Reviews of any kind can provide much-needed insight as you are trying to gather necessary information to make a decision. Would you eat at a restaurant that had a series of terrible reviews? Of course not. College reviews are no different – they can be used to gain background knowledge about schools and add some color to your perceptions and preconceived notions. It is important to do your research and gather as much information as possible when you are trying to find colleges that fit. You should keep several things in mind whenever you are reading college reviews.
Anybody who has been in a debate club will tell you that the first step in analyzing an argument is to determine the credibility of the person making the argument. So asking, “Who wrote this review?” is a fundamental question. College guidebooks, which can be quite credible, are usually published by unbiased organizations. However, be wary of anonymous online reviews, which may be written by people with hidden motives. For example, how would you perceive a review of a college written by a student who had been expelled because of an honor code violation? That college review would most likely be tainted by the experience of the reviewer. However, an organization that specializes in aggregating information about academic institutions, like WiseChoice, can be a dependable source of information for exploring and finding colleges.
One of the great things about the Internet is that it allows limitless communications among all kinds of people and access to all kinds of information. But...one of the vulnerabilities of the Internet is that it allows limitless communications among all kinds of people and access to all kinds of information. The web can be a wonderful place and it offers invaluable tools for finding the right colleges and applying to them. However, you may need to read college reviews posted to forums or personal blogs with a critical eye. Without the context of why the review was written, or who wrote it, it can be difficult to know whether the review is credible or not.
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