College and Graduate School Guides

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A good starting point for finding college and graduate school guides > Search the Libraries' catalog!

Need assistance finding college and graduate school guides? Ask us!

Reference DatabasesWeb Guides/Rankings - Academic
Peterson's Planner for College and Grad School - Guides students through process of preparing applications and statements, finding a school, preparing for tests, and finding ways to pay for education via through scholarships, grants  and loans.

CollegeSource Online - Provides access to college catalogs for two-year, 4-year, and graduate, professional an international schools

Gradschools.com - More than 50,000 graduate programs browsable by subject and school, and by online distance learning, certificate, McNair, and minority program offices throughout the United States.

Print reference guides are also available, ask at the Reference Desk.

These ranking guides for education institutions are compiled by academic researchers/organizations to address educational goals lacking in some of the popular guides.

Academic Institutional Profiles (National Science Foundation)

Business School Research Rankings (Indiana U)

College Board (College Board)

National Postsecondary Education Cooperative (Nat’l Center for Ed Stats)

National Survey of Student Engagement (Indiana U)

PhDs.org (National Research Council)

The Top American Research Universities (University of Florida)

Web Guides/Rankings  – Popular

US News and World Report - The publisher uses ranking categories that cover: academic reputation, student selectivity, faculty resources, graduation and retention rate, alumni giving, financial resources, and graduation rate performance.  2 reports, one each for undergraduate, America’s Best Colleges, and graduate schools, America's Best Graduate Schools.

Kaplan, Inc offers a couple of  print guides for students:  America's Hottest Colleges — NEW 2007 EDITION is a hybrid of counseling students about SAT’s and admissions tips with an unofficial ranking guide. The Unofficial, Unbiased Guide to the 328 Most Interesting Colleges lives up to their “Unbiased” title, offering anecdotes from students and guidance counselors to augment admissions information and institutional facts.  Kaplan also offers Test prep courses for standardized entrance exams (see college board and ETS below).

Princeton Review –  Best 361 Colleges Rankings publication is based on surveys of over 110,000 students at the 357 colleges.  Student web-survey-questions cover “school's academics, campus life and student body, as well as their study hours, politics, and opinions”.  Princeton also offers Test prep courses for standardized entrance exams (see college board and ETS below).
 
StudentsReview.com boasts “uncensored” college reviews of colleges and universities for potential undergraduates and graduate students, as compiled and ranked by MIT graduate students. 

U Illinois compilation of popular and target rankings for Graduate and Undergraduate, Law, Business and International schools, (navigate using the left-hand bar on the main page) with descriptions of methodology, where available.  Some Undergraduate “top” ranking lists target niche-students (ex:  including African Americans, Latinos, Activists, Distant Learners, Conservatives, etc).

College/Graduate Entrance TestsFinanical Aid

College Board Online - Schedules for SAT's and other tests, college and some financial aid information.

ETS  Educational Testing Service - Information on the Advanced Placement Program (AP), College Level Examination Program (CLEP), Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT), Graduate Record Examinations (GRE), Professional Assessments for Beginning Teachers (PRAXIS), The School Leadership Series, and the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). Includes a list of test centers and links to test registration sites.

 

Free Application for Federal Student Aid  (FAFSA) - Electronic submission form to apply for, or remain qualified for, Federal Financial aid. For the FAQ page, click here.  The School Code for St. John’s University is 002823;  to find school codes for other schools, click here.

Student Aid on the Web - This searchable site from the U.S. Department of Education's Federal Student Aid (FSA) program, provides information for students, parents, and counselors in English and Spanish.

FinAid: The SmartStudent Guide to Financial Aid - Advice on and links to sources of information about student financial aid; includes loans, scholarships, military aid, fellowships, grants, prepaid tuition plans, study abroad, financial aid consultants, and scholarship search services.


Page Compiled by: Kathy Shaughnessy and Anthony Todman