Unofficial Biased Insider's Guide to the 320 Most Interesting Colleges [Paperback]

Trent Anderson (Author), Seppy Basili (Author)

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Trent Anderson, Vice President for Publishing and e-Ventures, Kaplan, Inc.

Trent Anderson is a recognized innovator in education, as well as an expert in standardized test preparation and admissions for college and graduate school. Trent earned his bachelor's degree from UCLA and his law degree and M.B.A. from the University of Southern California. Prior to moving to New York to work for Kaplan, he taught Business Law and the Legal Environment of Finance at the University of Southern California.

As vice president for publishing for Kaplan, Inc., Trent oversees more than 150 book and software titles and is a contributing editor to Kaplan's test preparation and financial aid guides. Additionally, he is vice president of the company's e-Ventures Group, which develops technologies that enable and enhance education through the Internet and other devices.

During his career, Trent has worked with thousands of students, helping them with admissions, test prep and financial aid advice to get into and pay for college and graduate school.

Product Details

• Paperback: 704 pages
• Publisher: Kaplan (July 2, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 074323054X
• ISBN-13: 978-0743230544
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.3 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,335,299 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Funny, readable, and VERY helpful, February 17, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Unofficial Biased Insider's Guide to the 320 Most Interesting Colleges (Paperback)

After going through literally dozens of lugubrious, dripping-with-sincerity college guides, I bumbled across this outrageous piece of tactless, opinionated, politically-incorrect--and absolutely indispensable--commentary. It provides all the basics parents or students need to know, plus the sort of pithy remarks that describe a school in one vivid image, such as, "There are a lot of school spirits at Clemson (100 proof)" or "1600's on your SAT's may not be enough to get in at Harvard. Get a hobby--like winning Pulitzer Prizes."

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Picked up "quotes" from the internet, April 23, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Unofficial Biased Insider's Guide to the 320 Most Interesting Colleges (Paperback)

I used to think this college guide was one of the best around - it was witty, fun to read, seemed that the author's had actually VISITED the colleges they were talking about and interviewed students who currently attended those schools.

Imagine my disappointment when I recently discovered that many of the student "quotes" used in this book were picked up word for word from comments on sites like epinions.com and studentsreview.com. If guidebook authors are going to say or imply that they have actually TALKED to students or visited campuses, then the authors should actually SPEAK to current students not just regurgitate previously published quotes. This is especially true when those same quotes are available FOR FREE on college review sites.

Not all of the quotes in the book are taken from web sites like these, but enough are to make me feel that the authors aren't the "insiders" they claim to be. What a shame - great concept, fun to read, but I can't recommend a book that "borrows" from other sources so blatantly. At the very least, they could have credited the web sites they used to lift their quotes from.

4.0 out of 5 stars Still incomplete, June 28, 2008

By 

Amazon reviewer "areaderinco" (Colorado USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Unofficial Biased Insider's Guide to the 320 Most Interesting Colleges (Paperback)

There are thousands of colleges and universities in the US. These 320 are mostly the ones worth concentrating on. However, the list is still unfortunately incomplete. Where's Olin? Where's the University of Tulsa?
Where's New Mexico Tech? Where's Colorado School of Mines? They list several others in the category lists and put an asterisk by them to indicate that they are NOT profiled... admitting their incompleteness. Don't make this your only guide or you might miss out.