in depth than what is written in publications or available online.

A caution - no representative is ever going to tell you that a particular program at their school is not strong. Admission counselors walk a fine line between counseling students about and "selling" their school. No counselor will tell you that you shouldn't apply to their school, nor will they tell you that their psychology program is 'just OK,' but the program at the school at the next table is very strong and recognized as such.

The solution

How does a family sort through the marketing to find truly the best list of colleges to apply to, and not feel so overwhelmed by the process?

At Campus Bound, our team of counselors has worked as both admission counselors and guidance counselors. We've worked inside admission offices, reviewed applications, participated in marketing strategies, and sat on admission committees. Our former guidance counselors have spent decades counseling students through the application process, and have an innate understanding of hundreds of colleges throughout the country, what their admission statistics are, and knowledge of the process from their contacts within the admission offices.

The fact that our counselors have a large sample size of students and know the ins and outs of the admission process at hundreds of colleges, and can draw on the expertise of the larger team is invaluable. We know what you don’t know about this process, and that will give your family peace of mind.