 |
Shopping Cart 
Checkout
|
 |
 |
|
|
||||||||
 |
Do I have to log in to use SparkCollege?
No, you're not required to log in to use SparkCollege. You can perform a college search and read our articles online without logging in. If you want to save a search, save a school, or mark a school as target, safety, or reach, you'll have to log in. You will have to log in to take our College Fit quiz, too.
How do I search for a school?
It's easy to search for a school at SparkCollege. From the homepage, simply type the name of the school you want to view into the Find a College search bar at the top left side of the page. You can access our advanced search page by clicking the "Advanced Search Options" link, or by clicking the "Search" tab in the navigation. On the advanced search page, you can specify more criteria in your college search.
Do I have to answer every question on the advanced search page?
Of course not! We provide a ton of search options because every student's college needs are different. Use the combination of options that work best for you, and leave the rest on "No preference" or leave blank. Use the blue "View Search Options" buttons to expand and collapse each section of the page.
I'm not getting any results, or I'm not getting the results I expected. What am I doing wrong?
Perhaps your search criteria are too specific. We may not have specific information in our database on schools in Nebraska with a field hockey team and a major in Latin, for example. If you aren't getting any results, try to expand your search a little bit, or search for only one or two criteria that are most important to you, like location, or fields of study.
How do I start a new search?
Start a new search anytime by clicking the "Search" tab in the navigation bar at the top of the page, or by returning to the homepage.
Can I save my search results?
Of course. From the search results page, simply click on the red "Save this Search" button. A window will pop open where you can give your search a name. Once you have named the search, just click on "Save" in the pop up window, and the search will be saved. You can access your saved searches from the front page of SparkCollege the next time you log in, or from the "Your SparkCollege" area of the site at any time. To get to Your SparkCollege, just click on the black "Your SparkCollege" navigation tab at the top of every page.
How do I save a school?
You can save a school from the school's page. At the top of every school page, you will see a red "Save School" button. Click that button to add the school to your saved schools list.
How do I rate a school as target, safety, or reach? How do I change that rating?
Any time you save a school, you can mark the school target, safety, or reach—or you can save a school with no rating. You can rate a school when you save it, by clicking on the yellow "Save School" button at the top of the school's page. From there, choose a rating from the dropdown menu in the pop up. Once a school is rated, its rating will appear in the right column of the school's page. To change a school's rating, click on the school's rating link in the right column of the page to open a pop up window where you can re-rate the school.
How do I access my saved searches and schools?
You can access your saved searches and schools from within Your SparkCollege. Click on the black "Your SparkCollege" navigation tab at the top of every page, or on the "See all..." text links below the Saved Schools and Saved Searches lists in the right column of the schools pages.
Can I see other schools like the one I'm viewing now?
Yes. To see schools that are like the one you're viewing, just click the "Find Similar" button next to the school's name at the top of the page.
How do you calculate similar schools? We calculate similar schools based on several criteria: the majors offered by the school; the selectivity of the school; the school's expense; its religious affiliation; and the tone of life on campus. Based on these criteria, we assign each school a number. When you view similar schools, you're viewing schools that are at least 90% similar to your original choice.
What's this "Your Best College Fit" stuff I'm seeing everywhere?
Our idea is this: the "best" college is now the "best fit"—the school with the right facilities, location, major, size, and attitude. Maybe you want to live on a farm and create art. Maybe you want to be in a different part of the world every single semester. Maybe you never want to step outside of a lab.
By taking the College Fit Quiz, we'll tell you what kind of college student you are, and show you a list of schools that match your type. For more details on the three college fit categories, check out our "About" page.
What do all the icons on the schools pages mean?
We have categorized over 600 schools in our database as either Big Idea, Big Fish, Big Rep, Big Deal, or a combination of two. Of course, not every school can fit into a neat category, but we've found some similarities that we think will help you find your best college fit. Take the College Fit Quiz to see how you match up to these categories, or read more about each college category.
What do you do with the user survey on the schools pages?
We're collecting your answers to our user survey to help us with our site and in our SparkCollege books, so tell us what you really think! If you have an opinion about your school, and want to fill out the survey, search for your school by name and follow the survey links on the school's Basics page. We've collected your answers about the school so that other students can get a better idea of what life is like there.
Do I have to sign up to use SparkNotes?
SparkNotes study guides, classic books, and many other features are free to use online without establishing an account. If you wish to purchase a downloadable PDF, take SparkTests or post messages on the message boards, you will have to create a SparkNotes account. You can sign up here.
How do I pick a nickname?
Try to pick a nickname that is unusual, or uses a combination of letters and numbers. You may want to try the beginning of your email address, or your initials followed by your favorite number or your birth date.
Can I change my nickname?
We're sorry, at this time there is no way to change your nickname.
How do I create a valid password?
Your password must be:
- between 6 and 15 characters
- alphanumeric characters (0-9,a-z,A-Z) only
- with at least one letter
- at least one number
- and no spaces
-
1='l'
2='Z'
3='E'
4='A'
5='s'
6='b'
7='T'
8='B'
9='g'
0='O'
How do I change my password or email address?
In order to change either your email address or password, we recommend doing the following:
- Log into SparkNotes at https://login.sparknotes.com/login.psp
- Once you're logged in, click on the "Preferences" link in the right column, or if you're already logged in, follow this link.
- This will open a page that will show you all of your user preferences.
- To change your email/password, click on the "Change Your Email Address" or "Change Your Password" link in the "Account Settings" area.
- Now simply change your email/password. Please note that you will still need to enter your old password in both cases.
- Hit the Save button, and all will be saved.
I forgot my password.
You can reset your password by clicking here.
Please take my profile off of SparkNotes.
If you want to cancel your SparkNotes account altogether, click here. If you merely wish to remove your personal information, click here to selectively remove the personal information from your profile.
Can I view a list of the SparkNotes products I own?
Yes. Log into our site using the same account you used to make purchases. Click on the "Preferences" link in the top navigation to access your preferences page, and then click the order history link. The order history page will display all the products you've purchased at SparkNotes, indicating which are still active and which have expired. You can access all your products from this page and download them again if necessary.
Do I need cookies to use this site? What is a cookie?
A cookie is a small text file put on your hard drive by a web page and stored there for future use. It helps to customize your experience on the web site. A cookie can only be used by the server that put it on your computer and cannot give your computer a virus. You must allow your computer to accept cookies to use the SparkNotes site.
How do I set cookies to use SparkNotes.com?
To set cookies on your computer, please follow these instructions according to the type of web browser you are using:
-
Internet Explorer 6 for Windows:
- Open the Tools menu and choose Internet Options
- On the Privacy tab, click on the Default button
- Default setting is medium. Click on Apply and OK
-
Internet Explorer 5 and 5.5 for Windows:
- Open the Tools menu and choose Internet Options
- On the Security tab make sure that Internet is selected
- Click on the Custom Level button
- Scroll down to see the Cookies category and select "Enable" next to "Allow per-session"
- Click on OK and then OK again
-
Internet Explorer 5 for Macintosh:
- Open the Explorer menu and choose Preferences
- Under the Receiving Files category, select Cookies
- Next to "When receiving cookies" choose "Never ask"
- Click on OK.
-
Netscape 6 or 7 or Mozilla for Windows and Macintosh:
- Open the Edit menu and choose Preferences
(OS X users will find this under the Netscape or Mozilla menu) - Under the Privacy & Security categories, click Cookies
(If no subcategories are visible, double-click Privacy & Security to expand the list) - Under the Privacy & Security categories, click Cookies
(If no subcategories are visible, double-click Privacy & Security to expand the list) - Click on OK
-
Netscape 4.X for Windows and Macintosh:
- Open the Edit menu and choose Preferences
- In the Preferences window that appears, click once on the word Advanced
- Enable cookies and click on OK
Your site's pages freeze, crash my computer, or don't load.
We test our website on the most popular browser and operating system combinations to make sure errors like these don't occur. If you're experiencing a persistent problem, please send us an email and tell us what web browser and operating system you're using, as well as what you were trying to do when the problem occurred.
When I try to sign up or log in, the page reloads without any of my information entered.
Please make sure you have cookies properly set on your browser. If you still have this problem, the best thing to do is close your browser and start over. If you return to the login page you should be able to log in using your email address and password. Should you no longer remember your password, you may reset your password here.