Profiles of American Colleges -- 2008: With CD-ROM [With CDROM]

It's been a few years since I graduated college but I needed to do some research on colleges for a book I recently wrote. I remember using Barron's many years ago but when I saw it on the bookstore shelf, it was like seeing an old friend. I looked at a couple of other reference books on colleges but this one was organized the best. It's amazing how much information there is at the beginning of the book before you even get to the individual colleges. Barron's organizes schools by tuition costs (from lowest to highest), by admissions competitiveness (Most Competitive to Noncompetitive), and it contains an index of majors. There's also a chart for median SAT and ACT scores for every school. Once you actually get into the individual colleges, there's a ton of information, pretty much everything you would need to know without actually visiting the campus. I like how the states and colleges within each state are organized alphabetically which I would assume other reference guides would do but I'm not so sure. I think the only thing missing from this book are pictures of all of the campuses, but that would create a need for a Volume II. I haven't even used the CD that's included in the book but you can't go wrong using this great reference guide.

We are in the process of looking at colleges for our son. A friend recommended this book and I am so glad she did. The amount of information on thousands of colleges and universities is unbelievable. The CD that comes with the book really helps to narrow done your choices. On the CD you can enter different search catagories like: major, location, size of student body, cost, etc. The program then produces a list to fit your criteria.

I'm not sure there's any specific reason, but it seems that counselors trust the information in Barron's more than other guides, but it may have to do with the fact that it's been around for almost thirty years. The CD-rom is pretty helpful for searching for schools by major, by location, by price tag and several other variables. The problem with listing just about every four year college is that you're not going to have much space for in-depth description. The entries are dry but factual and makes comparisons very easy. Noticeably there are many schools that don't list their SAT medians in Barron's when the information can be found in other books such as Princeton Review's. My suspicion is that Barron's is the one being honest -- the precise information isn't being made available. However, I have to admit I buy the other guides also to see what scores they are reporting anyway. If a student isn't considering one of the top 350 or so schools or wants more choices than most books offer, then he or she probably needs a book such as this. Frankly, if the book and software are available at a library I might sooner suggest looking at it there, and then buying a more in-depth guide such as Fiske, Princeton Review or Barron's own guide to the "best" colleges as this book may frustrate high school seniors who want some sort of opinion from the college students themselves instead of just statistics their parents want to know.

This book is excellent for the college student or teacher seeking to obtain statistical data about colleges and universities. Detailed information about the college, town, student profiles, enrollment, degree programs, standardized test scores and teacher backgrounds are provided. In NYS alone,teaching colleges have the following percentages of PhDs: o State University at Alfred 8%o School of the Visual Arts 36%o Friends World Program 70%o Berkeley College 33%o Boricua College - Mino 5 Towns 42%o College of Aeronautics 10%o Dominica College 46%o D ' Youville College 60%o Hartwick and Hilbert-mino Mannes College-Mino Marymount Manhattan- Mino Keoka, Excelsior and Molloy-Mino Webb InstituteThe book is a solid value for any student seeking qualityinformation about a plethora of collegiate programs

If you are looking for the best kept secret in American colleges, look no further than West Point. And, if you want to know why, this guidance councillor says you should read "West Point: Character Leadership Education" by Norman Thomas Remick. End of story. Period.