Getting Started...

Welcome to CollegeEvaluationTool.com! We hope this tool will be helpful in your college decision making process.

This site is for students:

• who have been accepted to several colleges and need help organizing their thoughts to make a decision.
• who are being recruited and would like to weigh their options.
• who are interested in visiting multiple schools, but would like to narrow it down prior to filling out applications.
• who are planning on attending a 4 year college in the U.S. (community colleges, 2 year schools, and graduate schools are NOT included).

CollegeEvaluationTool.com has been developed to take students step-by-step through the process of creating a weighted matrix chart.  This chart is a valuable tool in the process of choosing a college that fits.  Once the student activates their account and logs in, they should click on "My ratings" to begin creating a weighted matrix chart.

Steps to create a weighted matrix chart:

1. The student needs to select issues they feel are important when considering a college, such as geographic location, graduation rate, dorms, etc.  CollegeEvaluationTool has provided over 130 different issues students may consider important in a popup list.  If the student does not see an issue on the popup list they consider important, they can type their own issue.
2. Once the student selects or types an issue, they will be asked to weight (or rank) the issue on a scale of 1-10 based on importance, with 10 being most important.
3. When the issue selection process is complete, the student will select the colleges they are interested in attending.

Note:  The weighted matrix chart is limited to 25 issues and 10 colleges, but the student is free to create as many matrices as is needed.

There two types of issues:

1. Subjective issues - These are issues that are rated based on the student's opion.  Issues such as dorms, food, or class size require the student to decide what is best for them and rate it on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the best fit for the student.
2. Objective issues - These are the issues that are fixed numbers and are not based on the student's opinion.  Issues like graduation rate, retention rate, or admissions selectivity rating are fixed numbers and in most cases will be filled in on the studnet's chart automatically.  The objective issues in CollegeEvaluationTool's database are listed below. 
1. 4 year graduation rate
2. 6 year graduation rate
3. Academic rating
4. Admissions selectivity rating
5. Financial aid rating
6. Fire safety rating
7. Green rating
8. Quality of life rating
9. Retention rate

Note: Definitions of the objective issues can be found below in the "Glossary of Terms".

Other objective issues you may be interested in are Business School rankings, Engineering School rankings, etc.  Rankings like this can be found in US News & World Report, but require you to pay to join.  There are numbers associated with these rankings, which the student can insert into their weighted matrix chart.

GLOSSARY OF TERMS

The following ratings were found on the National Center for Education Statistics website.  The is free and available by clicking here.

Rentention Rate 

Retention rate measures the percentage of first-time students seeking a bachelor degree who continue their studies the following fall.

4-Year Graduation Rate 

Graduation rates for full-time, first-time undergraduates who receive a bachelor degree in 4 years.

6-Year Graduation Rate 

Graduation rates for full-time, first-time undergraduates who receive a bachelor degree in 6 years.

The following ratings were selected from Princeton Review's website.  This data is free and available on the Princeton Review website by clicking here.

Academic Rating

How hard students work and how much they get back for their efforts, on a scale of 6.0-9.9. This rating is calculated from student survey results and statistical information reported by administrators. Factors weighed include how many hours students study outside of the classroom and the quality of students the school attracts. We also considered students' assessments of their professors, class size, student-teacher ratio, use of teaching assistants, amount of class discussion, registration, and resources. Please note that if a school has an Academic Rating of 6.0, it means that the school did not report to us a sufficient number of the statistics that go into the rating by our deadline.

Admissions Selectivity Rating

This rating measures how competitive admissions are at the school. This rating is determined by several institutionally-reported factors, including: the class rank, average standardized test scores, and average high school GPA of entering freshmen; the percentage of students who hail from out-of-state; and the percentage of applicants accepted. By incorporating all these factors, our Admissions Selectivity Rating adjusts for "self-selecting" applicant pools. University of Chicago, for example, has a very high rating, even though it admits a surprisingly large proportion of its applicants. Chicago's applicant pool is self-selecting; that is, nearly all the school's applicants are exceptional students. This rating is given on a scale of 6.0-9.9. Please note that if a school has an Admissions Selectivity Rating of 6.0, it means that the school did not report to us enough of the statistics that go into the rating in order for us to accurately measure its admissions selectivity.

Financial Aid Rating

This rating measures how much financial aid a school awards and how satisfied students are with that aid, on a scale of 6.0-9.9. This rating is based on school-reported data on the percentage of students who were determined to have need and received aid, the percentage of need met for those students, and the percentage of students whose need was fully met. Student survey data that measures students' satisfaction with the financial aid they receive is also considered. Please note that if a school has a Financial Aid Rating of 6.0, it means that the school did not report to us all of the statistics that go into the rating by our deadline.

Fire Safety Rating

This rating measures how well prepared a school is to prevent or respond to campus fires, on a scale of 6.0-9.9. We asked all the schools we annually collect data from to answer several questions about their efforts to ensure fire safety for campus residents. The questions were developed in consultation with the Center for Campus Fire Safety. Please note that if a school has a Fire Safety Rating of 6.0, it means that the school did not report to us all of the statistics that go into the rating by our deadline.

Quality of Life Rating

How happy students are with their lives outside the classroom, on a scale of 6.0-9.9. We weighed several factors, including students' assessments of their overall happiness; the beauty, safety, and location of the campus; the comfort of dorms; the quality of food; the ease of getting around campus and dealing with administrators; the friendliness of fellow students; the interaction of different student types; and the quality of the school's relationship with the local community. Please note that if a school has a Quality of Life Rating of 6.0, it means that the school did not report to us all of the statistics that go into the rating by our deadline.

The Green Rating