"A guide for students and families that demystifies the college process"--

This 2004 annual report features rankings of graduate schools in the areas of business, education, engineering, law, medicine, and humanities. A directory containing over 1,000 programs is featured. Sections on financing education, attending part- or full-time, and getting a job are also included.

Some colleges will do anything to improve their national ranking. That can be bad for their students—and for higher education. Since U.S. News & World Report first published a college ranking in 1983, the rankings industry has become a self-appointed judge, declaring winners and losers among America's colleges and universities. In this revealing account, Colin Diver shows how popular rankings have induced college applicants to focus solely on pedigree and prestige, while tempting educators to sacrifice academic integrity for short-term competitive advantage. By forcing colleges into standardized "best-college" hierarchies, he argues, rankings have threatened the institutional diversity, intellectual rigor, and social mobility that is the genius of American higher education. As a former university administrator who refused to play the game, Diver leads his readers on an engaging journey through the mysteries of college rankings, admissions, financial aid, spending policies, and academic practices. He explains how most dominant college rankings perpetuate views of higher education as a purely consumer good susceptible to unidimensional measures of brand value and prestige. Many rankings, he asserts, also undermine the moral authority of higher education by encouraging various forms of distorted behavior, misrepresentation, and outright cheating by ranked institutions. The recent Varsity Blues admissions scandal, for example, happened in part because affluent parents wanted to get their children into elite schools by any means necessary. Explaining what is most useful and important in evaluating colleges, Diver offers both college applicants and educators a guide to pursuing their highest academic goals, freed from the siren song of the "best-college" illusion. Ultimately, he reveals how to break ranks with a rankings industry that misleads its consumers, undermines academic values, and perpetuates social inequality.

Make sure you’re preparing with the most up-to-date materials! Look for The Princeton Review’s newest edition of this book, The Best 388 Colleges, 2023 Edition (ISBN: 9780593450963, on-sale August 2022). Publisher's Note: Products purchased from third-party sellers are not guaranteed by the publisher for quality or authenticity, and may not include access to online tests or materials included with the original product.

The distinctive group of forty colleges profiled here is a well-kept secret in a status industry. They outdo the Ivies and research universities in producing winners. And they work their magic on the B and C students as well as on the A students. Loren Pope, director of the College Placement Bureau, provides essential information on schools that he has chosen for their proven ability to develop potential, values, initiative, and risk-taking in a wide range of students. Inside you'll find evaluations of each school's program and personality to help you decide if it's a community that's right for you; interviews with students that offer an insider's perspective on each college; professors' and deans' viewpoints on their school, their students, and their mission; and information on what happens to the graduates and what they think of their college experience. Loren Pope encourages you to be a hard-nosed consumer when visiting a college, advises how to evaluate a school in terms of your own needs and strengths, and shows how the college experience can enrich the rest of your life.

Make sure you’re preparing with the most up-to-date materials! Look for The Princeton Review’s newest edition of this book, The Best 387 Colleges, 2022 (ISBN: 9780525570820, on-sale August 2021). Publisher's Note: Products purchased from third-party sellers are not guaranteed by the publisher for quality or authenticity, and may not include access to online tests or materials included with the original product.

This book began with a simple premise—that there is a better way to assess and rank colleges and universities in America than those currently being offered. The primary outcomes of most of today’s rankings are: 1. To provide readers a view of what life is like as an undergraduate, and 2. To give insight into who comes into the college. The Alumni Factor, on the other hand, is more interested in who comes out. The aim of this guide is to describe how well a college or university actually develops and shapes its students and what becomes of them after they graduate. The Alumni Factor is interested in the actual outcomes experienced by college graduates and the role their college played in creating those outcomes. The Alumni Factor believes this information regarding graduate outcomes is truly essential to understanding and assessing our colleges and universities today. In line with these goals, The Alumni Factor provides a detailed, in-depth profile of graduates from 225 of our nations top colleges. The profiles were constructed almost entirely with data and insights from the actual college alumni themselves. Readers will find The Alumni Factor to be a fascinating look at the incredibly diverse academic, social and cultural choices available to capable students today.

"Once touted as the single best way to measure students from diverse backgrounds, schools, and experiences, standardized college admissions tests are now criticized for being hopelessly biased in favor of traditionally privileged groups. Out of this has emerged the test-optional movement that seeks to allow students to apply to schools without sitting through the rigors of the SAT. This book takes a step back and applies rigorous empirical measurements to these rival claims. Drawing upon the expertise of higher education researchers, admissions officers, enrollment managers, and policy professionals, this edited volume is among the first to investigate the research and policy implications of test-optional practices. It was conceived in response to the editors' frustration with the fragmented and incomplete state of the literature around the contemporary debate on college admissions testing. Many students, teachers, parents, policymakers--frankly, nearly anyone immediately outside the testing industry and college admissions--have little understanding of how admissions tests are used. This lack of transparency has often fueled beliefs that college assessments are biased, misused, or overused. Decades of research on various aspects of testing, such as the predictive validity of assessments, makes a compelling case for their value. But all-too-frequently researchers and admissions officers talk past one another instead of engaging substantively. This collection intends to remedy the situation by bringing these disparate voices together. This book is designed for provosts, enrollment managers, and college admissions officers seeking to strike the proper balance between uniformity and fairness"--

From award-winning higher education journalist and New York Times bestselling author Jeffrey Selingo comes a revealing look from inside the admissions office—one that identifies surprising strategies that will aid in the college search. Getting into a top-ranked college has never seemed more impossible, with acceptance rates at some elite universities dipping into the single digits. In Who Gets In and Why, journalist and higher education expert Jeffrey Selingo dispels entrenched notions of how to compete and win at the admissions game, and reveals that teenagers and parents have much to gain by broadening their notion of what qualifies as a “good college.” Hint: it’s not all about the sticker on the car window. Selingo, who was embedded in three different admissions offices—a selective private university, a leading liberal arts college, and a flagship public campus—closely observed gatekeepers as they made their often agonizing and sometimes life-changing decisions. He also followed select students and their parents, and he traveled around the country meeting with high school counselors, marketers, behind-the-scenes consultants, and college rankers. While many have long believed that admissions is merit-based, rewarding the best students, Who Gets In and Why presents a more complicated truth, showing that “who gets in” is frequently more about the college’s agenda than the applicant. In a world where thousands of equally qualified students vie for a fixed number of spots at elite institutions, admissions officers often make split-second decisions based on a variety of factors—like diversity, money, and, ultimately, whether a student will enroll if accepted. One of the most insightful books ever about “getting in” and what higher education has become, Who Gets In and Why not only provides an unusually intimate look at how admissions decisions get made, but guides prospective students on how to honestly assess their strengths and match with the schools that will best serve their interests.

Every college and university has a story, and no one tells those stories like former New York Times education editor Edward B. Fiske. That's why, for more than 35 years, the Fiske Guide to Colleges has been the leading guide to 320+ four-year schools, including quotes from real students and information you won't find on college websites. Fully updated and expanded every year, Fiske is the most authoritative source of information for college-bound students and their parents. Helpful, honest, and straightforward, the Fiske Guide to Colleges delivers an insider's look at what it's really like to be a student at the "best and most interesting" schools in the United States, plus Canada, Great Britain, and Ireland―so you can find the best fits for you.In addition to detailed and candid stories on each school, you will find: A self-quiz to help you understand what you are really looking for in a college Lists of strong programs and popular majors at each college "Overlap" listings to help you expand your options Indexes that break down schools by state, price, and average debt Exclusive academic, social, and quality-of-life ratings All the basics, including financial aid stats, SAT/ACT scores, and acceptance ratesPlus a special section highlighting the 20 public and private Best Buy schools―colleges that provide the best educational value