Method and system for identifying candidate colleges for prospective college students

A method to be performed by a computer for operating a selection service, comprising:

• receiving a plurality of surveys completed by actual students of candidate colleges, each survey including a plurality of inquiries into matters which are relevant to each actual student having a satisfying experience with a particular candidate college, at least a portion of the inquiries having answers that are associated with a number;
• performing a factor analysis on the answers to the inquiries to identify a plurality of factors, each factor corresponding to a function of one or more variables representing the inquiries;
• generating a satisfaction index from the factor analysis that approximates the satisfaction that a prospective student is expected to have in attending a candidate college;
• receiving a survey completed by prospective students of candidate colleges including a plurality of inquiries into matters which are relevant to the prospective student having a satisfying experience with a particular candidate college;
• and
• matching the prospective student to a candidate college based upon the satisfaction index and based upon differences between the value of at least one factor for the prospective student and the value of at least one factor for actual students attending a candidate college.

An automated system for operating a prospective college student college selection service, comprising:

• means for generating, from empirical data, a number of factors corresponding to a like number of functions of one or more variables relevant to satisfaction with college experience;
• means for approximating the satisfaction that a prospective student of the college selection service will have in attending a college;
• and
• a computer for identifying candidate colleges for a prospective student to consider attending by determining an association between the approximated satisfaction and one or more of the factors.

A method to be performed by a computer for selecting appropriate candidate colleges for a prospective college student to consider attending, comprising:

• receiving survey data concerning college satisfaction motivators for the prospective college student;
• segmenting, with the computer based upon the survey data, the prospective college student into a collegiate personality segment which correlates with empirical satisfaction data approximating actual college student satisfaction;
• and
• identifying one or more candidate colleges for the prospective college student based on the collegiate personality segment of the prospective college student.

An automated system for operating a candidate college selection service by a prospective college student, comprising:

• means for receiving survey data concerning college satisfaction motivators for the prospective college student;
• a computer for segmenting, based upon the survey data, the prospective college student into a collegiate personality segment which correlates with empirical satisfaction data approximating actual college student satisfaction;
• and
• a computer database for storing the identity of one or more candidate colleges for the prospective college student which positively correlate with the collegiate personality segment of the prospective college student.

A method for generating a collegiate personality segment candidate college for use in operating a college selection service, comprising:

• receiving survey data from actual students of candidate colleges, each survey including a plurality of inquiries into matters which are relevant to each actual student's satisfaction with a particular candidate college;
• segmenting, with a computer, the actual students into a plurality of college personality segments based upon an analysis of the correlation between the survey data and the actual college student's satisfaction with their college experience;
• and
• creating for at least one of the plurality of collegiate personality segments a collegiate personality/candidate college recommendation list by matching the at least one of the plurality of personality segments with a group of appropriate candidate colleges.

A method to be performed by a computer for selecting an appropriate post secondary school for a prospective post secondary student to consider attending, comprising:

• receiving survey data concerning a particular class of post secondary school satisfaction motivators for the prospective post secondary school student of a particular classification;
• segmenting, based upon the survey data, the prospective post secondary school student into a personality segment which correlates with empirical satisfaction data approximating actual post secondary school student satisfaction at the particular classification of post secondary school;
• and
• identifying, with the computer, one or more post secondary school of the particular classification for the prospective post secondary school student based on the personality segment of the prospective post secondary school student.