26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An excellent reference book for the college-bound, May 14, 2000
By A Customer
This review is from: Best 331 Colleges, 2000 Edition, with Free Apply! CD-ROM (Paperback)
Being an 11th grader in high school and experiencing the college process firsthand, I have purchased various college guides in the past few months and have decided to enlighten other students and parents of my opinions regarding these books.
For students wanting to narrow down the list of over 2,200 four-year colleges, I strongly recommend The Princeton Review's "The Best 331 Colleges." This book provides invaluable information concerning some of the best institutions in the nation, covering crucial topics such as academics, student life, the student body, admissions, and financial aid. What I loved about this book in particular was its sincere and straightforward look at how the students feel about their college, since much of the information is based on actual responses from attending students. Contrary to other types of college guides, The Princeton Review gives you the essential statistics and information (median SAT scores, average GPA, percentage of applicants accepted, number of undergrads, etc.), and goes above and beyond that by including student reactions and descriptions which make you feel as if you were actually there. Of course, nothing can substitute an actual visit to a college, but the Princeton Review book is one of the best ways to start your college search and decide which universities appeal to you.
Another book that I purchased was the enormous 3,257 page "Peterson's 4 Year Colleges" guide. This book is adequate for finding copious amounts of statistics regarding every 4- year college in the United States, as well as a few international universities. The introduction is fairly informative, and the second half of the book provides brief 2-page descriptions of various colleges listed in the beginning of the book. This guide is ok for people who want to consider ALL their options, but it is probably not necessary at all if you at least have a vague idea of where you want to go and what you would like to do.
"The Fiske Guide to Colleges" is truly exceptional. Although it may not include every college out there, it does have over 300 of the best ones available. Similar to the Princeton Review's guide, Fiske gives actual ratings to academics, social life, and quality of life, but on a 5-star scale. What is helpful about this is that it gives the reader a modified perspective of a college which may have been otherwise thought of differently. For example, a college which has a five-star rating for academics may seem great to parents and students at first, but then you might realize that the quality of life and social rating might be horrible and students hate living there. This is not the case all the time, but it is a helpful warning that elucidates what exactly the life at a college may be like. Another great thing about Fiske's guide is that his college summaries really bolster his rankings, and he covers everything from the effectiveness of classroom academics to the abundance of frat parties.
The last guide I will comment on is the "Insider's Guide to the Colleges," which was written by actual college students. This book is pretty good and gives insight to quality of academics, student body, and social life, but mainly focuses on the latter. It is fun to read and has lots of humorous quotes from students at the individual colleges. The introduction was pretty good as well, and contains important information for people not too familiar with college applications or terminology.
Overall, I believe if you want to buy only one or two books, I would opt for either The Princeton Review's "The Best 331 Colleges" or the "Fiske Guide," primarily because of the books' forthright approach to assessing the colleges based on various factors, not just academics. And to all students applying to college this coming fall, I wish you all the best of luck.
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33 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Update on a valuable reference guide., April 5, 2000
This review is from: Best 331 Colleges, 2000 Edition, with Free Apply! CD-ROM (Paperback)
Last year I wrote an extensive review of the various college guides. Our daughter was then in eleventh grade and just beginning her serious consideration of colleges. Now she has heard from all her schools (accepted at 8, waiting list at 1, rejected at 1) and an update seems appropriate.
The Princeton Review guide is probably the best condensed book for a quick overview. They have improved their format slightly from 1999, though most of the text of their descriptions is the same. However they do give a flavor for the political orientation, difficulty getting in index, academic prestige, student to faculty ratio, and quality of campus life.
The Fiske guide is also useful, though my own view is that he tries to say only nice things about each school.
The ISI Guide to Choosing the Right College has definite strengths and weaknesses. The strength or weakness depends on your philosophical orientation. It takes a center right political view and a traditional academic view. It therefore praises schools with a core curriculum and a minimum of political correctness and criticizes institutions which have few or no required courses and a left leaning tendency. However, they make their views fully explicit, so the reader can adjust according to their preferences. The greatest strength is that it names actual professors and lists their courses. Thus these can be avoided or sought after as the student sees fit. Most other guides stick to generalities and avoid specifics.
Again I strongly endorse Marty Nemko's You're Gonna Love This College Guide. See my full review for details. The strength of this book is that it gets the student to think in terms of big versus small, urban versus rural, highly competitive versus high quality without cut-throat competition, etc. It really helped our daughter know what to think about on her tour of colleges.
A few more tips. We found it extremely helpful to look at colleges during spring break of eleventh grade, and again in the fall of twelfth. The essays are VERY important. We are sure that our daughter got in to two excellent schools on the strength of her essays -- and indeed an admission officer from one of those schools specifically told her that after she was accepted. And do whatever you can to get an interview. We have no scientific proof, but it is simply human nature to feel more enthusiastic about a real person whom you have met than a mere bunch of papers. The schools our daughter got in to were all ones where she interviewed. The waiting list school was one where she did not interview. Draw your own conclusions.
Good luck. We'll revisit all of this when our next child starts the process in a couple of years.
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
The Princeton Review is Notoriously Unbelievable, August 30, 1999
This review is from: Best 331 Colleges, 2000 Edition, with Free Apply! CD-ROM (Paperback)
I have the 1999 edition of this book and it is as bad as all my college counselors had warned. Yes, it has "student perspectives," but they are amazingly inaccurate. Talk to anyone who goes to one of these schools. Your friends will have real, current info. The Princeton Review articles barely change from year to year and are sometimes so far off it is hard to believe. Maybe the newest edition is better, but don't hold your breath.
The Apply! CD-ROM is the most useful part of this book.
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