An exciting stage in life, university is often a time to live in a new place - and with that freedom comes a very long list of potential colleges for prospective students. With so many possibilities, it can be difficult to know where to start. This short article contains some key resources for finding and selecting post-secondary institutions.

At school - if your school has a special staff member designated to help students with post-secondary activities, this person can be a great resource. Counselors and teachers are often familiar with various universities as well.

Family friends - talk to family friends about different universities, and try to find people who have attended the schools you are considering. The best way to learn about a school is to talk to someone who went there.

Websites - many websites exist to provide information about both Canadian and American universities. For example, collegeconfidential.com includes information about finding universities, real testimonials from students, experts' advice, and countless discussion boards containing answers to many of the questions that you may have.

For Canadian universities, Maclean's magazine is a good resource. Every year, Maclean's magazine ranks the top Canadian universities. These rankings, along with other useful information, can be found at the Maclean's website, http://www.macleans.ca/universities.

For American universities, there is usually useful information from
U.S. News & World Report, which is similar to the Maclean's rankings for Canadian universities. Each year U.S. News publishes a ranking of American universities. Although the full information cannot be accessed without a paid membership, the rankings themselves are free to view.

MICHAEL GELBART graduated from Point Grey Mini School in 2006 and is currently studying Physics at Princeton University. In 2004, Michael attended the Summer Institute for Mathematics at the University of Washington (SIMUW). He also participated in Shad Valley at McMaster University in July 2005, and undertook a Shad Valley work placement at Sierra Wireless Inc. afterwards. During high school, he was involved in tutoring other students in math and science, and volunteered at a community-based homework help program on a regular basis.

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