Core Abilities
Financial Aid and Scholarships
Researching Colleges and Universities
Researching Careers
Finding Jobs (Job Listings)
Resume Samples and Information
Study Skills and Time Management
Composition and Writing
English as a Second Language
Assessment Test Study Tips (GED, TOEFL, SAT, ACT)
Free E-mail and Web Hosting Services

FAFSA on the Web

Using this web site, you can fill out your Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) online. The service is free and will get you the same results as filling out the print forms through our financial aid office. There are also a few links to other Federal financial aid information web pages. (Maintained by the U.S. Department of Education.)

FinAid!

This is a great first stop on the Web for students looking for ways to finance their education. You'll find descriptions of the different kinds of aid (scholarships, grants, loans, military aid), tips for filling out the FAFSA, calculators that help you figure out how much help you'll need, and much more. (Created and maintained by Mark Kantrowitz.)

Scholarship Guide - Online

This site offers a free scholarship search tailored to you and focusing on Pacific Northwest resources. The site also features a section for students returning to school after being out of the school environment for years (or decades), and a section for students selecting colleges. (Sponsored by Boeing Employees' Credit Union (BECU) and presented by College Planning Network.)

Scholarship Resource Network Express

Scholarship Resource Network Express is a database of private scholarships helping students find sources of financial aid for undergraduate through postgraduate study. SRN contains more than 8,000 programs with a distribution level of over 150,000 awards worth a total of more than $35 million. (Maintained by Scholarship Resource Network, Inc.)

Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender (GLBT) Scholarship Resources

This list of scholarship resources includes scholarships for self-identifed gays /lesbians, scholarships for community service to glbt service organizations, scholarships for the study of glbt culture, scholarships for the children of glbt parents. (Maintained by Bill Roach, Washburn University)

FastWeb

Like the sites above, this is another site providing a searchable databases helping students find scholarships for college. It also matches each student's background, automatically, with eligibility requirements for scholarships from around the country and advise them about scholarship opportunities tailored to them. All for free. You will receive e-mail periodically to notify you of additional FastWeb opportunities. If you specifically provide FastWeb with permission, you may also receive some commercial e-mails. (Maintained by FastWeb, Inc.)

Writing Application Essays

This handout will help you write and revise the personal statement required by many universities, graduate programs, internships, scholarships, and special academic programs. (Maintained by the Writing Center at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.)

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College and University Rankings

At this site, you will find links to many ranking services for undergraduate, graduate, business, and law schools along with cautionary notes and a discussion of the ongoing controversy over rankings. (Maintained by Education and Social Science Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.)

Peterson's

By clicking on "Colleges and Universities" you can access their "CollegeQuest" service, which helps you search for and apply to over 1,200 undergraduate colleges online. Browse through a list of majors and see descriptions of programs at colleges and universities that offer degrees in those majors. There are also articles providing tips on preparing for college. If you click on "Graduate Programs" you'll find similar information about graduate schools, preparing for grad school, and paying for grad school. The "Career Ed/Guidance" section you can read about "career schools" that offer programs for specific careers like "Culinary," "Fashion," and "Media Arts". There is also information on private schools, summer opportunities, and study abroad programs. (Maintained by Peterson's.)

Universities.com

Easily locate a university or college, by location or degree (Program of Study) (Maintained by Solutions Advancing People, Inc.)

America's Best Graduate Schools

On this site you will find rankings listed by discipline plus articles about how to select schools, how to decide on a career, and links to professional organizations in each discipline. (Maintained by U.S. News)

TheAdmissionsOffice.com

This site helps college-bound high school juniors and seniors and their parents select colleges and universities that best meet their goals. Through this site you can take virtual tours of schools; read about college rankings; connect to sites that help you prepare for the PSAT, SAT, SAT II, and ACT Tests; fill out online applications; connect to sites about financial aid; and access information for foreign students. There is also "Live Internet Selection Assistance," designed to help you decide on a college. (Maintained by TheAdmissionsOffice.com.)

Writing Application Essays

This handout will help you write and revise the personal statement required by many universities, graduate programs, internships, scholarships, and special academic programs. (Maintained by the Writing Center at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.)

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Occupational Outlook Handbook

This is an online version of the print book you may have used in our library. Search for an occupation to read about what the job entails ("nature of the work"), working conditions, employment statistics, training or education requirements, the outlook for the future of the profession, earnings, related occupations, and sources of additional information on the occupation. (Maintained by the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics.)

Occupational Information Network (O*NET)

Self described as a "database of worker attributes and job characteristics," this web site leads to much useful information about careers. All information on this site must be downloaded (most of it is in PDF format and requires the use of the Adobe Acrobat reader). The "Occupational Listings" category is the most useful to people exploring careers. (Maintained by O*NET.)

What can I do with a major in....? (by the University of North Carolina at Wilmington Career Services)

This is a great site if you aren't sure what degree to pursue or what your options might be after you've achieved your degree. Simply click on a degree subject and you'll see a list of sites that provide information about career options. (Maintained by the University of North Carolina at Wilmington's Career Services.)

Mapping Your Future

"This site is sponsored by a group of guaranty agencies who participate in the Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP) and are committed to providing information about higher education and career opportunities." On their Planning A Career page, they guide your through steps to choosing a career and provide tips on job hunting, resume writing, and interviewing. (Maintained by Texas Guaranteed Student Loan Corporation.)

Careers.org

This site lists other web sites that help you learn about careers and search for jobs. From information on starting home-based businesses to career planning to information about writing resumes, you can get to useful sites by starting here. You do have to jump through a few hoops to end up at a useful web site, but it'll be worth your effort! (Maintained by The Careers Organization.)

Catapult

Like the site above, this site provides links to other sites that are useful to people researching specific careers and searching for jobs. (Maintained by the National Association of Colleges and Employers.)

Career Planning at About.com

This starting point will lead you documents and links to other sites related to career planning. This part of the About.com web site includes articles on topics like changing carers, doing company research, dealing with your first job, going on job interviews, losing your job, quitting your job, writing letters, and relocating. (Maintained by Dawn Rosenberg McKay.)

Career Planning (Yahoo)

This is a list of sites about career planning. There are also subcategories like Internships, Recruiting and Placement, and Seasonal and Summer Employment. (Maintained by Yahoo.)

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Local resources

NW Jobs

Search through classified ads by keywords or browse by category (section). You can limit your searching and browsing to new ads only. There are also articles in a section called "resources for job seekers" covering topics like writing resumes, interviewing, and salary calculators. (Maintained by The Seattle Times Company.)

SeattleJobs.com

Search through classified ads by keywords, post your resume, or browse through the employers and services sections. (Maintained by Online Job Source.)

SouthSoundJobs.com

Search through classified ads by keywords or browse by category (section). You can search all current ads or limit your search to last Sunday's paper only. (Maintained by Tacoma News, Inc..)

Washington.LocalOpenings.com

Search through classified ads by keywords, post your resume, or browse the Resume Center or Career Help Center for useful tips. (Maintained by LocalOpenings.com.)

Craig's List (Seattle/Tacoma)

If you haven't heard about Craig's List, you're missing out! In the "Jobs" section, you'll find hundreds of jobs - many of which you'll never see listed elsewhere. Search by category (like "account'g / finance," "admin / office," "business / mgmt," "medical / health," "nonprofit sector," "skilled trade / craft," "web / info design," "writing / editing," and dozens more. You can also see only Part-time or Telecommuting jobs. In addition, you can search through job postings for keywords related to the kind of work you're interested in doing. (Maintained by Craigslist Inc.)

Career Magazine

Search jobs, post your resume, see information about relocating (finding housing, moving, and storage), view a list of employers who use this site, view lists of recruiters and consultants, read articles about specific careers or career-related topics, and more! (Maintained by CareerMagazine.)

Career Resource Center

This site lists other web sites that help you learn about careers and search for jobs. From information on starting home-based businesses to career planning to information about writing resumes, you can get to useful sites by starting here. You do have to jump through a few hoops to end up at a useful web site, but it'll be worth your effort! (Maintained by Careers.Org)

FlipDog.com

This site gathers job listings from company Web sites, a different approach than most job posting web sites. You can search through the job postings, sign up for a free account which will allow you to recieve information about new job postings as they are added to FlipDog; research their database of employer information; connect to other sites with advice on job hunting, resumes & careers; and connect to links to salary surveys/calculators, relocation tools, networking opportunities, & training/testing tools. (Maintained by FlipDog.com.)

Monster.com

Employers give Monster.com information about job openings and you can search those postings or have them mailed to you (if they match your search criteria). You can also post your resume, participate in chats and message boards, research companies, or read articles about search for jobs (from advice on writing resumes to relocation information). (Maintained by Monster.com.)

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Preparing a Resume

This guide is useful if you're writing your first resume or want to analyze the effectiveness of your current one. (Maintained by Brea Barthel and Amanda Goldrick-Jones of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.)

Resumes - JobStar Central

Looking for sample resumes? Descriptions of different resume styles and help choosing the style that's best for you? Want help writing cover letters? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you will definitely find this site useful. (Maintained by Bay Area Library & Information System.)

Resume Center

Look at sample resumes and get resume-writing tips for your specific industry of interest, see tips on writing resumes when you have a unique situation (like lack of experience, military transition, or frequent job hopping), learn the elements of a good resume, and get cover letter information and samples. (Maintained by Monster.com.)

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Study Guides and Strategies

This thorough and well-organized site has useful study guides on dozens of topics divided into 10 main categories: Preparing to Learn, Classroom Participation, Studying, Reading Skills, Preparing for Tests, Taking Tests, Writing Skills, Writing "Types", Math & Science, and Webtruth. Study guides include: Managing time, Concentrating, Taking notes in lectures, Memorizing, Avoiding procrastination, Taking notes from a text book, Cramming, and Oral exams. You can also search through the guides by typing in keywords. (Maintained by Joe Landsberger of the ISS/Learning Center at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota.)

Study Skills Self-Help Information

Here you'll find pages of information and tips on topics like time scheduling, note taking and editing lecture notes, in-class skills, priority setting, how to read difficult books, and stress management. These all include very concrete suggestions and step-by-step procedures. (Maintained by Division of Student Affairs at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.)

HowToStudy.com

This site is a collection of annotated links to sites related to studying. The 5 main categories of links are Top 10 Study Guides, Student Experiences, Study Tips, Controlling Stress, and Memory Training. (Maintained by Web Training Solutions.)

Writing Essay Exams

This page is full of tips about preparing for and taking essay exams. (Maintained by Colgate University Writing Center.)

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Interesting Things for ESL Students

This site has many fun study resources for ESL students: word games, puzzles, and tests that cover American English slang and common sayings. These will help you practice your vocabulary and grammar. (Maintained by Charles I. Kelly and Lawrence E. Kelly.)

American English Pronunciation Practice

The library has several books about pronouncing English words, some include cassette tapes. This web site is the next best thing to those books and tapes. It includes sound files, so you need to use a computer that has speakers or headphones attached. (If you're in the library, ask us for headphones.) (Maintained by Charles I. Kelly and Lawrence E. Kelly.)

English Pronunciation for ESL students

Although this is a British site which focuses on British English, it can be very useful for ESL students wanting to improve their pronunciation of English words. (Maintained by englishclub.com.)

TOEFL OnLine (official site)

Here (TOEFL) you can access online tutorials, practice questions, and information on both the computer-based and paper-based versions of the test. (Maintained by Educational Testing Service.)

TOEFL (Google)

This is a list of sites about the TOEFL. (Maintained by Google.)

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GED

gedpractice.com

On this site, you can answer practice questions and get some feedback on your answers. The goals of this site are for you to "develop a feel for the kind of reading, thinking, and problem-solving skills you will need to pass the GED test." (Maintained by Steck-Vaughn.)

GED (Google)

This is a list of sites about the GED. (Maintained by Google.)

TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language)

TOEFL OnLine (official site)

Here (TOEFL) you can access online tutorials, practice questions, and information on both the computer-based and paper-based versions of the test. (Maintained by Educational Testing Service.)

TOEFL (Google)

This is a list of sites about the TOEFL. (Maintained by Google.)

ACT

ACT Assessment (official site)

Here you can register to take the ACT, see a list of upcoming test dates, read sample questions, get information about what test day will be like, and also find out about interpreting your score. (Maintained by ACT, Inc.)

ACT (Google)

This is a list of sites about the ACT. (Maintained by Google.)

SAT

collegeboard.com

Register for the SAT (or PSAT) here, or get all kinds of preparation information (including sample questions). (Maintained by collegeboard.com.)

SAT (Google)

This is a list of sites about the SAT. (Maintained by Google.)

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NOTE: Pierce College does not endorse any of these services. For reviews, comparisons, or help choosing from the options below, look at Google's category of links related to free e-mail services for more information.

Service Name:	E-mail:	Web space:	Web or dial-up access:	Need to download software for this service?
Yahoo	Yes	Yes	Web	No
Excite	Yes	Yes	Web	No
Lycos	Yes	No	Web	No
Juno	Yes	No	Both	Yes
Netscape Mail	Yes	No	Web	No
NetZero	Yes	No	Both	Yes
NoCharge	Yes	No	Both	No

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