LocalSchools is a unique website that allows you to research, view and organize colleges of interest to you. You can perform searches by a specific school, program or subject matter to find the right school for you.

To benefit from all the tools offered on LocalSchools, your should start by creating an account. Creating an account is simple and free and will allow you to become part of the LocalSchools online community.

My LocalSchools is a group of tools available to registered users. It allows you to change your personal settings, such as username and password. You are also able to save the schools you are interested in view at a later time.

Creating an account is free and simple. You will be asked a series of questions that will be used to create your personal profile, username and password.

You can create an account from a number of different areas. The easiest way to begin the registration process is to go the LocalSchools home page and click the "Register" tab in the top left corner of the page. You will also find a "Register" button whenever you try to access a password protected area.

Once you have finished creating your account, you will receive an email verification. Click on the link within the email to finish creating your account.

To log in from the LocalSchools home page, click on the "Login" tab in the top left corner of the page. Enter your username and password and click the "Login" button. You will also find a "Login" button whenever you try to access a password protected area.

From the LocalSchools home page, you can log out by click on the "logout" link in the top left corner of the page. To log out from within the LocalSchools Interactive Community, click on the "logout" link in the top right corner of the page.

You can create more than one account at LocalSchools. You just need a unique email address for each account. However, it is best to keep all the information about your school search together in one account.

Only basic information is collected during the signup process. The following information will be publicly visible: your real name, city, state, and age. The rest of the information is kept private and may be used to tailor portions of LocalShools to your specific needs.

If you did not receive an email from LocalSchools containing the account activation link, check your junk mail and spam folder for the email account you used when you registered. If you find it in one of these folders, be sure to add the LocalSchools domain to your list of acceptable addresses. If you are still having problems, please contact us.

If you forget your LocalSchools username, you can request a reminder. When you go to log in, click on the "I forgot my username/password" link in the bottom left corner of the login box. This will bring up the "Account Help" box. Here, enter the email address that you are using for your LocalSchools account. Select the item you would like to retrieve and click the "Request Info" button. You should now receive an email with the information you requested.

If you forget your LocalSchools password, you can request a new one. When you go to log in, click on the "I forgot my username/password" link in the bottom left corner of the login box. This will bring up the "Account Help" box. Here, enter the email address that you are using for your LocalSchools account. Select the item you would like to retrieve and click the "Request Info" button. You should now receive an email with a new temporary password. Use this new password to login to your account.

For security reasons, you cannot change your username.

To change your password, you must first login to LocalSchools. Once logged in, click on the My LocalSchools tab and the My Settings link. Here you will see a "Change Password" link. Click on this and follow the directions. You will be asked to enter your current password and a new password. Click "Submit" when finished.

A modern, standards-compliant browser is recommended for LocalSchools. Internet Explorer 7 and Firefox 2 are the optimum browsers for LocalSchools.

The school information comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, a division of the U.S. Department of Education.

To print information about your school of interest click on the print icon in the top right corner of the page. This will open a new window containing the information you wish to print. Go to the File menu and click on Print to finish printing.

The school directory is a list of all schools that are currently listed on LocalSchools. Schools are listed alphabetically. To find a school, click on the letter that corresponds to the first letter of the school name.

You can get to the school directory from the home page of LocalSchools. To access it, click on the "School Directory" tab.

LocalSchools has teamed up with Job.com to provide job listings.

To apply for a job in the listings provided, you need to have an account at Job.com. Click on the job title you are interested. This will take you to Job.com and display more information about the job. To apply, click on the "Apply to Job" link above the Job Summary.

To perform a search, click on the Search tab and select "School/Friend Search". Select the type of search you would like to perform and enter the criteria you're looking for (e.g. "school" and "harvard" or "friend" and "joe smith"). You can also specify the number of miles from a certain location to perform the search. Click the search button when finished. Your search results will appear in a list under "Search Results" to the left and on the map to the right.

Using the search tool on LocalSchools, you can search for a specific school, program, or subject. You can also search for other users within the LocalSchools online community.

Yes. If you have performed a search that you would like to save, click on the "School & Friend Search" link and click the "save search" link. You will be asked to provide a name for your search. Enter a name and click the "Save" button. Your saved search will now be listed under the "Saved Searches" link.

To retrieve a saved search, click on "Saved Searched" under the Search tab. This will display a list of your saved searches. To perform the search, click on the search name. This will display the search criteria under "School/Friend Search". Click the "Search" button to perform the search.

You do not have to fill in all the boxes to perform a search. However, the more you can narrow down what you are looking for, the better you search results will be.

The "advanced search" link allows you to narrow down your search even more. You can specify the type of school, size, degree level and more, that you are interested in.

Yes. The maximum number of schools that will be returned is 100. The more specific you can be in defining your search criteria, the more likely it will be that the search results will be what you are looking for.

My Schools is a favorites list for your schools. It is a place to save schools that you are considering going to or that you have attended in the past.

My Schools is located under the "My LocalSchools" tab.

You can add a school to your "My Schools" list after you perform a search. Click on the school name you want to add in the "Search Results" list. This will display the basic school information to the right. Then click on the "Add to My Schools" link. The school will now be in your list.

To remove a school from your My Schools list, click on the trashcan icon to the right of the school name you wish to remove in your My Schools list.

No. You can add as many schools as you are interested in to your list.

My Friends contains people you have met and added as a friend in the LocalSchools community.

To add someone as a friend, click on their username (from search results or from within a school's community page). This will bring up their profile page. Click the "Add Friend" link to add them.

No.

My Messages is an email type messaging system that allows you to exchange messages with other LocalSchools users.

To send a message, click on the "Compose New Message" link under My Messages. Enter the username of the person you want to send the message to and click "add". Enter a subject and message. When finished, click the "Send" button at the bottom.

To send a message to someone, they need to have an account at LocalSchools. Enter their username in the "TO:" field and click the add link. You can add up to 5 recipients for each message.

To change your email address, click on "Update Email" under My LocalSchools/My Settings. You will be asked to enter your new email address and confirm it. Click submit when finished.

Privacy Settings allows you to control how and where you will be viewed by other users of LocalSchools when they perform a search. You can choose to have your location listed on the map and in the result list, only in the result list, or not at all.

Email Notifications allows you to set what types of information you want to receive from LocalSchools or schools. Select the options you want and click "Submit".

My Profile is the place where you can talk about yourself. You can list any interests or hobbies you may have, movies you've enjoyed, favorite foods, etc. You can also view all the friends in the LocalSchools community that you've added.

To change your profile information, click on the "edit my profile" link in the top right corner of your profile. You can edit any of the information viewable on this page.

To remove a school from your profile, click the "edit my profile" link in the top right corner of your profile page. This will put you in edit mode. Click the "remove school" link next to the school you wish to remove.

To change your relationship with a school, make sure you are in edit mode. Click on the "change relationship" link next to the school you wish to change. Select the correct relationship and click "Save".

The "Answer Questions About This School" area is used to provide more information about schools you have attended. This information will display in the "School Community" section of the individual school. It will allow other students or prospective students to learn more about the school atmosphere.

To answer a questions about a school, the school must be part of your "My Schools" list. You can answer questions by going to "My Profile", clicking on the "edit my profile" link, and click the "Answer Questions About This School" link next to the school. A list of questions will appear. Click on the question you wish to answer. Write your answer and click the "save" link.

To change the answer to a question about a school, click the "Answer More Questions" link next to the school. This will display a list of questions plus the questions you've already answered. Click on the "edit answer" link next to the question you want to change. Edit the answer and click "save".