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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Year after year the same information, October 13, 2003
This review is from: Complete Book of Colleges, 2004 Edition (College Admissions Guides) (Paperback)
The Complete Book of Colleges presents, in encyclopedic fashion, a vast array of details on colleges and universities. It also judges the quality of schools, designating some of them as among the 351 best. However, to learn more about what makes a school one of the best, the reader must buy an additional Princeton Review book. This guide resembles most other available college guides and these similarities are not accidental. All of today's college guides gather their most important information from the same source: the common data set (see www.commondataset.org). Originally established to standardize and ease the distribution of college information, the common data set now seems to function as a barrier to original efforts to evaluate American colleges and universities. The Princeton Review touts its guide as "the best place to begin, fine-tune and execute the search for your perfect college." Given that everybody uses the same data, that claim seems a little dubious and resembles advertising campaigns by soap manufacturers desperately trying to differentiate almost identical products. The publishing industry's sloth is glaringly evident in their failure to pressure colleges and universities to provide important test score information left out of the common data set. Industry representatives participate in the common data set initiative; yet, their role appears completely passive. This guide only lists information on test scores taken by entering high school students (for example, the SAT I, ACT, etc.). No score information is reported for tests taken by students in college, such as the Medical College Admissions Test, Law School Admissions Test, Graduate Record Examinations, or Graduate Management Admissions Test; yet, these scores would seem to reflect better college achievement. Further, no attempt is made to compare high school and college test results. It appears that little use is made of the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE). The survey arose from a general dissatisfaction among educators with magazine rankings. All freshmen and seniors at participating schools must take the survey, which questions students about their classroom experience, study habits and homework assignments, and asks them to evaluate the quality of education they receive. Unlike standardized tests, the survey depends entirely on subjective responses, and no attempt is made to assess what is actually learned in the classroom. Granted most schools try to hide NSSE information, but a proactive publishing industry should be able to obtain it. If the Princeton Review published information on college test scores or the NSSE, it would live up to its claim of being "the first place to begin." Until then, it's just another guidebook publishing pretty much the same information that every other guidebook publishes.
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
OMG, July 19, 2004
This review is from: Complete Book of Colleges, 2004 Edition (College Admissions Guides) (Paperback)
thiz buk iz soooooo gud! i got in2 yal, vasir, prinston, and harvard and even u pen! thiz book will help u w/ ur college serch becuz itz fun and informitiv and it haz everything u need 2 suceed so by it or go 2 comunitee and hav no carear! o i think therz a cuple comunitey in thr 2. i like thiz book and want the otherz becuz my little sister in the 6th grad and wants to go 2 havard.
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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Helpful, informative, worthwhile, July 16, 2004
This review is from: Complete Book of Colleges, 2004 Edition (College Admissions Guides) (Paperback)
Being that I'm just getting psyched about choosing colleges, I haven't really read any other guides yet, so I didn't have any to compare this one to. However, since I want to go to a good school, (Vassar, NYU, Vanderbilt, Drexel, Emory, UCLA, this list goes on...) I thought that this would help me select more options to add to my list, as well as help me to rule out options that aren't for me. On a helpful factor, I'd rate this book an 8. Each college blurb contains insight on activities, admissions, tuition and financial aid, the school's phone number, website, and what they look for in prospective students, as well as the school's enrollment, which is always good to know. Little symbols, which can be explained by a key, tell readers (and future students) in what type of environment the school is located, meaning the country (ex. Dartmouth, Cornell), urban (U Penn, NYU, Columbia), and suburban (Emory, Northwestern). Dollar signs range from 1 to 3, 1 meaning less than 10,000, 2 representing 10,000 to 15,000, and 3 saying over 15,000 (::sigh::). A total of 1,669 colleges are reviewed. You've got your hard-to-get-into liberal arts schools. You've got the oh-so-competitive Ivy League schools. You've got your state schools. And, to my surprise, there were even a few community colleges. It was worth every penny of my money. However, much of it seems to be in fine print. My friend who wears glasses had difficulty seeing some of it. But I've got 20/20 vision and could see basically all of it just fine. Also, it's heavy. What do you expect with 1400+ pages? It's heavy and floppy. The company designed this guide with the cheaper type of paper, yet if they tried for the more expensive kind, this book would probably weigh 40 pounds. BUY IT, PROSPECTIVE STUDENTS! Or preorder the 2005 edition, which you can do right now. Information is much more up to date that way, and you especially need to be correctly informed tuition/financial aid-wise.
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