Students' Guide to Colleges: The Definitive Guide to America's Top 100 Schools Written by the Real Experts--The Students Who Attend Them

by Jordan Goldman, Colleen Buyers

College guides are a must for any teenager trying to choose the right school. Unfortunately, most guidebooks are vague, boring tomes written by administrators and journalists, instead of the real experts--the college students that actually go there. Students' Guide to Colleges is different. Entirely student-written and edited, this invaluable resource cuts through the cant with comprehensive listings of the vital statistics and requirements for America's top 100 schools accompanied by three totally honest, fresh, fun-to-read descriptions penned by attending undergrads from different walks of life. Want to know how big classes really are? How rigorous the academics get? Or how greek or granola, chill or up-tight, homogenous or diverse, gay or straight, a campus really is? Lively, irreverent, and insightful, the Students' Guide to Colleges is the only guidebook that offers multiple perspectives on each school and tells it like it is so that college applicants can make the best choice when deciding where they want to spend their college years.

ebook

First published August 2, 2005

Reviews

[ThinkingCollege · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like reading what Students have to say about a college. This book is a little old, but still interesting.
You can't just read just one review. Reading multiple reviews of multiple colleges is how you really get a feel for what students are looking at how they characterize different aspects of the colleges.

For instance, reading some of these reviews prior to going on some college visits could help you formulate some more probing questions to ask once you are there.

[Jeff Stevens · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't generally like books of this genre. As I tell my students the only way to learn anything worthwhile about a school is to visit it. The approach here, having current students review their school, is only the next best thing. Having five students describe Harvard makes for a frighteningly anemic data pool and would never suggest that anyone choose a school based on this book alone. Still, at the early stages of determining which schools are interesting enough to warrant serious investigation, this is a book that might help.

[Myos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Captures each college very well, with 3 different students explaining what their college experience is like. Very complete in that respect. It's been published in 2005 though, so an update (with perhaps only 2 student interviews but more colleges, especially "A+ college for not-straight-A student" ) would be a good idea. A great complete to other guides.

[Airaology · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like the idea of using real life college students to talk about their experiences.