<p>I just knew if I mentioned "Michigan," I'd see a post from Alexandre. :) :) :) :) :) :) :) </p>
<p>I've already commented that one of my sources treats Michigan differently from Minnesota and from Wisconsin, for reasons not explained by the source's editors.</p>
<p>What was the determining factor for double asterisk? What level of selectivity called for that designation? Was it less than 50 percent admission rate?</p>
<p>Hehe...you should be more flexible Token! Seriously though, your list is excellent. I like long lists. Too often, people tend to be too focused and fail to see the big picture. Your list serves as a reminder that there are hundreds of awesome colleges and universities in the US.</p>
<p>Allow me to repeat myself from the very end of the post about my methodology. </p>
<p>
[quote]
Colleges named all seven possible times in the inclusion sources 1) through 7) and in two of the three selectivity sources 8) through 10) are listed with a double asterisk (**).
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I'm still reconsidering how to show source agreements, and how to use source 9). The double asterisks indicate source agreement in the manner indicated, and in most (all?) cases identify colleges or universities that are fairly selective, at least for their strongest major programs.</p>
<p>Thanks for doing all this work! Choosing The Right College 2008-2009 is the best guide.The same people who put out this guide also produced a book called All American Colleges:50 Colleges For Conservatives,Old Fashioned Liberals,And People Of Faith.</p>
<p>I'm reconsidering how to slice and dice the information I've already gathered from the sources. I just might come up with a brand new consensus "noteworthy" list and a brand new supplementary list. Please keep the comments coming.</p>
<p>tokenadult........great job :) thanks for putting this list together.
resources we used most were books.......fiske guide, peterson's competitive colleges and........ websites.......peterson's college search, princeton review. i really liked the search engine at peterson's that allowed you to make lists by selectivity, i.e. most difficult, moderate difficult, etc. so if that's something you could incorporate that might be helpful to others as well.</p>
<p>Great job - thoughtful, lots of work. Wow!</p>
<p>You might get less criticism about the asterisks if you give summary statistics instead. You said that double asterisks are awarded if the college is cited in all of the first 7 sources, and 2 of the remaining 3 sources. That means that some of your hard work is lost: a school mentioned in only 1 of the first sources is indistinguishable from a school mentioned in 6.</p>
<p>Perhaps instead of the double asterisks, enter a summary score: "6 / 2" would indicate inclusion in 6 of the first 7 sources, and 2 of the last 3 sources.</p>
<p>Just a thought. I'm criticizing a speck on a portrait...</p>
<p>I've got a weekend work commitment, but I'll be slicing and dicing the data afresh. Meanwhile, feel free to comment on any anomalies in the lists as they are now posted, and feel free to look up your favorite colleges in the College Board College QuickFinder, the Department of Education database, the Education Trust database, or other online databases of your choice. Another thought I had while I was just out doing errands is that if, say, a particular reader of this thread thinks that College A is unfairly listed as compared to College B and College C, it might be worthwhile to use the College Confidential college-specific forums </p>
<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/forumdisplay.php?f=6%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/forumdisplay.php?f=6</a> </p>
<p>to ask about that comparison. On the College A forum, you could open a thread asking, "How do you think College A compares with College B and College C?" and then ask the same in the College B and College C forums. There is often a wealth of detailed knowledge in the College Confidential college-specific forums--some of the parents and students who post in those have gone through the same comparative shopping process others are going through this year.</p>
<p>Thank you for sharing and explaining all your hard work.</p>
<p>I don't think Michigan will get the asterisks unless Lloyd Carr can beat Jim Tressel this year, lol!</p>
<p>Great list, and a great reference for those of us whom may be a bit myopic at times with our school choices and considerations. Since my children have attended an independent school where the majority matriculate to private and out of state schools, it has helped my children to become more familiar with many of the schools on the list. Prior to that, I was woefully ignorant to the many excellent opportunities beyond old state U. (which I love by the way!) Your cross references serve to validate the general opinion of many schools as to their quality and prestige.</p>
<p>"I don't think Michigan will get the asterisks unless Lloyd Carr can beat Jim Tressel this year, lol!"</p>
<p>I guess Michigan will get its ** come 4:00 PM, Saturday, November 17! I am flying to Detroit for the occasion. Hehe!</p>
<p>This is a wonderful and useful list! Thank you for your hard work.</p>
<p>Here is another idea. For each college, list the sources that did NOT select that particular college (since the exception list will be shorter than the inclusion list). For example, after coming up with a code name/number for each of your sources, list colleges like</p>
<p>College A (except 2 PR, Fiske)
College B (except 3 PR, Peterson, Barron)
College C (except 1 InGuide)</p>
<p>Colleges with no exception list are assumed to be referenced by ALL your sources. This way, you can eliminate the use of ** and one can tell immediately which of your sources have not been kind to ones favorite college! :)</p>
<p>Also, this may make future update of this list easier if and when you decide to use additional sources.</p>
<p>Thanks for the interesting suggestions. While I ponder how to implement some of the good ideas posted to me in replies to this thread, I thought I'd mention that there is still time this fall to visit college fairs and college information sessions </p>
<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=389153%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=389153</a> </p>
<p>in many parts of the country, where you can learn about a variety of colleges that might be of interest to you.</p>
<p>Well, at least IPEDS is unbiased (public v private, national v LAC or regionals, etc.)</p>
<p>Tokenadult,</p>
<p>Thanks so much for your efforts. A lot of kids and their parents surfing on CC can access this resource now. Great thread!</p>
<p>Hey, thank you for this amazing list. I'm still in the college search process, trying to narrow down a list of 30 something schools and in the process adding a few. One source that I've found particularly helpful that hasn't been mentioned is</p>
<p>Student's Guide to Colleges: The Definitive Guide to America's Top 100 Schools. </p>
<p>I understand that the limit of its number might pose a problem, and that it's geared towards helping the reader understand the atmosphere of the college rather than a more number focused guide, but it does provide a selectivity rating. Just putting another thought out there. :)</p>
<p>There are a LOT of top colleges that were left out. For example:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Art: Rhode Island School of Design, Art Center College or Art, Pratt Institute, Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) and Cal Arts, not to mention Otis and, FIT,and Parsons School of Design for fashion.</p></li>
<li><p>Engineering, and Design: Rochester Institute of Technology, University of Cincinnati,</p></li>
<li><p>Music: Peabody, Julliard, New England Conservatory, Cincinnati Conservatory ( part of University of Cincinnati.)</p></li>
<li><p>Business: Bentley College,which for some disciplines is better than Babson ( in my opinion)</p></li>
<li><p>Miscellaneous: University of Cincinnati, Northeastern, Cal Poly, and Drexel for coops.</p></li>
<li><p>Any federal academy such as West Point, Annapolis, Coast Guard Academy etc.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I could go on and on. This list is very incomplete in a number of ways and for a number of disciplines.</p>
<p>Thanks, taxguy, I've already thought of a way to take into account most of your suggestions. See post #3 of this thread </p>
<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showpost.php?p=4794197&postcount=3%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showpost.php?p=4794197&postcount=3</a> </p>
<p>for my statement </p>
<p>
[quote]
Some of the sources were very good about including specialty art schools, schools of music, national service academies, or polytechnic colleges, but others
excluded those entirely.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I think I've figured out how to take that source omission into account and get colleges of those kinds onto the supplemental list (or main consensus list) on a consistent basis.</p>
<p>Another set of grateful parents send their thanks for all the hard work. The timing of your masterpiece could not be better as we prepare (brace?) ourselves for Round 2 of College Admission Lunacy with DS#2.</p>