Lauren McKibben (SFS ’07) is trying to alleviate the stressful process of shopping for colleges with a new Web site, collegeknowitall.com, which ranks colleges and universities based on comments submitted by college students.

“I was frustrated with my own high school guidance experience, or lack thereof, and wanted to help students in similar situations,” McKibben said.

On the Web site that she co-founded, students can rate colleges in a number of categories, including academic life, athletics and health and safety, she said.

With 53 colleges rated by 174 students, Georgetown currently ranks 28th with an overall student rating of 3.2. Within the separate categories, Georgetown is ranked 14th in academic life and 23rd in party scene.

Princeton University is currently occupying the top spot with a rating of 3.7 out of 4. Duke University, Cornell University, University of Virginia and Pomona College round out the top five spots in the ratings.

Harvard University, which sits at the top of the U.S. News and World Report college rankings, came in last on the collegeknowitall.com rankings.

In addition to the ranking of four-year colleges, the Web site also posts jobs and internship opportunities for college students, provides a diverse collection of articles on the college admissions process and offers a forum for parents to post and answer questions about colleges.

cKibben said that other free online guides inspired her to create collegeknowitall.com.

“I was working in Silicon Valley and you can’t help but get the itch to start your own thing when you are in the heart of innovation,” she said.

In March McKibben left her job at a SiliconValley investment bank to focus on the Web site full time. McKibben, with a co-founder who wished to remain anonymous, has been working hard to keep the Web site up and running.

“Starting a business has been a steep learning curve but I attended some free workshops and read a lot of books. I figured, I’m young and I at least have to give it a shot,” McKibben said.

For McKibben, the present form of collegeknowitall.com is only the beginning. She hopes to eventually add ratings for graduate schools, career schools and online degree programs.

“I am passionate about this project and when it is completed, I will most likely create `know-it-all’ portals for other verticals such as consumer product reviews, travel reviews, car reviews and professional service reviews,” she said.

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