Do you judge a college by it's website?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>For example if you view their website and it's not updated, links not working properly, or even does not have important information like other college websites do; do you look down upon it? In other words do you feel like an organized website of an university shows they are good academy wise? Or do you not put much thought into this, and rather focus on it's ranking?</p>

2

<p>umm i wouldn't. i hardly believe a website has anything to do with anything. im sure if a school like harvard had a worse site than a community college, it wouldn't make it a worse school.</p>

3

<p>It depends. As long as the site is decent than I really don't care but if the site really sucks and looks like it was made in five minutes (very few graphics, plain text only, etc) then I might be skeptical if its not a well known school. I'd worry they don't have enough money to even pay for web design or something. A nice website is always impressive and it should look proffesional.</p>

4

<p>Honestly, I do. Browsing colleges on the internet was really my only way of learning about them (didn't buy any books or anything), and if it took me too long to find the basic information I was looking for--list of majors, tuition & fees--then I crossed the college off my list. It worked out well for me, at least, but I wouldn't reccommend everyone just rule out colleges with less-than-well-done websites.</p>

5

<p>texas a and m's site sucks but theyre still a good school</p>

6

<p>Texas A&M's site doesn't suck at all</p>

7

<p>I usually do not, although the virtual tours are very helpful. :)</p>

<p>I'd still visit, to get how it feels when students are around doing the typical college stuff. Get its aura or flow.</p>

<p>Just my opinion.
IB</p>

<p>PS--If I were interested in a tech major or computer science, a bad website would throw me off a bit.</p>

8

<p>I do.</p>

<p>PS - Texas A&M sucks</p>

9

<p>I don't put much stock in it, but it can be annoying. Harvey Mudd's comes to mind. It just seems like tech schools should have some sort of team that keeps the website on the cutting edge.</p>

10

<p>I think if the school has lousy website/portal, lacking content, current news, it does say a lot about the education you'd be getting. Maybe you want to ask why it is content-poor.</p>

11

<p>
[quote]
It depends. As long as the site is decent than I really don't care but if the site really sucks and looks like it was made in five minutes (very few graphics, plain text only, etc) then I might be skeptical if its not a well known school. I'd worry they don't have enough money to even pay for web design or something. A nice website is always impressive and it should look proffesional.

[/quote]
HMC's is so crappy. I wanted to cry while looking at it. :rolleyes: </p>

<p><a href="http://www.hmc.edu%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.hmc.edu&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>I make powerpoint slides that look more appealing.</p>

12

<p>I don't see what's so bad about it.</p>

13

<p>UVa has a pretty damn good website:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.virginia.edu%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.virginia.edu&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

14

<p><a href="http://my.cmu.edu/site/admission%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://my.cmu.edu/site/admission&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Turn the sound up and either skip the 1900-2006 countdown or wait it out. Then click on the different people (5 people) and see what each one offers! It is interactive, interesting and informative.</p>

15

<p><a href="http://www.mit.edu/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.mit.edu/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>I enjoy looking through their website although it gets annoying navigating sometimes.</p>

16

<p>USC's web site was really annoying. The online application was not well-integrated with the paper app. For instance, if you just applied directly online, you would not see important instructions and examples shown only on the paper version. Also, the grade entry mechanism was asinine in its design imho. It made you reenter the name of your high school for each class you took, each semester,...., so, over 60 times. Wouldn't it make more sense to set a single high school's name as the default, then you could change it if needed? </p>

<p>Hopefully the rest of the school is better-planned.</p>

17

<p>After perusing gazillions, I have to say that Wesleyan's is the best. I was amazed at how lack-luster some of the top school's were. But I guess it's part of their advertizing, and some schools don't think they have to promote themselves much. Anyway, I think Wesleyan's reflects well on the school. Now if only they accept my kid.....</p>

18

<p>Something interesting...</p>

<p><a href="http://www.webaward.org/winners_detail.asp?yr=all&award_level=best&category=University%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.webaward.org/winners_detail.asp?yr=all&award_level=best&category=University&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

19

<p><a href="http://www.stanford.edu%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.stanford.edu&lt;/a> is one of the prettiest I've seen.</p>

20

<p>well it would be just like judging a college only by its viewbook, or other mailings. It's another way to get information out there to prospective students, but with a website, it's also used by current students, faculty and staff, so I don't think its main mission is as an advertising tool.
You can learn alot about a school from the website and the viewbook, but you always need to check it out in person to see if it's a good option for you!</p>