College & Career Counseling - The College Search

Building your college list is extremely important when planning for life after graduation. A healthy college list consists of safety, target, and reach schools. The majority of your list should be focused on safety and target schools (schools you are confident or hopeful of admission), and only a few schools should be considered reach schools (wishful of being admitted).

To eliminate stress during the application process, start researching today! Your life will be much easier if you have done your research and have an idea of where you would like to apply come Senior year.

Below are a few resources you can use to help build your college list and learn about different colleges/universities:

Naviance SuperMatch Tool

The SuperMatch Tool is a great resource for beginning to build your college list. Here, you can input criteria that is important to you as a student in a prospective school. The more criteria you add, the more personalized your list will become.

Use the SuperMatch Tool to open the scope of colleges that are available at your fingertips. The SuperMatch Tool is a great springboard for starting to build your list of schools to research.

From the Naviance Homepage, navigate to “Colleges” -> “Find Your Fit” -> SuperMatch.

Naviance Scattergrams

Scattergrams are great resources for Notre Dame College Prep students to see where their peers have been admitted/denied/waitlisted/deferred from a particular college/university. When students apply to a university, they are evaluated by the high school that they are applying from. Utilizing the scattergrams can sometimes give a more accurate picture of what academic criteria is being used to admit a student.

*Please note: There is a number of criteria that goes into admitting or denying a student from a college/university. GPA and test scores are only a few factors, and at times they do not always show the full picture of the student. Every college/university admits/denies students differently. Just because a student with your similar academic make-up or was admitted or denied does not necessarily mean the same will happen for you.

If the student has a test score, he will be reflected as a blue person with a circle. Test scores are regularly updated when ACT/SAT send them to our school. GPAs have been updated to reflect grades for the Junior and Senior classes.

From the Naviance Homepage, type in a school in the search bar -> click on the returned results -> navigate to the “Admissions” tab, and scroll down until you see the scattergram. If you don’t see a scattergram, then we do not have data from previous years about that school.

Chicago Area Regional Representatives (CARR) YouTube Channel

***Click HERE to access the CARR YouTube Channel***

Check out the helpful YouTube videos created by CARR on topics related to the college search and application process. These individuals may be the person who reviews your college application!

Additional Resources

College Board College Search

O*NET - Career Exploration

The College Essay Guy - How to Choose a College: Click HERE

College Database: Click HERE

Cappex College Search: Click HERE

Virtual College Tours

Campus Tours: Click HERE
You Visit: Click HERE

CHOICES Fair

Come Back for Fall 2023 date

***Click HERE to navigate to the Choices website***

For many students and parents, the process of college planning and the entire application process may seem daunting. The college search and selection process can, however, be an educational adventure as well as a time of personal growth, an opportunity for increasing self-understanding and the beginning of goal setting. The post-secondary process should include a survey of all options available to students to ensure the broadest possible opportunity for self-fulfillment and success.

Spanish Speaking Resources

Career Exploration

Haga cli aquí: Mapping Your Future

College Exploration

Haga cli aquí: Planificar para la Universidad; Buscar la Universidad; Ingresar ala Universidad

Haga cli aquí: Recuros educativos para hispanoparlantes

Haga cli aquí: College Navigator

Financial Aid

Haga cli aquí: Solicitud Gratuita de Asistencia Estudiantil Federal

Haga cli aquí: Ayuda financiera

Haga cli aquí: Programas de ayudas financier de Illinois y federales (Subsidios, Becas, Préstamos)

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