Research Guides: Career Guide: College Planning

College Planning with Peterson's

Peterson's has several awesome pages to help you decide on a school once you've graduated from Columbia State. The first is the College Planning Center. This page has info on everything from choosing a college, standardized tests, financial aid, and a ton more. We specifically recommend these pages for you;

Another place to look that Peterson's offers is the College and Scholarship Search page. This page offers a lot more than just help with finding a school, but it has some great resources for that search. It even has some career specific search options, which we love. In particular, we recommend these;

Career Colleges Search
Take the next step in your career education. Explore over 1,000 accredited colleges, universities, and trade schools that offer career-specific education options for students seeking entry into trades, occupations, or professions.
Distance Learning Program Search
Search a database of accredited schools and programs that offer distance learning options. Choose the courses of study and degree levels that you're interested in and get a list of schools that match your qualifications.
Information Technology Programs Search
Information Technology Programs Search - Undergrad search with an additional pre-added filter.
Undergraduate Nursing School Search
Find the right nursing program for you. Choose the locations and study options you're interested in and get a list of programs that match your qualifications. Learn more about the schools on your list by reading their profiles.
Undergraduate School Search
Find the colleges and universities of your dreams! Search through nearly 4,200 two- and four-year accredited schools and find your perfect fit. Define the criteria that are important to you and create a customized list of potential colleges.

One other planning site we recommend is CollegeSource Online. This site offers a huge digital catalog of colleges with their institution profiles, transcript keys, and a bunch of other resources to explore. It even lets you define if you'd like to search for colleges just in the US or if you'd like to include ones abroad!

Career Planning with Columbia State and the Library

In addition to Peterson's, Columbia State has a Career Development and Choice-of-Major Resources center. This page covers a lot of material, including things we'll talk about in the next tabs, but at this stage we would recommend the following resources;

If you're looking for some more in depth resources, the library has you covered! Here are some of the items on college planning that we have in our catalogue;

The Ultimate Guide to America's Best Colleges 2018 by Kelly Tanabe; Tanabe
ISBN: 9781617601231
Publication Date: 2017-07-11
The only guidebook of its kind to combine extensive narrative college profiles with detailed data and statistics on each institution, this tome reports on more than 300 colleges and universities, addressing their academics, majors, student life, athletics, student body, distinguished alumni, admissions/financial aid, and postgraduation success. Tips on each college's admission process and student quotes from a national survey accompany each description to provide an honest and thorough appraisal of each college's strengths and weaknesses.To guide students by the numbers, this book includes extensive statistics for each school, with figures on the student composition, class sizes, most popular majors, admissions rates, required standardized tests, deadlines, college costs, and financial aid. A must-have, go-to resource for any college-bound student, their parents, or guidance and career counselors, readers will also find a ranking of the 100 best college values.
Accepted! 50 Successful College Admission Essays by Tanabe; Kelly Tanabe
ISBN: 9781617601293
Publication Date: 2017-07-11
Students will prepare powerful and successful admission essays with the tools provided in this invaluable, newly-updated resource for the college-bound. Examples of 50 real essays are included, discussing such topics as leadership, personal obstacles, athletics, public service, special talents, and future goals. The strengths and successes of each example are analyzed, as well as the inspirations of each writer. A comprehensive writing workshop provides tips toward selecting topics, developing stories, editing drafts, and applying finishing touches. Further examples of 12 unsuccessful essays, a list of 25 easy mistakes to avoid, and new interviews with admissions officers are presented to help would-be entrants avoid costly blunders.
Get into Any College by Kelly Tanabe
ISBN: 9781617600975
Publication Date: 2016-05-10
Based on the real-life experiences of students who were admitted to the United States'most prestigious universities, this guide provides proven strategies to get into and pay for any college. Detailing what high school studentsfrom freshmen to seniorscan do to prepare, this updated edition addresses recent changes in admissions and financial aid processes and the increasingly popular early-admissions option. Examples of applications, interviews, and 25 actual college-admission essays complement information on how parents can help without hurting, what it takes to ace the SAT and ACT, and where students can find free cash for tuition. Stories of students'successes and failures reveal how the college-admissions and financial-aid processes really work, while giving a personal face to what is often seen as an impersonal experience. A section for special groups includes admission considerations for athletes, transfer and international students, students with disabilities, and home-schooled students.