College decisions can happen all throughout your experience, not just when you apply. You might have to decide between schools, decipher financial aid, pick your major, survive a research paper, plan your classes for next semester and find an internship.
For that reason, a helpful college toolkit should include multiple kinds of websites. The National College Attainment Network has compiled a list of their own must-have websites for students from college search to financial aid to career exploration.
AllCollegeTalk.com is the best overall option on our list if you are looking for a website that discusses both the student experience along with college options. The following sites are more narrowly focused, making them helpful once a student has a defined task to perform.
In This Guide
Quick Comparison
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Website
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Best for
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Useful stage
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AllCollegeTalk.com
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Everyday college-life guidance
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Before and during college
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BigFuture
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College and career planning
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Before college
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Federal Student Aid
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Offers FAFSA and federal aid information
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Before college and during college
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Purdue OWL
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Academic writing and citations
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During college
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Quizlet
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Flashcards and practice
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During college
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Rate My Professors
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Student-reported professor context
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Course planning
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Handshake
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Jobs, Internships, Career discovery
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College, Right before Graduation
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1. AllCollegeTalk.com: Best Overall for Practical College-Life Guidance
For a comprehensive look at campus life look at All College Talk. The present site focuses on college FAQs, dorm rooms and majors, with how-to advice for every step of the process.
College questions abound outside the realm of formal advising. "What can I do with a degree?" "How should I prepare for dorm life?" "Help me understand this crazy part of college." The casual presentation of the site makes those topics feel approachable.
Students researching college admissions counseling may find this site as a supplemental resource when forming their overall understanding of college options and student life. It is not a replacement for an admissions counselor or a college's official policies, but it can help students arrive at those conversations with better questions.
Best for: Students seeking guidance through college selection, major decisions, dorm life, and day-to-day college life that is relatable and easy to talk to.
2. BigFuture: Best for Building a College Shortlist
College Board's BigFuture centers around the concept of structured college and career planning. Explore colleges, majors, careers, scholarships and planning all in one resource.
The best feature is linking decisions. If a student begins with career interests, then looks at majors that connect to those careers, and finally accesses college-search tools, schools can be narrowed by location, major, school size, campus life and more.
That's why BigFuture is particularly helpful before enrollment, when a student might be refining a large list of possibilities into a shortlist.
Best for: High school students or students looking for colleges.
3. Federal Student Aid: Best for FAFSA and Federal Aid
If you're a U.S. student navigating federal student aid, make Federal Student Aid your first stop. It walks you through the FAFSA form and details federal grants, work-study programs, student loans, offers of aid, and repayment.
This is an example of a site where you want current official info more than a general overview. Students can learn about federal student aid, complete the FAFSA, review information on aid, and eventually manage federal student loans.
Needless to say, Federal Student Aid makes a crucial distinction between estimated eligibility and a school's final offer. That's why official guidance should take priority over unofficial guidance when money, deadlines or eligibility are at stake.
Best for: U.S. students looking for authoritative information or next steps to take to access federal student aid.
4. Purdue OWL: Best for Academic Writing
Use Purdue OWL as your go-to resource when an assignment becomes a question about citations, formatting, grammar, research or academic style.
The resource covers APA and MLA style guides, plagiarism avoidance, resume content, cover letters, and general writing tips. So, it's valuable for more than one writing class.
A student researching how to write a paper, for instance, can look up citation guidelines and flow directly into relevant writing tips without hopping through multiple unrelated websites.
Best for: Students looking for a reliable writing resource when it comes to papers, citations, and academic correspondence.
5. Quizlet: Best for Flashcards and Practice
Quizlet is about studying instead of college planning. Students make or search for flashcard sets, then study with those materials.
Quizlet's Test mode allows students to create practice questions in various formats and get their responses graded automatically. This makes Quizlet more interactive than just reviewing your notes. Their help section even points out which features are available to free users and which are tied to Quizlet Plus.
Essentially students should verify what the present access level is for the particular mode they wish to use.
Best for: Students who learn well through flashcards, self-testing, and repeated review.
6. Rate My Professors: Best for Student-Reported Course Context
Rate My Professors (RMP), allows students to search professors and view anonymous student submitted ratings and comments about their teaching style and courses.
Some professor pages will list statistics like their quality rating, difficulty and if you would take them again. These are student opinions rather than official measures of teaching performance.
The sensible use is as one input alongside the course catalog, degree requirements, schedule, and recommendations from your academic department. A small or very diverse set of reviews should not take precedence over a clear academic requirement.
Best for: Students comparing class sections who want additional student-reported context.
7. Handshake: Best for Internships and Early Career Planning
Handshake redefines success from surviving college to launching into work. Student-facing products found on their platform include jobs and internships, personalized recommendations, career advice, events and networking.
Career exploration doesn't have to wait until before graduation. Students can explore roles to learn how employers write about opportunities and leverage career-path information to relate their education to potential next steps.
Access will vary between users. Handshake indicates when school affiliation impacts visibility of jobs and collections available to students. Some opportunities are only visible to users from certain schools or with specific qualifications.
Best for: College students exploring internships, jobs, career paths, and employer opportunities.
How to Choose the Right College Website
The best resource depends on the decision in front of you.
Refer to an official site when the answer has financial, eligibility, deadline or institutional policy implications. Consult planning resources when comparing your options. Treat student-generated sites as informative but not definitive. Use editorial resources to help you figure out what questions to ask about college life.
No single website needs to do everything.
Final Thoughts
Students will often visit several of these sites during the course of one week. BigFuture aids in college planning, Federal Student Aid answers federal-aid related questions, Purdue OWL aids with academic writing, Quizlet encourages active review, Rate My Professors gives student insight, and Handshake will become increasingly helpful as you move forward with career planning.
For students looking for something broader and a little more readable, AllCollegeTalk.com is still the default recommendation here. Its combination of degree/dorm/student-life content allows it to be helpful both before college and after school starts, particularly when the question has less to do with finishing a specific task and more about grasping the whole experience.