Criteria to Compare Colleges

Location: Geographic region; distance from home

Setting: Urban/rural; weather; nearest city or countryside recreation opportunities

Facilities: Library; laboratories; study and practice rooms; sports; student center

Type: Two year/four year, religious/state/private control, college/university

Purpose: Liberal arts; pre-professional for business, education, engineering, fine arts, etc.; technical or vocational training, degrees offered

Philosophy: Traditional/progressive; scholarly/career oriented/comprehensive

Calendar: Semester/trimester/quarter/module, interterm program, acceleration

Academic requirements: proportion of study to general education/concentration/student choice; required freshman courses or curriculum/distribution requirements in curricular areas / elective curriculum

Academic offerings: majors offered in areas of interest; breadth and depth of courses offered in your areas of interest; interdisciplinary courses and majors; strong departments

Independent study: individual tutorials; seminars; research opportunities

Special study programs: field work; internships; exchange programs; foreign study joint degree programs; cooperative work/study plan; pre-professional programs

Standards: accreditation; degree requirements; grading systems; grading/distribution; honor system

Course descriptions: sequential/open order; introductory, advanced specialized courses; courses for majors/non-majors; number of courses required for major

Deadlines: application; notification of decision; reply to offer of admission

Application: fee; information forms; specific high school courses

Requirements: transcript; secondary school report; recommendations; interview; other

SAT or ACT tests: SAT/ACT

Admissions selectivity: percentage of applicants offered admission; rating of most competitive/highly competitive/competitive; average SAT/ACT scores of freshmen; % of freshmen ranked in top 10% of high school class (if available); freshman class profile

Faculty: percent with Ph.D.’s; origin of degrees earned; original faculty research/scholarship; teaching course load; expectations for teaching/scholarship/advising and other college service; emphasis on undergraduate teaching and learning

Faculty-student relationships: faculty-student ratio; advising; accessibility for conferences, assistance; departmental clubs, committees with student representatives; class size; average; classes under 20 students/over 50 students; opportunities for discussion/student presentation/exchange of ideas

Academic demands: workload; course expectations; type of assignments; academic pressure/competition

Intellectual vitality: student attitude toward learning; flexibility/structure of study; exchange of ideas; interest in political, social, world issues

Career preparation: pre-professional programs; career advising and information programs; % who go on to graduate school; graduate school and job placement

Costs: minimum-maximum total costs per year; student budget for tuition and fees/room and board/books and personal expenses/travel costs; admission and enrollment fees

Family resources: what can your family pay toward college expenses; your earnings and savings

Awards: percentage of students receiving aid; range of awards; average award

Financial aid: based on need/merit/or funds available; loan and job expectations

Applications: what financial aid forms required; deadlines

Campus Reel - The tool automatically generates a complete guide that compares two colleges side by side.

How To Compare Colleges

Big Future - Big Future allows you to compare colleges, investigate how much you’ll need to pay for a college degree, find the best school for what you want to major in, get predictions on what you can make with your major, as well as learn how to get financial aid and scholarships for school.

Naviance - Each student in the Comsewogue School District has a unique password to access the Naviance Program. Students should contact their counselors to obtain their unique user ID. Naviance allows students to explore interest, careers and colleges.