Yet, these rankings continue to play a powerful influencer role in college decision-making. Students and parents use them to narrow college searches and meet their social status and prestige needs. Caught in the middle, what are we to do?

A parent of a graduating 12th grader, who is now deciding on whether or not to major in game development, asked us to look into this and provide them more information. They sent us the names of the top colleges their student has applied to. We used two of the 6 Keys of College Fit (www.collegeunmazed.com) to gather data that would help the student make a more informed decision.

How as a parent, do you help your student see beyond the "emotional appeal" of a college and more objectively at the process?

Find out you can assess a college based on the 6 Keys of College Fit.

Students can make more informed decisions about which college to attend when they understand each college they are considering from 6 key perspectives. We call these the 6 Keys of College Fit that include Academic Match, Career Match, Financial Match, Personal Match, Student Outcomes, and Student Support.

Going, graduating, and transitioning into the world of work is a fearsome gauntlet for students and families. How can students and their families begin to take back a little control? We’d recommend that they take the Career Match between the student and the college more seriously. This is one of our 6 Keys of College Fit.

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are online courses of study that are open to a very large number of people, usually at a free or reduced cost. MOOCs can help enhance your college application through your college essay and recommendation letters about your expertise and motivation.

Current February 2023 Common App Updates and Statistics for Practitioners

This one-pager is helpful, because you can provide this to your students who are either attending your own school’s college fair or a larger event like NACAC. It helps them understand how to plan ahead, ask the right questions, talk to colleges on their list and keep an open mind about those that are not on their list, and how to get contact information.

Use this free poster printable to let your students how you support and care for them.

The College UnMazed Counselor-Student Connectedness Scale is a short, easy to use 4-item scale. Counselors and educators can use this scale to evaluate how connected students are to the counselors in their schools.

Shared during College Conversations Podcast Episode 10: Deepening the Conversation with Students Around Academic Planning (https://www.collegeunmazed.com/podcast), this downloadable worksheet is for counselors to use to help students consider all their 4 factors and how the academic plan they are currently creating to build the skills they need for their success.

Get your New Year off right with this free academic calendar with all key ACT/SAT registration deadlines and testing dates and other important college admissions dates in one easy spot to use with students.