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"When I started looking at colleges back at the turn of the century (the middle ages in web time), really the only resources available to me were traditional college guidebooks like The Princeton Review.  While those books offered some great general information, they really only scratched the surface of what each college was actually like for students.  Even if I sent away to the school for more info, it was still vetted and edited by the school's communications department.\nIt wasn't until I visited the schools I was interested in and actually talked to students that I started to get a real picture of what university life was like at those schools.  Thankfully, students of today don't have quite the same problems, and that's all because of social media.  Here are 10 social media resources for high school students (and their parents) to use in order to find out more about what college life is really like at the school they plan to attend.\n1. College Prowler\n\n\n\n\t\n\nThose stodgy old college review books have all the basic information: academics, acceptance rate, matriculation rate, graduation percentage, number of students, etc. But rarely do they touch on any of the things that really matter to incoming students trying to pick where to spend the next four years of their lives. Stuff like, how's the night life? How's the food?  Is there parking?  What's the weather like?\nIt was with that in mind that Luke Skurman founded College Prowler in 2002.  The problem, Skurman thought, was that the people writing traditional college guidebooks were so far removed from the colleges that they couldn't possibly know what life was really like for students.  So Skurman decided to do the most logical thing: he hired students to write the guidebooks.\nOriginally sold only in stores, the hundreds of College Prowler guidebooks are now available for free on the web site, along with thousands of student editorials and college reviews.  \n2. Unigo\n\n\n\n\t\n\nUnigo offers a way for current students to rate and review the colleges they attend so that prospective students get a clearer idea of what life is actually like at the school.  In addition to providing the basic information about each school \u2014 enrollment, tuition, how selective the school is, and notable alumni \u2014 Unigo also offers unique ratings on topics most guidebooks don't cover, like drug and alcohol culture, political activity, and the accessibility of professors. \nThe site also provides links to college newspapers, radio, and blogs, and capsule reviews (quotes, best thing, and worst thing about the college) that give a quick overview of what students think about going to school there.  In addition, Unigo offers photos, videos, and discussion forums for each school.\n3. Communiversity\n\n\n\n\t\n\nAt Communiversity, students can share their story of campus life using text, photo, and video.  Each school has its own page, and current students can connect and share information about what their lives are like at their school. From Greek life, to off campus living, to what the local scene is like, Communiversity offers information that will be very helpful for incoming freshman choosing a school.\nThe site is set up in a wiki format, so anyone can go in and edit university pages and add new information, media, or tips and advice.\n4. Campus Buddy\n\n\n\n\t\n\nCampus Buddy essentially builds on top of and extends Facebook to connect high school students with students currently matriculating at the colleges they are considering attending.  After linking to your Facebook account and adding prospective colleges, students can visit each college's page on Campus Buddy to learn about the school, view ratings from current students, and connect with students at that school.\nFurther, each college profile has a Q&amp;A forum where students can ask questions about campus life from the people who are actually living it.\n5. Rate My Professors\n\n\n\n\t\n\nThere's nothing worse than a dull, boring, mean, or unfair professor when you're in college.  That's not to say you should always take easy classes (you're paying for an education, so you should probably try to make sure you get a good one), but there's also no reason to suffer with a universally disliked professor when you can avoid it.\nThat said, the ratings at Rate My Professors should be taken with a generous helping of salt.  Still, for students trying to decide which college to attend, it's a good way to get a general idea of what sort of professors you might have to deal with.  If a large majority of a school's professors are rated poorly, that might just be reason for pause.\n6. The College Blog Network\n\n\n\n\t\n\nWhat better way to learn what life is really like at the colleges of your choice than by reading blogs about campus life penned by the students that live there?  The College Blog Network is a directory of student authored blogs at a large number of schools (you can see the full list at this link).  \nThe great thing about student blogs is that they really run the gamut of topics.  One student might write specifically about life for someone studying a certain subject, while another might write about what it's like to participate on a school sports team, for example.  The site will be rebranding as CollegeBlender in August.\n7. StuVu\n\n\n\n\t\n\nStuVu offers student created videos, photos and reviews of college campuses.  StuVu doesn't just ask for reviews about the college as a whole, but about specific aspects of college life.  So the same user might give a positive review to a local on-campus eatery, but completely trash the condition of the school's dorms.  That way, prospective students can get a real perspective on what students love and hate about a particular school and its environs.\nWhere StuVu really excels is in its video section.  The videos offer a way for high school students to get a real feel for what the school and surrounding areas actually look and sound like.\n8. YouTube\n\n\n\n\t\n\nYouTube's Education section offers a way for students to view videos from an exceptionally long list of universities.  Often those videos will include taped lectures, interviews with students, overviews of campus amenities, or Q&amp;A sessions with professors.  Because visiting colleges that are a great distance away can be cost prohibitive for some high school students, the ability to check out schools via video is very helpful when deciding which colleges to apply for and which to attend.\niTunes also offers video from a much smaller number of schools via its iTunes U program.\n9. The University Review\n\n\n\n\t\n\nThe University Review is a very straightforward college review site for students.  Current students select their university, then enter 1-10 ratings in ten different categories: Academics, Athletics, Campus &amp; Facilities, Dining, Diversity, Greek Life, Housing, Parties &amp; Nightlife, Safety &amp; Security, and\tSurrounding Area.\nThe site also lets users comment pro and con about the school, and rate the strenuousness of their workload.  Unfortunately, even though the site is very simple and well-designed, it is not very heavily used yet.\n10. YourCampus360\n\n\n\n\t\n\nThough YourCampus360 is only currently used by 10 schools (four of which aren't active yet), it's a great idea and very helpful.  The site provides 360 degree virtual tours of college campuses and the surrounding area.  That allows prospective students to get a feel for the campus before they (or their parents) pay to go visit the school.  Hopefully more schools will sign on to the YourCampus360 idea in the future.\nThe site also enables schools to provide students with their own profiles, allowing them to blog, post photos, and put up videos about their experiences at the college.\nEdit: Commenter Dean J points us to eCampusTours, a virtual tour site with hundreds of colleges signed up.  It doesn't have as many of the social features as YourCampus360, but it definitely has way more tours. Thanks, Dean!\nDo you know of any other social media resources for college bound high school students?  Let us know about them in the comments.\nMore college resources from Mashable:\n- 10 Ways Universities Share Information Using Social Media- 10 Ways Journalism Schools Are Teaching Social Media- The Top 10 Social Networks for Generation Y- 10 Must Try Social Media Sites for College Students\nImage courtesy of iStockphoto, DNY59"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2009/07/20/social-media-colleges/>