What do you actually want
from a college?
Show Your Hand is a free card sort for high school students and the counselors who work with them. Sort cards into five piles and see what matters most, before the college list gets built.
How it works
- Sort the cards. Each card names something a college can offer: small classes, a city campus, co-op programs, real winters. Put each one in a pile.
- Choose your Must Haves. That pile holds cards at most. Deciding what to bump is where the real thinking happens.
- Rate your colleges. Optional: score the colleges you're considering against your Must Haves.
- Talk it through. Send the report to your counselor. It's built to start a conversation, not to replace one.
The five piles
No pile is better than another. A long No Way list tells a counselor as much as a long Must Have list.
For students
If your counselor sent you a link, use that one so your results go to them. Otherwise, start a sort here and share your report with anyone you like.
Start a sortFor counselors
Make links for students and parents, open their reports, compare student and parent sorts, and see what changed after college visits. Free, with no accounts.
Counselor page
Built by Mark Moody of m² College Counseling, who has worked in college admissions and counseling since 1998. Free for students and counselors everywhere.