what are some good books to compare colleges?

Question

i am looking for a book that will help me compare colleges based on size, price, majors, location, etc... if anybody knows any good books thank you!

Answer 1

here is a website.

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/rankings/rankindex_brief.php

they also sell the hard copies through the website and you may be able to find the magazine at your local bookstore and just hang out there and read it for free.

Answer 2

Here are some of the books I have on the shelf in my counseling office and use almost daily with my counseling clients:

The Fiske Guide to Colleges - great non-biased profiles of about 300 or so schools
Colleges that Change Lives by Loren Pope - a short book that profiles some terrific smaller schools It's sister book, Looking Beyond the Ivy League is also worth reading.
The College Finder (Antonoff) - basically a series of lists of various college features (i.e., schools with strong programs in international relations, schools with high participation in frats, schools that are diverse, etc.)
The Princeton Review Guide to Colleges - (You can access most of the content for free at www.princetonreview.com)
Rugg's Recommendations of the Colleges - lists of colleges having strong programs in various majors
College Match (also by Antonoff) - a terrific book to help you narrow down what you're looking for, and what you need from a college
America's Best Colleges for B Students (by Tamra Orr)
The Yale Insider's Guide to Colleges - profiles of student life at various campuses

In addition to these books, I also would recommend you check out the following websites. The above books really only cover a small percentage of the 2600+ colleges and universities out there - these sites cover them all:

The U.S. Department of Education's IPEDS College Opportunties Online Site: http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/cool/ - excellent source of information and statistics on colleges

The College Board - www.collegeboard.com - Their online search engine is the most reliable.

The Princeton Review - www.princetonreview.com - mentioned above

The US News & World Reports Best Colleges site - http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/rankings/rankindex_brief.php - It costs $15 to access the full database of information

And, I'll put in a plug for my own blog on the college search and application process, www.AdmissionsAdvice.com. I have gathered hundreds of resources there, and it's all free.

Happy college hunting!
Carolyn Lawrence