<p>I have become quite discouraged in the entire process of searching college. It seems as if each time I look somehwere for a review, every place has people that hate the college, think its so full of such-and-such a type of people and is not a welcoming place really for average people. I'm not looking at just one kind of college, either, this seems to be happening from everywhere from University of Maryland to Georgia Tech to American University to UNC.. UMN... EVERYWHERE. So, how will I know what to trust? If they all have these reviewers saying some of the same, redundant, bad things??? Because it's either bad reviews about bad profs and rich kids or magnificent reviews. At them all, really. So what do i do????</p>
<p>There’s a thread somewhere on here about a girl who researched Johns Hopkins and decided she wold never go there e cause of all the reviews saying that life was miserable and classmates were cutthroat. But, she decided to visit anyway, and saw that the students seemed enthusiastic, friendly, and supportive. This, she ended up going there. </p>
<p>The fact is, you can’t trust online reviews. Three reasons:
- Most students that Write online reviews about their school are the ones that have a big issue about it. Thus, you get a terrible sample of the student body. No matter where you go, there will be people that don’t like it.
- There are a lot of people that write nasty reviews about schools that they didn’t get into and are bitter about that. Once you go to a college and read the reviews, you’ll see how some reviews have their facts completely wrong (like if a school follows semesters or quarters), which means they never went to the school.
- MOST IMPORTANT: no college is perfect for anyone. For that to be true, the college would have to have cloned students who enjoy the same things and have all the same enjoyable experiences. Choosing a college is extremely personal; what one person finds terrible may be preferred by another. DON’T LET STRANGERS DECIDE WHERE YOU ARE GOING TO SPEND 4 YEARS OF YOUR LIFE.</p>
<p>Disregard the typos. I’m on my phone and it’s late.</p>
<p>kns1444 is right. People who are happy and content don’t usually go online to write about it. They’re too busy enjoying themselves. It’s the people who are unhappy or ticked off about something who go online to gripe about it. And most of the time, the problem is more about them than about the school. The people who say that “everyone here is snobby and stuck up” would probably have trouble making friends where ever they went. Comments about bad profs and unfair grading are often from people with bad study habits.</p>
<p>But some of the negative reviews can actually be helpful. No school is perfect, and it’s good to know what the drawbacks are. Some might bother you, but some might not. Maybe it’s true that the food really stinks, or that there’s not much to do off campus, or that it’s hard to find housing after freshman year. If you see these types of complaints over and over, there’s probably something to them. Then you can decide whether it’s something you could live with, or if it’s a deal breaker for you.</p>
<p>The way I started searching for colleges was strictly reading reviews about the school and looking at the schools websites. I know where your coming from, I would often be dismayed by the negative reviews and the accounts people had as students, but then again, its imperative that you take what they say with a grain of salt and an open mind. We are all different, we don’t all like the same things. One may hate Arizona University because of its big school and wild parties because he or she may be a quiet person who did not do well picking a school for his or herself whereas another person who does like Arizona’s wild atmosphere is in love with the school.</p>
<p>Jea828 is right, people who are in love with the school don’t really review because they already like it, plain and simple and they dont feel the need to review about it whereas someone who hates the school will have no problem venting it online.</p>
<p>I actually like the bad reviews because reading them will give me a gist about what it is the reviewer was so annoyed about and then I can ask myself “Would I be annoyed at this if I went there? Would it be an issue for me?”</p>
<p>In short, read the bad reviews because they can in some sort of way help you, but don’t take them seriously. There will always be people who hate their school while you may actually love it.</p>
<p>Stop reading online reviews. Start talking to friends and family with actual experience at various colleges. Talk to your parents about coming up with a plan to visit some colleges that appeal to you based on academics, location, your family budget, etc. The other posters are right–people tend to go online with problems or negative comments.</p>
<p>As already pointed out, online reviews are not very trustworthy. There are guidebooks that attempt to present Hey more balanced view. One example is called “the insiders guide to the colleges”. These are based on surveys of current students. While not perfect, they are probably a better guide to the pluses and minuses that online reviews.</p>
<p>I hear you. I’m looking at reviews for chainsaws and they’re all over the place too!</p>