<p>I have been looking at some colleges on that web site and after reading negative comments, I always end up not liking the school... Do you think it helps to read the reviews?</p>
<p>I find the site helpful provided that a) there are lots of reviews for the school and b) you read with the goal of finding common threads. Usually the people on there are whiny and are there to complain, so expect harshness. Relying on an individual review from someone who may not even exist is foolish, but if 50 people all complain about something, that might mean it’s a problem.</p>
<p>^^Take everything with a grain of salt. If numerous reviews are stating the same thing, maybe it is something that you should take into consideration. But keep in mind, the people most likely to post on the website are those who feel strongly about the school in question (whether they love or hate it). When I was researching schools, I looked up everything I could, and read everything on every review website I found. It was just one of the many outlets I used to decide how much I liked the school. It is useful to a certain point - definitely don’t rely on it. And if you could, speak to a student who attends the school firsthand</p>
<p>I also read up on these reviews, I find it helfpul. I would take it into consideration what is post.</p>
<p>lol today I’ve spent wayyy too much time looking up colleges on ***********<strong><em>…and I’ve had the same problem as you…it makes me hate every single college I really liked:(
I think you have to take it all with a grain of salt though. You don’t know who is writing the review, it could be someone who doesn’t even go to the school, and is bitter that they got rejected.
At the same time, if a number of reviews say the same point ,and this is reiterated on other websites (for example, </em></strong>.com) then it might be something to take into consideration.
but some of it is just ridiculous. One poster said that they’d rather go back to Iraq than go back to Johns Hopkins lol. Another poster said that SUNY Stony Brook was as hard as Harvard…</p>
<p>i don’t know why the websites got censored…i wasn’t cursing…</p>
<p>Yeah it can change your ideal of universities you like. I awas reading about University of Iowa, and a few mention that its only a party school and no one goes there to learn… no one shows up for class, and the town Iowa City gets boring real quick… I was really stun knowing its ranked 66 I assumed the students ( at least most) are showing up for class, though I do know University of Iowa guarantee admission to their state students if they meet a certain RAI.</p>
<p>the site really makes you feel like you’ll never fit in at any school :(</p>
<p>There are pros and cons to any school. The thing you have to keep in mind is that you can always try to instigate change wherever you go. This is more easily done when the problem is, say, an administrative policy, as opposed to the social scene or general environment of the school. But you can fit into more places than you think, just as you have a greater influence on your college as a student than you think.</p>
<p>Same thing happened with me when I first started researching about a year back. Each and every school I thought would be worth considering I had to cross off the list because of that website!</p>
<p>Then I found CC! I find that the reviews here are so much more honest(hoping I am right). I think the reason being, each thread lots of people participate and have a chance at voicing their opinions right away. So it is much more dynamic.</p>
<p>The other website has static review and so there is no way of knowing who is posting and whether the poster even goes to that particular college?</p>
<p>Now I am so afraid that after finding good reviews here I never go back there to crosscheck.</p>
<p>While you cannot necessarily trust any one single review, I do feel that for colleges with a lot of reviews that you see certain themes emerge which are valid input to take into account in your decision making.</p>
<p>I find it useful to find some of the possible complaints a student may have about the school and to see what the happy students think are the biggest assets of a school.</p>
<p>Maybe it’s just me, but it seems like most of the schools I’ve looked up have negative reviews. My son’s school had more positive comments until this year. Four of the last five reviews have mentioned a high crime rate, which just recently became a problem. Overall, I think students review dot com is useful. I just don’t want to hear it.</p>
<p>The opposite is also true. I read a few reviews about one small school and it seemed as though it was so positive that it was written either by alumni who are trying to build up the rep, or by folks employed in some capacity at this school (ie: to keep yield up). There are some very negative reviews as well and they warn not to listen to the “positive” ones. I imagine that the truth about how the school is and runs is somewhere in the middle of the negative and the glowing reviews.</p>
<p>I think it is possibly the most dangerous college selection tool on the web, this side of College Confidential “chance me” threads.</p>
<p>If you compare the neagative reviews on there to something scientific like the NSSE suvery you will see the SR stuff can be very questioanble. Schools that have NSSE suvery data showing 90% would go there again have SR data showing almost half. I’d conclude that SR is not reliable.</p>
<p>it makes every single school look bad.</p>
<p>My understanding is that the Princeton Review is based on validated student surveys so I would trust that site much more.</p>
<p>I agree for Princeton review, students can only submit one survey per college email address</p>
<p>yeah. Whenever I counseled the student reviews on some of those “student perspective” websites- I ended up disliking the school. I don’t know- it makes the school feel superficial to me. Its just weird.</p>