Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think about College

What a refreshing change from all those other college guides! This book neither gushes over the ultra-Ivies, nor chuckles at the party-hearty habits of the big universities; instead, it offers hope to the average student, the learning disabled, and the late-blooming adolescent. It focuses on pointing readers in the direction of colleges that make a difference in the lives of young men and women, and in the community at large. A chapter in the beginning, entitled "Today's Learning Disabled Will Be Tomorrow's Gifted", while perhaps slightly over-optimistic, nevertheless opened my eyes to so many possibilities for my son. If you are a hopeful idealist, looking to do something that matters in your life, or looking to guide your underacheiving or learning challenged child, and you're looking for a college that cares about its students and truly wants to admit the students who apply, do as I did and buy or borrow this book today.

As an Independent Educational Consultant, I often give this book to my students that think they want to attend a big university or a name brand school. Often students fall through the cracks at these well-known schools, but the Colleges That Change Lives are nurturing environments that do not let students become just a number. If a student has graduate school aspirations, I especially recommend this book, because these schools have much better track records for preparing and having their students accepted into first choice graduate programs. One of the criteria for being in Colleges That Change Lives is a school cannot be too selective. Even though some of these schools have become quite popular from inclusion in this book, they still accept other than straight A students, because they firmly believe in the learning experience gained from the academic mix of students. This updated version is even more inspiring than the previous. These colleges really do change lives!

I actually graduated 25 years ago from one of those 40 schools Pope reviewed. Looking back, I do agree that although my college was not a "name brand" college, the education I got was like no other. They were formative years and as Pope says, I was "educated" not "trained". Looking back to those days at college, I would attribute much good of what I am today to attending that Liberal Arts College. My graduate school, post college, was a Big Ten University. The difference? While the Big Ten U. was very "competitive" based, my experience at the Liberal Arts College mentioned in Pope's book was "collaborative". Yes, I do agree that we are oversold on "brand-name" schools, and Pope's book would be a good guide to exploring your options. If you are thinking of sending your child to, or if you yourself are considering, college, then this book is a "must read" !!

If you ever hanker to think that your child may have been better off going to that school whose name everyone knows, pull out this book and read the first 20 pages and you will become instantly relaxed. In a nutshell, Pope espouses that liberal arts undergraduate education in the Ivies is faltering, if not failing, but America has plenty of great liberal arts educational centers and they are at the numerous well established liberal arts colleges (LAC's) of America. Those LAC's and some "other" LAC's are great places for undergraduate education. Some of those "other" LAC's are the topic of this book. This is the old book (Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools You Should Know About Even If You're Not a Straight-A Student) with quips at the end of the 40 schools which update his research of each respective institution. He has added passages at the end of the 40 schools to describe what has happened at some of the schools which makes his statement(s) of a decade ago as true or even truer than when originally written. In short, the LAC's of this book are not only still good schools, most are better schools than when he delivered their names in the original book. He writes well. He is very persuasive. And, in the end, his arguments clearly show each school's strength through his writing skills and by the statistics recited throughout this book. If you want more, there are two others on this same line of reasoning: The College Admissions Mystique by Bill Mayher and Looking Beyond the Ivy League: Finding the College That's Right for You by Loren Pope. If you think Ivy (for undergraduate) is the answer before reading these three books, you may discover a change of opinion after reading these books.

As a parent in the grips of high anxiety (I have a high school senior and I high school junior) I highly recommend this book. Although I am a bit concerned that these 40 schools are about to be swamped with applications, I think it will encourage familes to look for their own "schools that change lives." The other book I highly recommend is GETTING IN WITHIUT FREAKING OUT by Arlene Matthews. It is written for anxious, confused parents like me and lays out exactly what to worry about and what NOT to worry about as you and your kids negotiate every step if the school search and application process. The second book is also very reassuring and funny, which I appreciated.