Michigan State University - College Prowler Guide (College Prowler: Michigan State University Off the Record) [Paperback]

Amy Davis (Author)

Book Description

Series: College Prowler: Michigan State University Off the Record | Publication Date: July 1, 2006

College guides written by students for students.

Michigan State University Students Tell It Like It Is

"Varsity sports are huge on this campus. If you don't like sports, you'll be a minority here."

But if you are thinking about Michigan State, then you are probably well acquainted with its athletic tradition. You may even know who Johnny Spirit is.

But do you know about painting the rock?

How about AllMSU an online interaction site for MSU students to hook up, rate professors, or sell books?

The student author warns that the cafeteria is not that bad as long as your expectations aren't high.

One student says this:

"On campus food? It sucks! No other comment is necessary."

But other sections get higher ratings. Here's what one student had to say about nightlife:

"Awesome! You're not a Spartan if you go to MSU without partying. The good spots: Triangle Fraternity, Rick's, Riv's heck, all bars are great and awesome."

So maybe you didn't know it all. There's so much more to a school than a brochure or a campus tour can show you. Buy the College Prowler guidebook, and feel like an insider before you ever set foot on the campus!

Find out if MSU has something for you, straight from the students' mouths.

Visiting campus isn't enough.

Read our Michigan State University insider's guide and discover what it feels like to be on campus for 4 years.

Discover if MSU is Right For You.

Editorial Reviews

Review

This is the kind of information kids really want to know before they pick a college. --Michelle Slatalla, The NY Times

"...get viewpoints on a variety of topics from the student body, which is where the Prowler gets its roar." --Melissa Kaplan, Boston Globe, May 23, 2004

"There is information on which schools have packed computer labs, which dorms are studious or riotous, ..." --Ben Gilbert, The Washington Post, April 27, 2004

About the Author

College guides for each of the top colleges and universities in the US

While writing our series of college guides, we felt it was critical that our content was unbiased and unaffiliated with any college or university. We think it s important that our readers get honest information and a realistic impression of the student opinions on any college campus that s why if any aspect of a particular college is terrible, we (unlike a campus brochure) intend to publish it. While we do keep an eye out for the occasional extremist the cheerleader or the cynic we take pride in letting the college students tell it like it is. We strive to create a college guide that s as representative as possible of each particular campus. Our guides cover both the good and the bad, and whether the survey responses point to recurring trends or a variation in opinion, these sentiments are directly and proportionally expressed through our guides.

College Prowler guides are in the hands of students throughout the entire process of their creation. Because you can t make student-written guides without the students, we have students at each college campus who help write, randomly survey their peers, edit, layout, and perform accuracy checks on every college guide that we publish. From the very beginning, student writers gather the most up-to-date stats, facts, and inside information on their colleges. They fill each section with student quotes and summarize the findings in editorial reviews. In addition, each college or university receives a collection of letter grades (A through F) that reflect student opinion and help to represent contentment, prominence, or satisfaction for each of our 20 specific categories. Just as in grade school, the higher the mark the more content, more prominent, or more satisfied the students are with the particular category.

Once a college guide is written, additional college students serve as editors and check for accuracy even more extensively. Our bounce-back team a group of randomly selected students who have no involvement with the project are asked to read over the material in order to help ensure that the guide accurately expresses every aspect of the university and its students. This same process is applied to the nearly 300 colleges and universities College Prowler currently covers. Each guide is the result of endless student contributions, hundreds of pages of research and writing, and countless hours of hard work. All of this has led to the creation of a student information network that stretches across the nation to every college that we cover. It s no easy accomplishment, but it s the reason that our college guides are such a great resource.

When reading our guides and looking at our college rankings, keep in mind that every college is different and that the students who make up each college are not uniform as a result, it is important to assess colleges on a case-by-case basis. Because it s impossible to summarize an entire college with a single number or description, each guide provides a dialogue, not a decision, that s made up of 20 different topics and hundreds of student quotes. In the end, we hope that this guide will serve as a valuable tool in your college selection process. Enjoy!

Product Details

• Paperback: 180 pages
• Publisher: College Prowler (July 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1427400962
• ISBN-13: 978-1427400963
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #693,284 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great to get the inside perspective!, November 3, 2007

By 

Bradley A. Pritts "Brad" (Ann Arbor, MI United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Michigan State University - College Prowler Guide (College Prowler: Michigan State University Off the Record) (Paperback)

While helping my son select & apply for colleges last year, we purchased this book as well as the companion volumes for U of Michigan and a few other schools.

After reading pages and pages of promotional material written by the universities themselves, it was great to see a more independent student's eye view.

Two aspects of these books that were surprising, but helpful. First, the books include many collections of direct quotes from students expressing their opinions on various aspects of the school. They are printed together verbatim. The comments are sometimes conflicting, which seems to reflect the "real world" aspects of selecting a school. As a simple example, the section on dorms and dorm foods includes quotes ranging from specific comments about individual dining halls pluses and minuses, to broad statements that the food is awful, to others with more favorable assessments. This seems to be a faithful reproduction of what you'd get if you asked the students yourself.

Second, it was interesting to read the books for 2 schools "side by side". When comparing MSU and U of M, it became clear how many aspects these two large Big Ten schools have in common - probably more than they differ.

Since my son has only been on campus at MSU for a few months, it may be too soon to say whether all the details are up to date, but overall the book's description of the school seems accurate. Meanwhile, the related volume on U of M appears to be up to date; we are residents of Ann Arbor and so are familiar with at least many of the townie related details.

I would recommend this book, as well as others in the series, highly for those in the undergrad college selection process. They provide a great counterpoint to the materials sent by the colleges themselves.