Alcove 9: An Annotated List of Reference Websites

Education: College Catalogs, Directories and Rankings

College Search
College Search allows the user to select specific criteria for finding colleges or universities. These criteria include college major, size of city, makeup of students, state, religious affiliation, and other pertinent information.

U.S. News Education Site
The website offers links to a comprehensive list of U.S. colleges and universities. It is also a highly regarded source for undergraduate and graduate school rankings. The site includes selected articles on education news and trends, as well as premium features to aid in searching for the right college.

Back To College
A resource for nontraditional students, this site includes information about individual universities, financial aid, foreign study, internships, online degrees, and life experience credit.

Virtual College Tours
Users can search for colleges alphabetically or by state. This site includes Webcams, websites, and virtual tours of many college campuses.

Peterson's Education & Career Center
A broad overview of many colleges and universities, covering undergraduate and graduate programs, student aid and financial information, summer programs and learning enrichment.

Careers and Colleges
A selective listing that contains information on undergraduate programs at private universities. Free of cost, but requires user registration.

World-Wide Graduate School Directory
Extensive listing of graduate programs worldwide, with an index of programs by subject and a keyword search feature.

College and University Homepages
Compiled by a staff member at MIT, this list can be accessed alphabetically or by using the geographical index.

U.S. News Graduate School Rankings
Including vast information on 39 disciplines, this site ranks graduate schools in many subjects, with an explanation of the methods of ranking analysis. Rankings are available in Business, Law, Engineering, Education, Medicine, Chemistry, English, History and Political Science.

College and University Rankings
From the University of Illinois, this site presents an annotated guide to online rankings services for American colleges and universities. Although the validity of college rankings are often controversial, a context for ranking services is provided and questions of objectivity and measurement are addressed. The site includes a thorough bibliography and individual sections for undergraduate, law, business, and graduate study.

Higher Education and Research Opportunities in the United Kingdom (HERO)
Official gateway to higher education and research centers in the United Kingdom. Information is provided for prospective students, researchers, and staff in higher education; there are also sections on collaboration with business and sport and social activities. Users can find information about universities and colleges via a clickable map or keyword search.