College Guide Books

trackmbe3
Wed, 10 May 2017 16:20:56 +0000

I agree with what Stem2017 above about the USNews & World Report being really the best in terms of providing very helpful objective factual information based on common data set numbers the schools report on in the latter half of the booklet/magazine. It also includes great articles about colleges, such as focusing on Freshman Success, various articles of interest to prospective college students and a closer look at specific colleges in selected states. Although the rankings part of the report in the first half is somewhat subjective even though based on objective criteria, it’s the most comprehensive and close to accurate ranking book there is. I would not put much weight on Forbes, which has preposterous rankings, or any of the others, except Niche for measuring college life. As for Fiske it has a noticeable bias in favor of all the SUNYs it lists in the book, esp. the four university centers --giving more “stars” for academics, quality of life and social than any of them deserve, especially compared to other schools that are clearly a lot better academically objectively. Fiske makes Albany, for example, better ranked academically than most other public and private colleges in the US. And Fiske ranks Binghamton, for example, on par with the elites public schools of Michigan, Cal Berkeley, UVA, UNC, etc…, Fiske’ rankings become less credible in my opinion. Have to wonder if their are SUNY editors or backers associated with the Fiske publication. Princeton Review top 381 is a better guidebook than Fiske but it omits from its list several solid schools that are clearly better than some of the schools that are included in the top 381. Michigan State and SUNY Buffalo are two schools that come to mind as being deserved of inclusion in the book.