The use of the World Wide Web as a source of information during the search and choice stages of the college selection process

The increasingly competitive and complex nature of college selection has required college admissions officers to understand the student college selection process in order to develop effective student recruitment strategies. College choice models were developed to help meet the need for understanding the student college selection process. A three stage college selection model was used in this study, consisting of stage one, predisposition, stage two, search, and stage three, choice.;Numerous studies have been conducted analyzing the use of traditional sources of information during the college selection process. Traditional sources of information include college publications and mailings, guidance counselors, high school teachers, parents, current students from the college, alumni from the college, information reference books, and videos. A new information source recently introduced is that of the Internet and World Wide Web (WWW). The Internet is a global computer network and the WWW is the communications medium within the Internet that allows users access to information through visual and sound communications. The WWW is becoming an increasingly popular information and entertainment source in today's society.;The purpose of this study was to examine and determine the nature of WWW usage and the degree to which it is employed as a source of information during the search and choice stages of the college selection process. A secondary purpose was to examine and determine the nature and use of traditional sources of information during the search and choice stages. A questionnaire was distributed to 389 new first-quarter freshmen enrolled in University College survey classes at The Ohio State University.;The findings indicate that a majority of students have access to the WWW and have used the WWW to some degree to access information about colleges. The traditional sources of information studied are used more frequently than the WWW during both the search and choice stages and students do not distinguish between the different stages in regards to information source usage. Several demographic variables were included in the study to determine their relationship to student WWW and traditional source use. Low associations were found and low levels of variance were explained by these variables.