Another recent study found that half of high school students had turned to the Web at least six times during the previous month in search of college information. Individual colleges also are noticing significant increases in the number of high school students contacting them through their Web sites. One third of Kenyon College 's applicants, for instance, first heard about the school on the Internet, up from none a few years ago. And last year, for the first time, the College of Wooster 's incoming freshman class used the Web more than books to learn about the school. Easy to use.
Some guidance counselors bemoan the popularity of the Web.
They worry that, in the rush to the Internet, kids will bypass good guidance counseling, and be seduced by the snazzy graphics and often unreliable information of cyberspace. Yet many more high school counselors and college admissions officers wholeheartedly welcome the new medium, arguing that, because it's so easy to use, more kids will find the facts that they need to make well-informed choices. Picking a college has never been a simple process. Often students feel so overwhelmed that they shy away from self-reflection and make decisions that seem impulsive. The future biology major already knew both had good departments, but initially she leaned toward Missouri simply because it was the school she'd heard the most about.