When I first got involved in the business of counseling students on the college admissions process I used to regularly visit college advice sites like College Confidential. There are some very knowledgeable people on the site that have a wealth of helpful information.
The problem is, unless you really know the business already, you can’t distinguish the people with good advice from the people with …well, let’s just say, less than helpful advice. I have known a number of very knowledgeable people that used to contribute to the site but no longer do so because it just isn’t worth getting beat up when someone with no understanding of the system attacks you.
I have clients that go on the site and will tell me that they read about this or that and more often than not the information is completely wrong or at best a half truth.
I still will troll over there on occasion to see what is being said, particularly about BS/MD programs, and everytime, I just shudder at the bad information that is floating around out there.
I get why a site like that is attractive and personally I like the idea. But without monitoring of what is being said, you can’t trust anything unless you verify it at a more reputable site. So go ahead and use College Confidential if you wish but always, always, double check the information you are reading.
Or better yet, visit sites that are written by people whose background you can verify. Obviously with over 800 pages of information I think my site can answer many of your questions. But there are also many others like me that have been in this industry for many years and who regularly write about the college admissions process.
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