<p>First question: about when should you start searching for colleges? Are there any advantages or disadvantages to starting early and late?</p>
<p>Secondly, how do you search? Is it just a kind of haphazard browsing? How do find out which the top colleges for certain subjects are?</p>
<p>In my town many people would say to do a college tour the spring break of your junior year, and then you work you way around the country. Obviously there are advantages of starting early because then you can get a real idea of where you want to apply as opposed to submitting applications on a whim. Personally, I first applied based on numbers, location, major availability, etc. before I even saw the college, and then when I found out where I got accepted I visited the three I really had an interest inand luckily fell in love with one of them, though this method I do not recommend having a considerably low success rate with personal happines. As to your search, I first put in general criteria on the college board survey and then I looked them up more specifically in Princeton Review's Top 357 Colleges to get a stronger idea, so, good luck.</p>