College Search
Visit and Research Colleges
MAIA Learning
MaiaLearning is a college and career platform that students use to plan their futures. They can discover and explore careers that fit their profiles, build college and career plans, and manage college applications.
MaiaLearning offers:
- College search tools that allow students to search for colleges by criteria including size, location, major, and a variety of other characteristics
- Assessments of interests, personality, and intelligence mix, with career recommendations
- Career plans with occupation details, career goals, and specific steps to reach those goals
- College plans with college data, application plans, recommendations requests, and campus visit management
SCOIR
SCOIR is a total access college exploration tool, allowing students, parents, and advisors the ability to discover pertinent information about post-secondary options. SCOIR combines the practicality of the college search process with the modernity of social media. Students will receive access to and instruction in SCOIR during the spring of their freshman year.
College Representative Visits
Every fall, St. Joseph's Academy hosts approximately 100 college representatives from all over the country. We recommend that students of all grade levels attend these visits. University representatives offer short presentations about their institutions, give campus updates, answer questions, and get to know the students who will be applying to their colleges. These opportunities to directly engage with the person who will read their application, as well as someone who is an expert on their particular university, offer students an invaluable resource in assessing their academic, social, cultural, and financial fit with a specific college.
If you would like to add college representative visits to your calendar feed, visit here.
Campus Visits
Exploring a college on a campus visit is an important step in applying to college and close to home is a great place to start. There are many colleges and universities right here in Missouri that can provide students with a sense of small, medium and large, public and private institutions without incurring major travel expenses. Visits to colleges in Missouri can help families determine which kind of out-of-state schools are worth the trip.
Check out these links before heading out on college visits:
Before visiting colleges out of state, research schools of interest via YouVisit or The College Tour, which offer virtual college visits from an external perspective to supplement the increasingly robust virtual options on individual college websites.
College Athletics
Prospective college athletes should spend time exploring their options in college sports and researching the most appropriate academic, social, and athletic fits for them with their families, college advisor, and any appropriate coaching staff.
Athletic Pathways
- Division I & II Schools: Students create a profile on the NCAA’s Eligibility Center in freshman, or sophomore year, and then upload an official transcript and potentially standardized testing information at the end of sophomore year. The NCAA then evaluates a student’s academic record for readiness to participate in DI or DII college athletics as a freshman student athlete; that assessment can then be viewed by collegiate coaches. There are scholarships available for students who participate in Division I and II athletics, but they are not guaranteed. Students interested in DI/DII athletics are encouraged to meet with their college advisor early.
- Division III Schools: Division III athletes have their academic eligibility determined by the college/university instead of the NCAA. The opportunities for athletic scholarships at the DIII level are minimal, but being recruited may impact a student’s college admissions process.
- NAIA Schools: Similarly to Division III athletes, NAIA athletes also have their academic eligibility determined by the college/university. Scholarships are awarded by the institution typically based on academics and merit.
- Club Sports: Club sports are student-organized teams that are not necessarily funded by the college/university. Many club teams participate in intercollegiate competition.
- Intramural Sports: Many high school athletes participate in intramural teams in college. Intramural sports are student-organized and involve competition among classmates, not other universities. Traditional sports such as basketball, soccer, tennis, etc. and non-traditional sports such as ultimate frisbee and flag football can be considered intramural sports.