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A Guide to the College Guides
Bay Area Parent of Teens, April 1998
Sorting through the guidebooks can be as bewildering as the college process itself!
One way to get started is to assess where your children and you are in the
going-to-college process. What exactly do you need to find out about? Then, cast a
critical eye on each publication. Each has its own perspective, and should not be relied
upon as the only source on which to base college-choice decisions.
Does your family need a reference book that is objective, states facts, and is updated
annually? If so, two excellent choices are The College Handbook: 1998 and Peterson's
Guide to Four-Year Colleges: 1998. The College Handbook gives listings of more
than 3000 two and four-year colleges in the US and Canada. Profiles include
admissions information, location, freshman class data, costs, financial aid availability,
academic programs, extracurricular activities, housing, and athletic programs. A nice
feature is the multiple indexes, which makes it easy to look up colleges of a particular
type, such as historically black colleges or those participating in NCAA sports. Peterson's
describes more than 2000 colleges in the US and Canada. Information covers
tuition, degree programs, student population, entrance difficulty, notable alumni,
computer facilities, etc. More than 800 of the same schools are profiled in two-page
spreads and delve in more detail into each college's unique personality. A free
Windows/Mac CD-ROM offers the option of searching electronically.
If these weighty books are too overwhelming, try The Fiske Guide to Colleges:
1998. This is a guide that is more subjective, in that it goes beyond the facts,
to make judgments about the strengths and weaknesses of each institution and it rates on
the basis of academic strength, social life and overall quality of life. Primarily a
collection of essays on 300, "of the best and most interesting institutions",
the guide does an excellent job of capturing the atmosphere and spirit of different
campuses, such as, "At Berkeley, everything is either big or odd or both, all of
which befits one of the nation's most headstrong academic institutions." A
quotation from one student says it all, "At Berkeley, it is worse to be dull than
odd."
Are you looking for something that will appeal to your kids? The Insider's Guide
to the Colleges: 1998 provides a student-eye view of more than 300 colleges in the
United States and Canada. Written in a style that appeals to prospective students, it is
both informative, and refreshingly candid and entertaining, for example, "If you
think calculus is the Greek god of counting and you only like the sciences because of the
colorful pictures in your text books, Harvey Mudd is probably not the right college for
you."
Another book that is a lot of fun to read is Princeton Review's The Best 311
Colleges, 1998 Edition, This comment, "Getting an education from MIT is
like getting a drink from a fire hose," illustrates its irreverent tone.
It is very subjective, however, and it ranks and rates colleges in all sorts of
categories. You and your students need to seriously question the validity of these lists.
Beware of the power of the written word! My son used the following facetious remark
uttered by a student as ammunition against looking at that school: "… is
a swirling sucking eddy of despair, filled with small moments of false hope, in an
ever-blackening universe." And, what are you to think when your kid's favorite
college has on its "What's Hot" list "beer" "drugs"
and "hard liquor" while "religion", "students are cliquish"
and "registration is a pain" is on the "What's Not" list.
What if your kids are not in the top percentiles in grades and test scores? 100
Colleges where Average Students Can Excel examines public and private universities
where students in the 40th to 60th percentile of their class can
attend and expect to get a challenging education. The colleges are chosen for their
innovative teaching style, unique curricula, small class sizes, services, and on campus
housing. Each college is evaluated for academics, student demographics, and activities.
Two more books that suggest less familiar colleges and will accept a range of students
are Looking Beyond The Ivy League: Finding the College That's Right for You, and
Colleges That Change Lives written by Loren Pope. Pope urges students and
parents to look beyond the Ivy League and other brand name schools and choose the college
that best suits their needs. Pope doesn't mince words as he says, "What I
hope…is to free parents and their sons and daughters from the worship of the false
gods of name and size and prestige…" He offers excellent advice about small
private colleges, but he does not recognize that there are students who would prefer to go
to a large public school.
If your child is determined to have a go at cracking the Ivy League there is an
interesting if somewhat controversial book on the shelves. A is for Admissions: The
Insider's Guide to Getting into the Ivy League and Other Top Colleges is written
by Michele A. Hernandez, a graduate of Dartmouth College and a former admission officer at
Dartmouth. She describes the process Ivy League schools use to evaluate an application,
including the precise, albeit complicated, mathematical formula used by admission officers
to rank their applicants. She addresses controversial issues, causing a stir in some
college quarters. Reading the book will not transform every student into an Ivy Leaguer,
but it does give you the background so you can ask the appropriate questions about
admission standards when inquiring at the school of your choice. Also, her following
advice is sound: If your goal is to make money, but you don't enjoy studying and
reading, don't waste your time by trying to get into an Ivy League or highly selective
college…the beauty of an Ivy League/highly selective education lies in the
intellectual atmosphere…"
How ever many books you read about college, only a visit can fully convey the culture
of the campus. Nothing equals the experience of seeing it for yourself. A handy book to
take along on these visits is the Road Scholar: An Investigative Journal for the
College-Bound Student by Risa Nye. This spiral notebook prompts the student to
write down reactions and impressions of the colleges visited. There is entry space for ten
visits and it offers a unique opportunity for the diligent student to reflect on the
college quest.
If you believe that the time to read Letting Go, A Parents' Guide to
Understanding the College Years is the last semester of your child's senior year,
think again! The transition from high school to college is a rite of passage, that is more
easily managed if there has been a gradual "letting go". This book offers
practical help in dealing with situations that may arise in the journey from high school
through graduation from college. It also describes the major changes that have taken place
on campuses over the years as it looks at college life in the 1990's.
Is a sharp intake of breath the mildest version of your reaction to your child's
announcement that she has decided to postpone going to college? Then, you need to read Taking
Time Off. Authors, Colin Hall and Ron Lieber, use the stories of students, who did
successfully take time off, to give another perspective and to offer hope to those parents
who equate taking time off with "dropping out." As long as a plan is followed,
the authors infer that taking time off can enhance a student's experiences. One student
who took time off to work to repay debts incurred during his first year at college has
this to say: "If you think it's your right to be in college, you'll find out real
quickly that it's not. But if you think of it as a privilege you have earned through our
own hard work, you'll enjoy it a lot more."
College Ratings
When fall rolls around are you first in line to buy those annual magazines that rank
colleges? I admit it - I have U.S. News & World Report, Money, Newsweek (teamed
with Kaplan) and Time (teamed with Princeton Review) on my shelves
too. Dr Patricia M. McDonough, an associate professor of education at the University of
California at Los Angeles, found in a 1995 study that guides produced by magazines have
become big business, one that is rapidly growing. The five guides she studied, those
mentioned above and Rolling Stone, generated nearly $16 million each year in sales
alone. She estimates that about 400,000 students a year use magazine rankings.
Why are we so obsessed with lists that give us "the best of" and the
"top of," and why do the rankings carry so much weight? Is it because we are
always looking for that quick answer to all our questions and concerns? Time and Newsweek,
two relatively new entries, do not rank colleges in the same way as U.S. News,
focusing more on taking control of and navigating the college process, but they still rely
heavily on the data that colleges and universities give them. Many college administrators
have long criticized the rankings in U.S News, which was started in 1983. Some
critics say "they give a false sense of precision, unfairly comparing one college to
another in a way more suited for comparing computers or other consumer products." (The
Chronicle of Higher Education, November 15, 1996.) U.S. News attempted to
improve its methodology in its last issue but many believe it is still flawed. Rankings
are based on such factors as class size, average SAT scores, financial resources, number
of faculty Ph.D's, student/faculty ratios, graduation rates, proportion of applicants
admitted and "reputation", a highly subjective vote of leaders from peer
institutions. Allegations circulate that some colleges "fudge" or
"cook" the statistics, making the institutions look better and more selective
than they actually are. Arthur J. Rothkophf, president of Lafayette College, maintains
"the magazine should be looking for ways to evaluate and compare colleges in terms of
students' success rather than continuing to use factors that favor the richest and most
selective colleges." Critics believe that the real quality of liberal-arts
institutions is based on factors other than those presented by U.S. News. Alexander
W. Austin, who has studied matters of importance in colleges for years, says that what
really counts is student involvement in campus life, independent study, interdisciplinary
study, collaborative learning, emphasis on writing, multiculturalism, and service
learning.
College Guides and College Rankings Magazines are here to stay and they are fun quick
reads, but parents and students need to be aware that some of them have as much to do with
selling the publications as offering an unbiased service to the public. Be discerning,
especially with those publications that rank, list, and sort into categories. Rankings may
cause your student to limit the range of schools to consider and there just aren't 5, 10,
or 25 colleges that are the best for everyone. Your student should use a variety of
resources to evaluate schools, and choices should be based on personal needs and interests
rather than rankings.
The Reviewed College Guides
The College Handbook: 1998 (The College Board, 1997, $23.95).
Peterson's Guide to Four-Year Colleges: 1998 (Peterson, 1997, $24.95).
The Fiske Guide to Colleges: 1998 by Edward B. Fiske (Times Books, 1997,
$20.00).
The Insider's Guide to the Colleges: 1998 compiled and edited by the Yale
Daily News (St. Martin's Griffin, 1997, $15.00).
The Best 311 Colleges, 1998 Edition (Princeton Review, 1997, $20.00).
100 Colleges Where Average Students Can Excel by J. Adler (Macmillan, 1997,
$14.95)
Looking Beyond the Ivy League: Finding the College That's Right for You by Loren
Pope (Penguin, 1995, $11.95).
Colleges That Change Lives by Loren Pope (Penguin, 1996, $11.85).
A is for Admission: The Insider's Guide to Getting Into the Ivy League and Other Top
Colleges by Michele A. Hernandez (Time Warner, 1997, $24.000)
Road Scholar: An Investigative Journal for the College-Bound Student by Risa
Elkind Nye (No Flak Press, 510-652-6937, 1996, $10 +shipping & handling).
Letting Go, A Parents' Guide to Understanding the College Years by Karen Levin
Coburn & Madge Lawrence Treeger (Harper,1997, $13.00)
Taking Time Off, by Colin Hall & Ron Lieber (Farrar, Straus & Giroux,
1996, $12.00)
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