Customer Reviews

Choosing the Right College: 2008-2009: The Whole Truth about America's Top Schools

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I was worried about this when I bought the book. It only gives reviews on about 130 colleges, leaving out all the ones my daughter was interested in--most of them being large, state universities. Maybe this was mentioned somewhere, but I didn't see it. It would be helpful if we knew which colleges were reviewed before buying.

FYI, these are the ones they review:

New England:
Amherst College
Bates College
Boston College
Boston University
Bowdoin College
Brandeis University
Brown University
Colby College
Connecticut College
Dartmouth College
Harvard University
College of the Holy Cross
MIT
Middlebury College
Mount Holyoke College
Providence College
Smith College
Thomas More College of Liberal Arts
Tufts University
Wellesley College
Wesleyan University
Williams College
Yale University

Mid-Atlantic:
Bard College
Barnard College
Bryn Mawr College
Bucknell University
Carnegie Mellon University
Catholic University of America
Colgate University
Columbia University
Cooper Union
Cornell University
Fordham University
Georgetown University
George Washington University
Gettysburg College
Grove City College
Hamilton College
Haverford College
Johns Hopkins University
Lafayette College
Lehigh University
New York University
University of Pennsylvania
Penn State
Princeton
University of Rochester
St. John's College
Seton Hall University
Swarthmore College
Union College
United States Military Academy
United States Naval Academy
Vassar College
Villanova University

South:
Agnes Scott College
Auburn University
Centre College
Christendom College
Clemson University
Davidson College
Duke University
Emory University
University of Florida
Furman University
George Mason University
University of Georgia
Georgia Institute of Technology
Hampden-Sydney College
Louisiana State University
University of Mississippi
Morehouse College
University of North Carolina
Oglethorpe University
Rhodes College
University of the South
Spelman College
Tulane University
Vanderbilt University
University of Virginia
Wake Forest University
Washington and Lee University
College of William and Mary
Wofford College

Midwest:
Calvin College
Carleton College
Case Western Reserve University
University of Chicago
Franciscan University of Steubenville
Grinnell College
Hillsdale College
Indiana University
University of Iowa
University of Kansas
Kenyon College
Macalester College
University of Michigan
University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
Northwestern University
University of Notre Dame
Oberlin College
St. Olaf College
University of Tulsa
Wabash College
Washington University in St. Louis
Wheaton College
University of Wisconsin

West:
Baylor University
BYU
UC Berkely
UC LA
UC San Diego
UC Santa Barbara
California Institute of Technology
Claremont Colleges
University of colorado at Boulder
Colorado College
University of Dallas
Gonzaga University
Occidental College
Pepperdine University
Reed College
Rice University
University of Southern California
Southern Methodist University
Stanford University
University of Texas at Austin
Texas A&M University
Thomas Aquinas College
United States Air Force Academy
Whitman College

Canada:
Trinity Western University
Tyndale University College

This college guide is hands down better than any guide I've seen. If actually getting an education rooted in a core curriculum is important to you, or knowing whethter or not the dorms your son or daughter will be living in have co-ed showers is something you might like to be aware of, than this guide stands alone in how it reviews schools. If the above (and so much more like it) is "conservative" or "Christian", than so be it. To me is just makes good sense. Choosing the Right College is an amazing resource.

An impressive guide for those about to get a "higher" education. This book will save you time, money, and a great deal of anxiety. Details the best colleges (i.e. those that actually seek to educate the student) and the best professors (i.e. those that actually seek to educate the student, as compared to those colleges and faculty that are determined to indoctrinate the student.

I've been buying every edition of this book since it was first published in 1998. I've visited quite a few of the schools with my three kids, and have yet to have a significant disagreement with the reviews. The two schools I know best, Michigan and Notre Dame, are assessed very well.

The book is written for those who desire to know how well these schools provide a classic liberal arts education, and is the best book out there for this purpose.

Now, for an erratum in the "new evaluations" blurb above .....King's College in Halifax is NOT evaluated, but Tyndale University College in Toronto is.

Highly recommended.

This book provides a superb review of what to expect after enrolling in most of the well known US colleges. The nature of the faculty, the student culture, academic expectations, campus atmosphere, graduation rates, housing, amenities and total costs and more are all covered in fascinating detail. Student and faculty comments are especially revealing. Its an entertaining and informative read and the perfect aid in selecting the right institution for todays student. Provides an even handed assessment of activism among faculty and students so that regardless of your preferences you will have a well informed description of what to expect. Indispensable for current high school graduates.

This is an excellent guide, because it analyzes the curricula of the universities or colleges, to determine whether or not, a true liberal arts education is being fostered. This guide offers insightful analysis and evaluation of the schools, beyond the obvious hype and mindless college summaries, common in the many other directories, such as "the students work hard, but also play hard". In addition, the book evaluates whether or not free speech and political tolerance is honored at the school for all shades of the political spectrum. In summation, this is a very helpful and useful guide to understand what is happening in the classrooms and on the campuses to promote true education and open dialogue or whether free speech is suppressed by a left-wing bias or by overly zealous professors bent on indoctrination and intimidation. There is no other guide on the market that addresses these important questions. One note, however, it is not a comprehensive guide and primarily only the better or well-know schools are evaluated.

Though this book seemed daunting at first, I have found the information it contained to give an eye-opening look into the universities covered. What you cannot see on a tour, nor gleen from the admissions department interview, can be concisely laid-out in a real world look through the book's eyes. It has saved our family time and money travelling to the many colleges we have considered based on name and reputation only. We are hoping for a broader, cleaner, safer, more intellectual path for our future college student and it is hard to permeate most college's showy exteriors to find the guts of the real educational show. This book is an invaluable tool.
My only disappointments with the book are that I would have liked a chart to concisely narrow down my reading rather than having to glut through all of the colleges. Also, pure whimsey, but I wish the book had covered even more colleges/universities than it did! Hardly possible.

This book has been immensely useful in my search for the right university. Of all the books I've looked through, read, even bought, this book was the most accurate in giving me a feel for the schools.

An absolute shoo-in compared to other choosing college books.

Hands down, the best.

I will be brief and to the point. This is without a doubt the best college guide that we have used in our home. It is SO good, that it is a big disappointment if one of the colleges you are considering is not in the guide. His use of "Red Light - Yellow Light - Green Light" ratings is unique, and helps the student in deciding between the various colleges.

Also, I would highly recommend that any College Counselor add this volume to their library. For your serious high school students, this guide is indispensable, and they will find more useful information in this guide than all of your other guides combined.

Really informative. Helps you narrow which colleges to visit. So many professors are radicals disguised as professors in academia, this helps you see where they are. It also is helpful by telling you what professors TO take so that your child can learn to critically think.

We found out about some schools we knew the name of, but really didn't know anything about.