Customer Reviews

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

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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.