Navigating College Websites

For rising juniors and seniors, summer is a time to start your college search afresh or solidify your shortlist. If you’re looking out of state, the feasibility of visiting or ‘trying out’ prospective colleges will likely be out of reach and not beneficial until you’ve narrowed your list to two to three possibilities. One way to gain tremendous insight about a prospective college is to visit the website.

By Kaley Ciluffo — July 19, 2022

Tags: high school

For rising juniors and seniors, summer is a time to start your college search afresh or solidify your shortlist. If you're looking out of state, the feasibility of visiting or 'trying out' prospective colleges will likely be out of reach and not beneficial until you've narrowed your list to two to three possibilities.

One way to gain tremendous insight about a prospective college is to visit the website. Though this may seem painfully obvious, with many students' focuses on social media, college websites are underutilized resources that provide a breadth of information about academics and campus life. Aside from visiting the campus in person, you'll find everything you know about student life, extracurriculars, and academics on university websites.

Appreciate the Homepage

Understanding how to navigate these spaces saturated in information, however, may overwhelm prospective students. With many wondering where to start, we'll take it from the top, beginning with the homepage. Many tend to speed through landing pages and move on to other tabs. Yet, a homepage is the first look at what a college has to offer, and it's the first thing everyone sees. The focus here means that universities must make an immediate impression. Because of that, you'll see what a school offers, what it's recognized for, and how the school chooses to brand themselves. Once a school establishes its ethos, you can use the homepage and navigation tab as a guide toward important information about campuses, like announcements, upcoming campus events, program or faculty news, and options to set up a visit. These items, at first glance, may not seem like important college search criteria, but if you read these items closely, you'll get a great reflection of the institution's priorities, community, and prospective majors.

Navigation Bar

After you've taken a close look at the college homepage, look at the navigation bar at the top of the webpage. You'll likely see a tab that says 'admission.' This tab is one of the most important resources for prospective students, as it contains everything you'll need to know about submitting your application. From this tab, you'll also find statistics of previous enrolling classes. These numbers play an important role in your application process because this will indicate to you whether the school is a safety, toss-up, or reach school. Having a solid mix of all three types of schools on your applications list is important.

The admissions tab will also give you instructions on how to apply, important dates and deadlines, and the required test scores and GPA for admission. If the school has an application fee, you can also find waivers that will likely need to be filled out well before your application deadline.

Navigation bars also contain the most up-to-date financial information. Cost of attendance describes the estimated total a student can expect to pay for the academic year. While you should not let these statistics deter you, also use caution with them. The numbers are usually well below what you'll actually end up spending and vary greatly depending on a number of factors. Even what program you study and how many AP courses you take can significantly decrease or increase the cost of attendance. In the financial aid section and on our website, you'll find detailed information about applying for the FASFA and earning Tuition Rewards points to decrease the overall cost of attendance.

Explore Programs, Majors, and Faculty Pages

Next, it's important to explore the academics and research tabs. Not all schools will have a designated research tab, but all should have an academics tab. If you have an idea about what you'd like to major in, make sure your prospective school offers a pathway. Suppose you're hesitant about choosing a major. In that case, the information on school websites can be immensely helpful in providing insight into your degree curriculum, which explains the course requirements for each field of study.

Degree curriculums list the required courses, GPA's, and course names for satisfactory completion. Some schools may also provide course lists so you can see what types of things you'll learn about as a student. These lists become especially important when considering how you'd like to use your electives—the courses you pick that the university does not require to earn your degree. If you're trying to decide between a couple of majors, learning about the degree curriculums at each school can help you determine what college is best for you and what major.

Learn About Research Opportunities

Particularly if you're considering graduate school in the sciences or pursuing any medical or engineering career, what types of research opportunities you'll have access to as an undergrad should factor into your decision. Not only will these opportunities provide invaluable experience, but they'll also become outstanding components of your resume for both job opportunities and advanced degrees.

Understanding Extracurriculars

Many university websites will feature all things extracurricular in the "student life" tab. Not only will this tab guide you through what you can expect from the campus community, but it may also have a place where you can see what clubs will be available to you as a student. Some schools also have individual websites set up for each club. You can find more detailed information like social media pages, mission statements, club members, and contact info here. You may also see upcoming events and past events. Extracurriculars are an important part of the campus experience, and choosing what extracurricular is right for you will shape the trajectory of your social circles and interests on campus. If you're seeing a lot of compelling and active campus organizations, you may have found a strong match. Really dig around on these pages! Reach out to people (you may not always hear back—don't take it personally) and take the time to see what exciting opportunities may await.

A school website is an easy tool to gain tremendous insight into life as a prospective student. Taking time to explore all the website has to offer in-depth can really shape your opinion of a school and help to narrow down your list. Aside from visiting campuses, a school's website is the most important tool you have to explore prospective institutions. Take advantage of all that it has to offer!

Kaley Ciluffo

Kaley is a current Ph.D. student in Critical Psychology. In 2021, she earned her M.S. Ed at the University of Pennsylvania with distinction. Prior to matriculating at Penn, Kaley earned her B.A. and Master of Political Science from Villanova University in 2020. Kaley’s research continues to build the Healing-Centered Mentorship framework that emerged from her master’s thesis. She seeks to understand, broadly, how students may achieve posttraumatic growth in unconventional ways.

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