Whenever I look at reviews from current and former students it always seems like the vast majority of reviews are negative. Is this because students displeased with their experience are more likely to leave a review? I find that schools that are generally considered academically good get so so reviews in that sector, so that further discredits reviews to me.
Reviews where? Do you know for sure those reviews are real? I think your hunch is correct. I would be careful of any overly positive or negative review and try to parse out facts that might be useful to you that you can follow up on.
I’m very interested in reading reviews to get a sense of the vibe of various places, and I do think they tell you something. But as a former college student myself (way back B.I, Before Internet) I have a few thoughts on what underlies some of the negatives.
Everyone has some bad experiences at college. Everyone. It’s part of growing up, and it’s part of living in an imperfect world and learning to deal with it. I can pretty well imagine what negative reviews I might have put up at the age of 18 (at a highly desirable “little Ivy”) if we’d had internet – and in retrospect, it would have been a very partial picture, distorted by my own personal issues, but still would have reflected truths about the school. I’ve attended two strong universities and so has my husband, and worked on staff at another strong university; in all cases, the negative student reviews I’ve read online have tracked pretty precisely with the complaints of students at those schools, when they’ve been inclined to complain. (The positive reviews also track with the real positives, in my experience.)
So yes, reviews – including the negative reviews – give legitimate info. If the reviews tell you that everyone is a nerd who never leaves their rooms, then you can bet your bottom dollar it’s not the school for someone who wants a lot of parties and school spirit – even though lots of people are undoubtedly having a largely positive experience there (albeit staying in their rooms a lot). My son crossed one school off his list even though it seemed a perfect fit in other ways when the reviews were heavily focused on the problem with the domination of Greek life and a generally conservative mindset; that wouldn’t be a good “negative” for him personally at a small school. It might be an okay “negative” for someone else to deal with. We all have negatives we can deal with, and figuring out a school’s negatives – which are as specific as the positives – is part of figuring out the fit.
My advice would be to take the reviews with a grain of salt, but still digest them.
Incidentally, here’s a trend I’ve noticed: public universities seem to get better reviews (often lukewarm but not slam fests) than privates that are good but not elite (which often get slammed). Interesting. Could it be that when folks pay more for a school, they’re more easily and deeply upset when it turns out to be imperfect? Hmmm.
@MomOnALaptop wow, I never really thought about it in that way. Thank you, that actually really helped me 
The vast majority of reviews on anything-- restaurants, hotels, colleges, you name it-- are negative.
People who have a good experience figure it was their own good research skills that got them someplace good, and enjoy their experience.
People who have a bad experience want the world to know, as a means of getting back at either the provider of the experience or the universe or something.
That doesn’t invalidate their experiences, it just accounts for a lack of positive reviews. If everyone were to give a review, who’s to say how often the positive would outweigh the negative?
Look at concrete measures-- does the school offer what you want in terms of major, location, size, distance from home, graduation numbers, internships, admissions, crime statistics, dorm size, food choices and all the rest. Visit and get a feel for the school. Pick up a copy of the school newspaper and find out what’s important to the students there.
Then go with your gut.