Customer Reviews

The Big Book of Colleges 2007

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4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

Choosing a college has seriously been driving me crazy. I've gotten a ton of brochures from universities all over the country, which hasn't helped me since all of the literature basically looks the same.

My parents bought me "The Big Book of Colleges" as a gift, and I cannot recommend this book enough. First of all, it's the only college guide I've come across that isn't boring. As I was reading the book, I kept laughing loudly at the hysterical student quotes (to which my brother looked at me like I was nuts).

Seriously though, for each of the 201 colleges it covers, students tell it like it is. From the best dorms to live in to how hot the guys are, they don't hold back their opinions. And for all of the interested girls out there, the schools with the hottest guys are: Clemson, Loyola Marymount, Ohio U, Texas A&M, UCSB, U of AZ, U of FL, U of GA, and U of TX ;)

Another thing I really like about the book is how they rate every aspect of each college with a letter grade, which makes it really easy to compare the schools across different categories (like academics, local atmosphere, nightlife, etc.).

Now I have narrowed down my potential schools to Clemson (no, not just because the guys are hot), Richmond, and Wake.

Hope my review helps all of the other prospective college students out there!

The fastest growing publisher in the world does it again.

I'm a big fan of College Prowler's single-school guidebooks, those are the guides that cover 180+ pages on each school. But when I heard a "big book" of colleges was released by College Prowler, I was a bit upset that they changed their approach to be like everyone else ... Princeton Review, Fiske Guide.

Let's be honest, those big fat books on colleges are so boring ... you can't get a "real feel" on a college by reading 1-2 pages ... not to mention the information is rarely updated.

Well, to my surprise, the "Big Book of Colleges" by College Prowler puts all of those other guides to shame.

It's obvious that College Prowler has a network of thousands of students at each college campus. The information you get in this guide is so "underground" and "uncensored" that I wondered how on earth they got access to it.

There are 201 schools profiled, 4 pages per school, fresh student testimonials, talking about everything! Guys, Girls, Dorms, Athletics, Academics, The Local Atmosphere, Facilities, even Drugs ...

No wonder the Boston Globe called College Prowler the antidote to the Princeton Review Doldrums!

The Big Book of Colleges is the new authority when choosing the perfect school. Let's face it, it's about getting into the school that's ranked the highest by US News anymore ... it's all about enjoying the next 4 years of your life and choosing a college that's actually RIGHT for you.

What I mean by RIGHT for you is somewhere that you won't end up transferring out of because you haven't met any friends, you can't handle the workload, and the sun never shines!

The Big Book of Colleges starts off ranking all 201 schools in 20 different categories. You get to see right off the bat, which schools have the best professors/academic programs, the best dorms, the best food, prettiest girls, hottest guys, best local atmosphere, and a whole lot more.

Each school profile is about 4 pages, and flooded with student testimonials - talking about the insider info you really want to know. What's the school known for, are the students really happy, how much red tape is there in the administration, are kids transferring out ... etc, etc.

You can also get a brief run down on the basic stuff available any where else, such as campus size, what the school is known for academically, and even harder facts to find, like acceptance rates and other admissions stats.

The Big Book of Colleges though is all about the student testimonials. They're hilariously accurate, and controversial. I'm surprised colleges haven't come out and battled College Prowler on the stuff they publish ... I guess because you can't really dispute the truth.

Buy this book if you want to choose the perfect school.

As a student that is extremely serious about the college selection process, I bought every single college guidebook out there that covers multiple schools. The Big Book of Colleges was in a league of its own.

I loved this guidebook because of its readability. Yes, it looks like a phone book on the outside, just like all the other college guides, but like my mother always told me, it's what on the inside that counts.

The book profiles around 200 schools, and each school goes into depth about many different aspects of campus life. Professors, Girls, Diversity, Campus Strictness (my favorite section!), Drugs, and more.

Each section has student reviews that are straight from the students mouths, and you can really tell they aren't holding back. I would type some of the student quotes on here, but I think that's copyright infringment. Sample pages are available on the College Prowler website.

So for example, let's say you're interested in Diversity at Princeton. Well, College Prowler interviews tons of kids that sound off on what diversity is REALLY like on campus ... behind the numbers and the campus brochures.

I was surprised to discover what life was really like at many of the schools I was interested in. I know that this book doesn't go that much in depth about each school, like College Prowler's "single-school" guides ... but it's a great starting point when you're an 11th grader that wants to get a great overview of each school. I'll buy the single-school guidebooks to the schools I want to apply to next year.

Buy this book if you want to know the truth about America's best universities.

While this series is cute, and useful to get a flavor of the differences between schools, it cannot be used to compare schools "apples to apples". The comments themselves are revealing of the character of a school, but the actual grades are meaningless, particularly when assessing academic quality - the consequence of subjective methodology since the students themselves (who know only their institution)give out the grades. They simply don't have the information necessary to assess their school against peer institutions in an objective way. So yes, use it for entertainment, but don't make decisions based on this flawed research methodology: visit, interview, form your own opinion.

This book, though not definitive and clearly subjective, based on only a few student comments in each area of review, is, none-the-less, a very helpful addition for students and parents who are screening colleges. Use it along with another book, such as the one by the Yale Daily News, and you'll get a very good feeling for the atmosphere at the schools before going. My daughter and I found it to be very helpful.

This is a very helpful description of colleges from the kids' point of view. Of course you can't assume it's unbiased since it's just a small sample of opinions but it does give a more personal look at the schools. You wouldn't want this to be your major source (use the Fiske guide for that) but this is a fun read and is helpful in providing some details about the schools that the more formal guides miss.

Bought for my daughter. She started to read it. Not sure how helpful.