Peter Hegener, the co-founder of Peterson’s along with his wife, Casey Hegener, previously held the position of Director of Career Services at Princeton University. As part of his role, he provided students with advice and guidance on their post-graduation plans, including exploring graduate programs. He noticed the lack of a centralized resource that could assist students in this process and came up with the idea for Peterson’s.

To address this issue, Hegener launched Peterson’s Guides to Graduate Study in 1966 with the aim of streamlining the flow of information from graduate schools to undergraduate students. The Guides served as a comprehensive catalog of graduate programs and the 1968-1969 edition contained information on over 13,000 programs.

Today, Peterson’s is a privately owned company under Triangle Digital Ventures that offers a range of services beyond data collection, such as data analysis, test preparation, enrollment services, and publishing, all focused on education. Peterson’s remains committed to providing students worldwide with the necessary resources to explore and pursue their educational and career goals.