# PickACampus

> PickACampus is a free personalized college ranking and admissions management platform for high school students.

## What PickACampus Does

PickACampus lets students rank 1,000+ US colleges based on their own weighted criteria — academics, affordability, campus life, career outcomes, location, safety, and more. Instead of a fixed ranking list, every student gets a personalized ranking tailored to what matters most to them.

## Key Features

- **Personalized Rankings**: Weight 25+ criteria to generate custom college rankings for 1,000+ schools.
- **AI College Counselor**: Ask questions about colleges, admissions, and the application process.
- **AI Essay Review**: Get instant feedback, scoring, and improvement suggestions on college essays.
- **Side-by-Side Comparison**: Compare up to 5 colleges across 20+ metrics with visual charts.
- **My Odds Calculator**: Estimate admission probability based on GPA, SAT, and major-specific acceptance rates.
- **Application Tracker**: Track deadlines, statuses, essays, and recommendations.
- **Scholarship Finder**: Discover and manage scholarships with AI-powered recommendations.

## Pricing

PickACampus is 100% free. No credit card required. No paid plans. No paywall.

## Data Sources

- US News & World Report 2026 Best Colleges rankings
- US Department of Education College Scorecard API
- Niche.com campus life grades
- Official university websites
- Common Data Sets (CDS)

## Methodology

Rankings use weighted criteria with min-max normalization (0–100 scale). Major-specific rankings receive a 2x weight multiplier. Admission odds use z-score comparison with a sigmoid (tanh) curve. Full details: https://pickacampus.com/methodology

## Important Pages

- Homepage: https://pickacampus.com
- About: https://pickacampus.com/about
- Methodology: https://pickacampus.com/methodology
- Rankings: https://pickacampus.com/rankings
- Compare Colleges: https://pickacampus.com/compare
- AI Essay Review: https://pickacampus.com/essay-review
- Application Tracker: https://pickacampus.com/applications
- Scholarship Finder: https://pickacampus.com/scholarships
- Data & Sources: https://pickacampus.com/data
- Explore All Colleges: https://pickacampus.com/explore
- For Counselors: https://pickacampus.com/for-counselors
- Data Overview: https://pickacampus.com/data-overview
- Press: https://pickacampus.com/press

## Comparisons

- PickACampus vs US News: https://pickacampus.com/pickacampus-vs-us-news
- PickACampus vs Niche: https://pickacampus.com/pickacampus-vs-niche
- PickACampus vs CollegeVine: https://pickacampus.com/pickacampus-vs-collegevine

## SEO Pages

- Best Colleges by Major: https://pickacampus.com/best-colleges-for/computer-science (and 40+ other majors)
- Best Colleges by State: https://pickacampus.com/best-colleges-in/california (and all 50 states + DC)
- Colleges Ranked by Attribute: https://pickacampus.com/colleges-with/best-campus-food (and 16 other attributes)
- Colleges Like [School]: https://pickacampus.com/colleges-like/harvard-university (available for all 1,000+ schools)
- Head-to-Head Comparisons: https://pickacampus.com/compare/harvard-university-vs-yale-university (available for any pair)

## Contact

https://pickacampus.com/contact