Big Future is a popular research tool brought to you by the College Board. It's very easy to use and includes search choices for colleges which offer programs like internships or study abroad and activities like choral groups, ROTC, or student newspapers.
College Data lets you narrow your search by sports, majors, region, and student body size. It's a very thorough engine that will let you see a lot of data about any school fast, so it's a good tool for comparing financial stats like Need Met, Merit Aid, Student Debt, and Graduation Rate.
College Navigator is an excellent tool put together by the National Center for Educational Statistics. If you're looking for particular data like four year graduation rates, this is the tool for you.
Princeton Review is an old favorite. You must sign up, but it is free for use and provides excellent information in a predictable format that makes it easy to gather similar data from a variety of schools. Check out the Professors Interesting and Professors Accessible ratings under the academics tab and also their "rankings" lists of "Best College Supports/Counseling"
Campus Pride is an excellent resource for finding schools that are LGBTQ+ friendly. Click on campus search to search by region, state, or name. Make note of the factors that are included in the score. LGBTQ+ student life and campus safety may be more important to you than LGBTQ academic life (courses or seminars on the topic).
College Vine offers a free tool (College Admissions Calculator) that can help students rank schools as likely, target, or reach.
Niche is a popular tool that puts the power in the hands of the people. All their data is gathered from online visits. A number of useful tools (such as scattergrams) are embedded into the site.
Also ... visit colleges virtually through one of the sites listed below!
Naviance is the program we use at Bridges to organize all of the pieces of your college search. This program provides a jumping off point for student career exploration and college searches. It's also the platform we use to organize and send college application materials and to share application information with students and families.
Click here for a printable list of questions to ask during a college visit.
Visiting Colleges in Person
We recommend official tours. Call ahead or go online and book a tour through the college's admissions office website!
Visiting Colleges Online
Visit colleges in person or online through college sponsored virtual tours (see admissions sections of most campus websites). Taking an online tour can count as "interest," while viewing a campus through websites like Campusreel or College Tour will not. (For College Tour, be sure to click on "all colleges"). Here is a spreadsheet of all the College Tour Colleges. The Bush School's (WA) also has a College Counseling Instagram which includes many college walkthroughs.
Some colleges take interest in account when making admissions decisions. You can show interest by attending a college visit day at Bridges, getting your QR code scanned at a college fair, visiting the college in person or virtually, interviewing, by connecting online through Naviance, attending virtual events, or through emails sent to your regional admissions officer.
The two colleges in the US whose mission is to serve students with LDs are: Beacon College in Leesburg, FL and Landmark College in Putney, VT.
...
All colleges provide some level of support, but the level varies widely. Colleges do not legally need to offer the same level of support that high schools do. (See Elizabeth Hamblett's page on College Accommodations for more information about this.)
There are also outside support programs (see transitions page) that can support students in a wide variety of colleges. Another option is for the college students with an LD to regularly meet with an independent executive function coach or a tutor to help support them and keep them on track.
Keep an eye on two newer university neurodiversity initiatives and see which schools are joining and involved: College Autism Network (link below) and University Council for Neurodiversity Employment out of UCONN:
The lists below offer good information about types of support. Also see the links on the College Transitions page.
Other Lists and Resources