• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, April 2, 2004

SAT Registration Doubles Site Traffic

Leslie Marable, senior Internet analyst, Nielsen//NetRatings, said "For millions of prospective students and parents, the Web has become the most utilized tool in getting ready for college. Universities and other educational organizations have turned activities such as registering for tests and applying to schools into a seamless transaction online."

Nielsen//NetRatings reported that SAT® registration drove a 103 percent surge in traffic to collegeboard.com during the week ending March 28. Of the 490,000 unique visitors to collegeboard.com, SAT content pages were the most popular within the site. Thirty-seven percent of collegeboard.com's surfers logged on to register for the exam. Other popular pages included information on test days and an FAQ section. The deadline for the May 1 exam was Thursday, March 25.

Additionally, more than 16 million unique visitors from home accessed university Web sites during the week, reaching nearly 15 percent of the active Internet universe. The Ohio State University Web site grabbed the top spot. Other popular institutions were the University of Texas, Cornell University, the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign and the University of California at Berkeley.

Top Universities Web Sites, Week Ending March 28 (U.S., Home)

	Unique Audience (000)
1. Ohio State University	446
2. University of Texas	445
3. Cornell University	399
4. University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign	382
5. University of California at Berkeley	375

Source: Nielsen//NetRatings, March 2004

For more information visit www.nielsen-netratings.com