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Colleges: finding the right one for you and your career (major)

Academic and other Counseling services at a college are GREAT places to get information about colleges and programs.

Here are some more resources that you may consider. It is good to get as much information as you can.

When it comes to finding which colleges offer the particular career / degree / field of study / major that you are seeking, we feel that books might provide some of the most helpful information. We know that it might be hard to believe that you cannot find everything on the Internet. Farther down this screen, we will list sources on the World Wide Web that can help, but we feel that we need to start with these valuable resources, in paper / book form.

One of the best sources for finding which colleges (schools) offer the specific career or major that you want, is six-volume source of books called The College Blue Book. The publisher is MacMillan Reference USA and they have been publishing this set of books for many decades. HOWEVER, it appears that this source is available ONLINE. The books could be found in Reference or on the Reference shelf of academic and major public libraries. All six volumes are kind of like "one-stop-shopping" for colleges. Please ask at a library to see if they have access to the online edition. Following is a description of the type of information found inthe books and, probably, now can be found in the online edition.

Degrees Offered by College and Subject Volume 3 "includes an alphabetical listing of subject areas for which degrees are granted by one or more institutions of higher education. The key words here are "institutions of higher education." This volume does not include vocational schools. Basically, you look up your career and listed under that career will be a list of colleges that offer that career program.

Occupational Education Volume 4 covers over "5,400 schools in the United States that provide occupational or technical training." The book includes an index that allows you to find your career and then a listing of the vocational schools that offer that particular career. The front section of the book will give information about the individual schools.

Volume 1: Narrative Descriptions describes over 4,000 colleges in the United States and Canada.

Volume 2: Tabular Data lists colleges alphabetically by state and province. Information about costs, accreditation, and much more is included.

Volume 5: Scholarships, Fellowships, Grants, and Loans will list "almost 3,500 different sources of financial aid for students."

Volume 6: Distance Learning Programs is kind of a new addition to the traditional five volumes of information. This sixth volume will feature "comprehensive profiles of more than 800 institutions offering distance learning programs within the United States and Canada."

Online Sources for Colleges and Majors (Field of Study)

eLearners.com is an EXCELLENT website to find information on all kinds of subjects relating to colleges and their degrees. The site spends considerable attention to online degrees, programs, and schools. However, included in this site is a very good search engine for finding colleges, online or traditional, by subject / field of study / major.

The College Board, is a not-for-profit membership association that connects students to college success and opportunity through major programs and services in college admissions, guidance, assessment, financial aid, enrollment, and teaching and learning. Among its best-known programs is the SAT. The same well-respected association that published The College Handbook and The College Board Book of Majors maintains a very good website about colleges. The site offers a lot of information about college but we want to bring your attention to what once was called "College Matchmaker" which, through a series of questions and screens, would provide a list of colleges that offers your major / career. The name has changed but this website offers a similar service. The main home menu is at http://www.collegeboard.com . Like we said at the top of this page, this source does NOT include all the schools that offer all the career opportunities for careers. However, this online source is a big help.

SchoolGuides.com offers a search service that searches for schools by major. We will just say that this service is "okay." The search does not allow you to get real specific about a career. Still, though, this website can help.

PLEASE NOTE that all of the sources mentioned above are very good sources of information about colleges. Some are EXCELLENT sources. However, for some information, you may need simply to go to Google and type in your search for a college or a specific type of career in a particular state or province. For example, let's take a look at allied health careers. We cover this, when talking about trade schools on another web page, but there are hospital-based, two-year programs for careers such as Diagnostic Medical Sonographer, Respiratory Therapy Assistant, Physical Therapy Assistant, and a few more. Hardly any source, but Google, covers hospital-based programs. On Google, type sonographer "hospital based" and you will see Diagnostic Medical Sonographer programs taught at hospitals. You can narrow the search by adding a state.

The title of this web page is "Colleges: finding the right one for you and your career (major)." We hope that the sources of information DO help you find the right college / school. Please remember that the career center at your local college can be a source of information, too.

This web page was updated January 2023.