CollegeXpress is the place to send your students to start their college and scholarship search. We might be a little biased, but it’s only because we’re proud of what we do and the resources we provide to students, parents, and counselors! Since 1995 (when CollegeXpress.com first launched), our highest priority has been connecting students with their best-fit schools and giving them useful and relatable advice to go off to college confident and ready to succeed.
But it’s not just about what we offer students; our work is also rooted in what students give back to us. We feel warm fuzzies whenever someone says our website helped them through their college search. We're proud when we see the passion behind the blogs our student writers pen for us. We smile at each student vlog posted on our YouTube channel. Students are the foundation of CollegeXpress—so if your students aren’t already a part of our community, here’s why they should be.
Thousands of colleges and universities to discover
What schools are your students looking for? Do they want to attend a four-year or a two-year college? Are they looking at public or private universities? Do they want a school that's well known for science and engineering? Or maybe they’re thinking about taking a gap year? Whatever their preferences are, CollegeXpress has what they’re looking for. (And if they don’t yet know what the future holds, we have a ton of advice on how to figure it out.)
Our College Search tool makes it easy for students to search for schools by their preferences, including major, location, size, and more. It’s highly customizable so they can explore and research the right colleges for them with intention. Our school profiles make connecting with and comparing colleges easy, so their final choice becomes more informed than ever. With CollegeXpress, you and your students can feel confident that when they lock in the shortlist of their top schools, they’re making the right choice.
Unmatched college admissions data
You might be wondering, “What exactly are the students comparing in the school profiles?” College search websites vary widely in the information they collect, how they collect it, and how often. All of our college data is provided by the National Center for Education Statistics, which surveys colleges and universities annually through the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS). Featured college profile information comes straight from the schools and their websites, while scholarship data is added and updated via sponsor submissions. You’ll find facts about application processes and deadlines, tuition and other costs, majors and minors, athletics, and much more. We take pride in providing the most up-to-date info possible for informed decision-making on your students’ top schools!
Related: The CollegeXpress Ultimate Guide to the College Search
Immediate connections to top schools
Many of the schools on our site are clients of our parent company, Carnegie. That means they’re dedicated to the same end goal as you: connecting students to the right schools. They want to be easily accessible to the students who feel their school could be a good fit for them.
All our featured colleges and universities have a green “Yes, connect me!” button that you'll see in a lot of places on the website. If your students are interested in a featured school, all they have to do is click this button when they're logged in to CollegeXpress, and we’ll send their profile information to the school of interest—then that school will reach out with more information. This feature is a great way to ensure your students are being seen by these schools and not lost in an inbox among thousands of other students with initial general interest. While not all of your students’ schools of interest have this perk, there are many well-known colleges and hidden gems available to connect with, which can act as a valuable leg-up in the college admission process. (If a school doesn’t have the green “Yes, connect me!” button on its CollegeXpress profile, students can find contact information to get in touch themselves.)
Related: Top 10 Ways You Can Help Your Students Stand Out to Colleges
Over $7 billion in scholarship opportunities
Finding the right scholarships—let alone good scholarships—can be a long and difficult process; a process so arduous, in fact, that some students don’t even bother trying. At CollegeXpress, we want to make sure students find the best opportunities to receive money for school so they don’t give up before they even start.
With millions of scholarships available in one place, our Scholarship Search tool makes it easy to search by criteria your student knows they’ll be eligible for. It saves them the time of reading through long rules and descriptions by weeding out what they know isn’t available to them and condensing the most pertinent information into a quick overview. From there, they can delve deeper into the worthwhile awards and bypass the unnecessary ones.
Scholarships offered by CX
CollegeXpress also offers our own scholarships for students:
- Our easy monthly scholarship contests could not be more simple to apply for! All your students have to do is create a free CX account and answer the featured question in just a couple of words. Once they're fully registered, they can answer a new question every month for another chance to win!
- Awarded on a quarterly basis, our Scholarship for Students of Color is a unique opportunity for students who identify as Black, Indigenous, and people of color. Your students could win $1,500 plus $500 for their favorite charity by creating a free CollegeXpress account and telling us what their dream career is. Deadlines are March 31, June 30, September 30, and December 31, with four winners each year!
- Everyone is eligible for this one (including you, counselors!). Anyone registered on CollegeXpress can win our monthly $250 Refer-a-Friend contest. Just share your unique link (found here when you’re logged in) with students, parents, and fellow counselors. For every person who completes registration through your link, you’ll gain an entry into that month’s contest. Every month is a new chance to win, and you can win this prize over and over—so keep making referrals to improve your chances!
- Please note: All CollegeXpress scholarship opportunities are only open to US residents ages 13 and over.
Related: Scholarship Search Spreadsheet Template
Not-your-average college lists and rankings
Another great resource on CollegeXpress is our unique Lists & Rankings. These weren’t created to showcase the “top 100 schools in America” based on national standings—these are lists that will really help students find the best-fit colleges for them! These lists cover just about everything, from top Business programs to football powerhouses to pet-friendly campuses and more. They're based on expert recommendations, along with some cool statistics and even student-recommended picks. Your students are likely to discover great schools that they've probably never even heard of before with our 800+ lists that cover majors, learning environments, worldviews, student experiences, athletics, hidden gems, and so much more. Plus, many of these lists come from The College Finder by Dr. Steven Antonoff—one of our counselor community's favorite college experts!
Top-notch articles and advice
Our content may be the most unique resource on CollegeXpress. We believe the importance of advice from individuals who understand the college search process (and struggle) cannot be understated! Whether a student needs SAT study resources, admission essay tips, advice on making friends when they get to college, or tricks for landing their first job, we have a blog post (or several) for it, all written by trusted experts and real-life students and counselors in the CollegeXpress community. We also have an ongoing Student Writers Program and feature student vloggers on our YouTube channel. Plus, we have a special Counselors and Consultants section just for you, featuring helpful blogs, monthly College Planning Calendars, and more. We welcome guest posts from counselors anytime—get in touch if you’re interested in contributing and sharing your knowledge with even more students!
Let your students know about CX!
If your students aren’t registered on CollegeXpress yet, they’re missing out on a free community of support throughout their college search process. We pride ourselves on providing the best information, resources, and advice we can possibly give to ensure students find the best-fit colleges for them in the easiest way possible. And we hope that as a counselor who's part of our community, you agree!
There's no time like the present! Create a counselor account here if you haven't already, and share this link to help your students create a free CollegeXpress account today.
