<p>Take the Princeton Review College Match process for example. Are programs like that actually helpful? Sometimes if I'm on a site that offers one I'll take it just for fun, but should I actually be taking some of their results into consideration?</p>
<p>Generally, the results come out to be slightly higher goals than those of what my college counselor lists. Hence why I am more than a little skeptic of online searches' validity. All said, I am not particularly happy with my list of colleges from the counselor, just flipping through the descriptions in the college encyclopedias.</p>
<p>Their best use is in the research process - pointing out colleges which you should further research to see if they match your interests. Princeton Review seems to alternate by years as to how tough/loose they are with reach/match/safety recommendations.</p>
<p>I think collegeboard is pretty good, but be VERY VAGUE with your stats (don't put in SATs or GPA or anything like that); mostly tell what sort of environment you'd like, what kind of ECs, and special programs you're interested in.</p>
<p>Then, if you have any bit of common sense, you can sift through and reject schools that are obviously below and above your level.</p>
<p>I wouldn't count strictly on those searches and nothing else, but I used them to help narrow down a list of the colleges I wanted to take a look at. Obviously, they are not decision makers...but definitely help at the beginning stages of the whole college searching process.</p>