1. Be a consumer. Most of what you get in the mail and on the college's own website is marketing.  Look elsewhere!

2. Listen to the students.  Two great websites for student reviews are College Niche and Unigo.  But remember - most of the students that contribute to sites such as these are blissfully happy or really angry.  Look for the common threads.

3. Visit.  Nothing replaces an actual college visit.  And the colleges know this as well.  They want to know that you were there.

4. Read the newspaper.  Most college newspapers are online or scattered around campus.  If you want to know what is really happening on campus, check out the paper!

5. Don't listen to your friends.  The very same reason that they hated a school could be its selling point for you.  Think for yourself.

6. Look beyond the numbers.  Statistics are easily manipulated and can be deceiving... a good reason to be trepidatious with rankings as well.  

7. What matters to you?  You need to have a priority list of the criteria that matters to you and keep going back to it in your research, otherwise researching becomes overwhelming.  

8. Use the online search tools.  Peterson's is perfect for specific criteria, and Princeton Review works for a general search.  

9. Know your learning style.  Although climbing walls, a great football team, and nationally-ranked food services are great bells and whistles, you need to make sure that the colleges that you select will meet your needs academically and that you will be successful there.

10. Think outside the box.  Most high school students research and apply to the same compilation of schools as their classmates.  There are over 3,600 four-year colleges in the United States.  Find your school.