Recommended College Guidebooks

NorCalDad
Wed, 13 Sep 2006 15:19:17 +0000

Kmszoom … here’s an extract of mine from a previous post that might be relevant. I like the approach that MissSuperFantastic took as well… begin broadly and then narrow your scope. Good luck!

*We got a copy of the Fiske book but didn’t find it to be that useful – somewhat general and just didn’t give enough good information. We found the Princeton Review Best 361 Colleges book to be more comprehensive.

I had my daughter go through the Princeton Review book and tab every school of any interest to her. We then went back and analyzed each school for all the factors she felt were REALLY important, from academic programs to size to stats on graduation rate, costs, etc. From this list, we drilled down deeply to all schools of interest and did a spreadsheet of all tangible factors. Each school was researched thoroughly, beginning with a detailed review of what was available on a school’s website. We eliminated some duplicates, especially for match/safety schools, by doing simple comparisons, i.e., “does this one appeal to you more, or this one”… “how about this one, or this one”, etc. The process was a long one that began in earnest in my daughter’s junior year in H.S. There was not a school that she applied to that she did not VISIT (which is probably the best way to get to know any school), and there were schools she did visit that she did NOT apply to.*