I remember, during my graduation days, we had a personality development class from a guest lecturer who had done masters from Canada. Though the class was boring, his story on how he completed his masters all alone in a strange country, how he landed his first job there, and how happening his life in Canada was, inspired many of us. One of my classmates was so excited that soon after our graduation was completed he applied for online transcripts, browsed a few college review websites, selected a University to pursue his MS, submitted required documents like transcript certificate, mark sheets, etc., and took admission.

The college he choose to pursue his MS (solely based on the reviews he read over a few college finder websites) came out to be just mediocre. The college placements were average, faculty and course curriculum were okay, academic fees was a bit on the higher side, and he had to struggle to find a job after he completed his masters. And this is a story of millions of other students who finalize college through such college finder websites. So how can we gauge the authenticity of such websites? How do they evaluate colleges and are the reviews on their website genuine? Let’s analyse.

The first thing to understand is how a college review website works and how do they earn. Not every website is like Wikipedia that provides information for free. The college review websites earn through the student leads they provide to colleges listed on their website. For example, you visited XYZ college review website and searched for a college (if you don’t know any good college, you will search for a course and they will automatically suggest colleges). Now you are directed to a page reviewing all the things about that particular college, like their courses, their campus, fees, student’s life, etc. And on that page, you will get the option to request a callback, download a brochure, and subscribe to college alert or something like that. And then your details are shared with the respective college. If a student takes admission, these websites earn a small percentage of the student’s tuition fees. This is a basic business model of these websites. Therefore you can expect good reviews for popular colleges. It’s all about marketing.

Even the top education advisors work on the same business model. Then how do we ensure we are getting the most genuine review? The best way is to either visit the institute or talk to students who have already been there. It is not possible to visit foreign institutes but you can find college alumni through LinkedIn. Talk to them. They might have also gone through the same process of the college search, comparing colleges, applying for online transcripts, visa applications, transcript certificates, etc. They have already been where you are now. Therefore they can guide you very well. Again, different people have different experiences. Some may find a college good and other, bad. So talk to as many students as you can and finalize. If you still find it difficult, then get in touch with us. Cheers!