Build Your College Profile

Each year, millions of prospective students visit BigFuture to find the right college for them. Your institution’s profile on BigFuture is populated by data you provide through the BigFuture College Profiles.

To help students discover your institution, complete the information on the annual survey to keep your BigFuture College Profile up to date. There is no charge to institutions for publishing their survey data, nor to the millions of students who use College Search each year.  

How the Survey Works

BigFuture College Profiles annual survey collection is a web-based tool of more than 3,000 accredited colleges and universities in the U.S. The survey collects information most important to high school students, parents, and school counselors about the characteristics of each institution. These characteristics include:

• Programs
• Costs
• Application requirements
• Deadlines

This information then appears in each participating institution’s College Search profile. This data is also used to compile educational statistics for the Trends in Higher Education Series of annual research reports by the College Board (found in the Resources section of this page).

The Common Data Set 

Many of the survey questions used in BigFuture College Profiles are taken from the Common Data Set (CDS), a suite of standardized questions used by major publishers of college guidebooks. The Common Data Set collaborators—representing College Board, Peterson's, and U.S. News & World Report—have developed and maintained the Common Data Set since 1995.

The most recent Common Data Set and accompanying list of definitions can be viewed on the Common Data Set website, where survey respondents and other interested parties may also subscribe to a listserv dedicated to discussing Common Data Set issues.