How do you use College Confidential?

[daijobu]

What is an efficient effective way for parents to use College Confidential?  

[quark]

For some weird reason, I cannot log in to CC anymore. I use it to look for posts from college AOs and to see if they have shared any snippets not available elsewhere. Very light user here.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

I like the college match search engine.

I will also read individual threads if they show up in search results. I don't read their forums on in a regular basis. A lot of the posters seem to be students who may or may not know what they are talking about.

 

When I looked at the forum for my alma mater, there were grads making pronouncements that were not factually based. YMMV. If official school reps comment that could be useful.

[snowbeltmom]

If you have a child who wants to play a sport in college, the athletic forum on CC is a wealth of information. 

[creekland]

I ignore many of the comments (obviously) made by students and use my intellect to figure out who actually knows what they are talking about.  There are plenty of folks with a deep bit of knowledge on there - just sift - and ignore how many students claim to be super high stats.  They may, or may not, be, but that gives them no better "college" knowledge than a teenager TBH.

 

Like anything else, if I find something useful, I look for it to be repeated elsewhere too (like how good a school is in a certain field).  It gave me a starting point in my research - plenty of schools to look at and some good financial info.

[Luckymama]

I like the Parents of 20XX thread for my kid's year. I read and post daily.

Edited December 19, 2016 by Luckymama

[GoodGrief]

Yep, the Parents of 20XX forum was very helpful during the application year (and the one preceding too.) Tends to be a knowledgeable group there, looking at a fairly diverse mix of schools.

 

The financial aid forum is useful too, and during the application year, I liked browsing the forums for various individual schools.

[8filltheheart]

Like Luckymama I read and post in the parents of class of 20xx thread. The FA forum has been invaluable for finding large scholarship schools and understanding taxes on scholarships.

[Ann.without.an.e]

Ya'll know I'm scare to death of that place  :lol:  :crying:

Edited December 19, 2016 by Attolia

[Woodland Mist Academy]

Ya'll know I'm scare to death of that place  :lol:  :crying:

 

I typically use College Confidential when I notice I'm starting to feel a little too confident about the decisions we've made about schooling or when I'm starting to feel a tad too hopeful about my daughter's academic future. One brief browse of College Confidential will toss me back into angst and despair like nothing else....

 

 

;)

[Vida Winter]

What is an efficient effective way for parents to use College Confidential?  

 

Breathe in and out of paper bag slowly.

[Pawz4me]

We haven't found it useful for anything.

[Ann.without.an.e]

I typically use College Confidential when I notice I'm starting to feel a little too confident about the decisions we've made about schooling or when I'm starting to feel a tad too hopeful about my daughter's academic future. One brief browse of College Confidential will toss me back into angst and despair like nothing else....

 

 

;)

 

 

Yes, it is a good reality check isn't it?  I occasionally stumble across them and begin to read and completely panic.  It is bad.  IT isn't good for my mojo.  :lol:

[Mrs.W]

The forums for specific majors and schools were helpful, even if they didn't seem all that active. I posted a couple of questions on these forums and received a few helpful public replies, but then also received several private messages from other moms and they pretty much walked us through the whole last month of making a decision. I was so thankful for their insight and learned so much that we would have never thought to ask on visits.

 

But, yes, there's a bunch of garbage on there too. I just love all the "chance me" posts from people with perfect scores and pages of activities.  :tongue_smilie: