Customer Reviews

The Best 331 Colleges, 2002 Edition (Princeton Review: The Best ... Colleges)

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As a high school Junior, I've gone through my share of college guides (Fiske, Peterson's, College Handbook, etc) and my final conclusion is that Princeton's 331 Best Colleges is the ONLY general guide you need. Each college gets a full 2 pages in this book, which seems to be just enough. The format is the most comprehensive that I've seen, and the information is the most useful (for both parents and students). It tells you everything you need to know, right down to what the kids do for fun (from drinking, hanging out and doing laundry, skiing and hiking, to political protests), the Admissions information (SAT Ranges, ACT, GPA, things the admissions officers look for), quotes directly from the students about the student body and town/city, a general overview of the feeling of the college, a perspective on the Academic pressure and strengths/weaknesses, Financial Aid Info, and a general profile of the student body and of the social/extra-curricular life. It also shows a list of percentages of the diversity of the students, and "Survey Says" section (for example, it will say: Athletic facilities are great, Great library, Musical organizations are hot, Computer lab needs improving, etc). Other things that I've found to be helpful are the "Most Popular Majors" section, and the list of other colleges applicants to a certain college looked at and preferred/didn't prefer.

Generally, this book does not try to "sell" the schools, as all viewbooks directly from the colleges tend to do. The quotes from the students seem honest, from points of view on how challenging the workload is, to how diverse the student body is, to how much school spirit the kids have. Everything in the book is pretty candid, and I feel like the information is trust-worthy.

Overall, I feel much more informed about the colleges I plan to apply to after reading about them in Princeton's Guide. For another perspective, I'd also recommend "The Insider's Guide to the Colleges," which is written by college students. But overall, The Best 331 College is a good buy for anybody entering or in the middle of the college process, parents and students alike.

I used this guide when I applied to colleges six years ago.

Guess what: the quotes have not changed since then! And now that I have a diploma from one of the colleges profiled in the book, I can see that some of the information (not the opinions, the information) is inaccurate and outdated. The face of a college can change a lot in six years (and who knows if the information was even fresh then?); I would use this as a jumping off point only. I have no idea if the other guides are more frequently updated; seems like a visit is the only way to tell.

This book has so much to offer. It has student reviews about almost everything on the campus from academics to sports. It also gives admission requirements including SAT scores and GPA.

We must admit we have a few slight reservations about the subjectivity of some of the college students surveyed for this book. Despite the purported 59,000 surveys that were conducted, it seems that some individual surveys may have been given additional weight in the interests of making the book more 'cutting edge'. Nonetheless, the school profiles are very complete and contain such pertinent information as admissions criteria, deadlines, social life, and even cafeteria food.

This book is most helpful for identifying schools that may have otherwise passed under the proverbial radar. However, we do not recommend using this book as a sole source of information for college selection decision making.

A few months ago I started the big "college search." I got this book, and it has been the biggest help in what is a pretty big deal. The Princeton Review provides helpful information about all the colleges in there. It is objective, and very useful. There are some witty quips throughout, and it is very honest about what are a colleges ups and downs. Just about everything you need to know is in this book: admissions, academics, student life, financial info... Everything is covered thoroughly, and it is easy to read. This book is definitely a good purchase.

This book does a great job at descibing the schools and tells the top school in each catagory, aka public, private, different price ranges, areas of study and the list goes on. My problem with this book is that the introuction states the significance of finding the town, academics, people, that you would like, but I found it incredibly hard to use this book in that fashion. This is a very general book and I would suggest that if you buy it to get another one on a more specific thing that you are looking at for schools

"Best 331 Colleges" is the best college guide book I have come across. It gives me insight to the admissions process, student life, and what the students are really like. The book provides quotes from students and everything else needed to choose the right school. This book is only 2nd best to a college visit/interview. 8o)

This book is very insightful. I am the author of The ABC's of College Life, a hip, street-smart guide for college students and I highly recommend The Best 311 Colleges. It has a lot of information the other directories leave out.

The 331 best colleges by the Princeton Review. The guide basically pics these collges by name recognition and ranking, but some recent invesitgation has allowed some of America's best collges to be included, and Example is Olympia Washington's The Evergreen State College. Evergree is a progressive, public liberal arts school with a program that is found nowhere else in the world. But with typical enteries like U Michigan, Berkley, etc, the guide is hurting, because many of these institutions are suffering from over exposure and are loosing their ability to attarct the right students. Flashing numbers can't compare to actual testimonies and track records, but much of Americas high school students are falling victim anyway. My recomondation, if name is everything for you, take one of these colleges. If education is a little bit more important, read Lauren Pope's book on colleges that change lives