<p>so as my junior summer is approaching, i was trying to start some late college searching process..</p>
<p>and i was trying to buy one of those big college guide books that list colleges with details, since campus visits are out of the question for me, and there's only limited infos in the college mails.</p>
<p>SO, any recommendations?</p>
<p>so far, i was leaning towards fiske, or barrons.</p>
<p>and does the published year really matter as long as it's with in like three yrs?</p>
<p>I like Fiske's the best of all. It's not a perfect substitution for a visit, of course, but it is pretty good for giving you a general feeling for a school--I know that the schools that I had concerns about from the Guide ended up not being good for me, and that I generally liked all the schools that I thought sounded really good from the guide. As far as the year, I personally would go for the most recent copy, but beyond relatively small things, as long as it is within a few years it should be fine.</p>
<p>Realize that Fiske's is relatively limited in the colleges that it includes--I mean, it has a few hundred, but you aren't going to find "lower tier" and specialty (art, engineering) colleges.</p>
<p>fiske is good, yeah, i would recommend going to borders and flipping through the books in their college guide section and buying the ones you think sound good/informative/etc.</p>
<p>I also put Fiske at #1. Very useful for narrowing your search.</p>
<p>I definitely love to use Fiske. It's informative and gives you a personal description of the school. I only look at Collegeboard for purely statistical reasons.</p>
<p>Another vote for fiske, which is closest to "truth in advertising."</p>
<p>I like the 381 Best Colleges by Princeton Review. Statistics, Opinions, Info galore.</p>
<p>I like College Prow.ler, Fiske, and Insider's Guide To Colleges</p>
<p>The Insider's Guide by the Yale Daily News is pretty decent, although I agree that Fiske is the best.</p>
<p>Choosing</a> the Right College is fairly accurate, but it should be read with the biased viewpoint in mind. Many of them can be found by experimenting here:</p>
<p>[noparse]<a href="http://www.isi.org/college_guide/sample/2006/%5B/noparse%5D%5Binsert">http://www.isi.org/college_guide/sample/2006/[/noparse][insert</a> college here].pdf</p>
<p><a href="http://www.isi.org/college_guide/sample/2006/harv.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.isi.org/college_guide/sample/2006/harv.pdf</a>
<a href="http://www.isi.org/college_guide/sample/2006/yale.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.isi.org/college_guide/sample/2006/yale.pdf</a>
<a href="http://www.isi.org/college_guide/sample/2006/prince.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.isi.org/college_guide/sample/2006/prince.pdf</a>
<a href="http://www.isi.org/college_guide/sample/2006/brown.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.isi.org/college_guide/sample/2006/brown.pdf</a>
<a href="http://www.isi.org/college_guide/sample/2006/dart.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.isi.org/college_guide/sample/2006/dart.pdf</a>
<a href="http://www.isi.org/college_guide/sample/2005/colu.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.isi.org/college_guide/sample/2005/colu.pdf</a>
<a href="http://www.isi.org/college_guide/sample/2006/corn.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.isi.org/college_guide/sample/2006/corn.pdf</a>
<a href="http://www.isi.org/college_guide/sample/2006/mit.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.isi.org/college_guide/sample/2006/mit.pdf</a>
<a href="http://www.isi.org/college_guide/sample/2006/stan.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.isi.org/college_guide/sample/2006/stan.pdf</a>
<a href="http://www.isi.org/college_guide/sample/2006/duke.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.isi.org/college_guide/sample/2006/duke.pdf</a>
<a href="http://www.isi.org/college_guide/sample/2005/chic.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.isi.org/college_guide/sample/2005/chic.pdf</a>
<a href="http://www.isi.org/college_guide/sample/2006/swart.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.isi.org/college_guide/sample/2006/swart.pdf</a>
<a href="http://www.isi.org/college_guide/sample/2006/will.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.isi.org/college_guide/sample/2006/will.pdf</a>
<a href="http://www.isi.org/college_guide/sample/2006/amh.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.isi.org/college_guide/sample/2006/amh.pdf</a>
<a href="http://www.isi.org/college_guide/sample/2006/middle.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.isi.org/college_guide/sample/2006/middle.pdf</a>
<a href="http://www.isi.org/college_guide/sample/2006/bowd.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.isi.org/college_guide/sample/2006/bowd.pdf</a>
<a href="http://www.isi.org/college_guide/sample/2006/david.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.isi.org/college_guide/sample/2006/david.pdf</a>
<a href="http://www.isi.org/college_guide/sample/2006/carl.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.isi.org/college_guide/sample/2006/carl.pdf</a>
<a href="http://www.isi.org/college_guide/sample/2006/haver.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.isi.org/college_guide/sample/2006/haver.pdf</a>
...etc.</p>
<p>College Prowl.er and Princeton Review. I have found Fiske to be very off the mark in terms of accuracy.</p>
<p>Really? Hmm. Like I said before, I found that Fiske was good at giving you the general feeling of the campus, but to each his own. I do agree that Princeton Review is another good one--I don't like the format <em>quite</em> as much (not as aesthetically pleasing!), but it has good info, especially in it's "inside scoop" or whatever they call it, section. Personally, I never liked the ones that were more opinionated--in my opinion, they could make any school sound like hell. I guess it's good to get the dirty underside, but for someone who is only going to buy one general guidebook, I would stick with a Fiske's or a Princeton Review.</p>
<p>But advantagious, I see you have not yet attended college. What I am saying is that I have been through college as have all of my friends and most of my close relatives, and based on my experiences and the experiences they have shared with me, Princeon Review and College Prowl.er seem to have most accurately described their experiences, while Fiske has not.</p>
<p>College P r owler is definitely the best. It's written by students from the school</p>
<p>I agree. The only guide books worth spending money on are College Prowl.er and Princeton Review.</p>
<p>Fiske is the best, IMO.</p>
<p>My counselers like fiske the most.....</p>
<p>Oh, I see. I wasn't sure exactly what you meant. I can see where you're coming from: Fiske is the most "viewbook" of all of the guide books. It gives you more info than a college viewbook, but it's aim is not to be opinionated about the schools, which really makes it very much description with little inside knowledge. </p>
<p>If not Fiske's, I would vote for Princeton Review. Still not a fan of the Prowl er series.</p>
<p>Barron's is the one that I have from 2003. I like it, it was expensive though :X</p>
<p>To preview any of these guides, so as to pick the best for your needs, remember most are available in public libraries and often the most recent edition. This could save you lots of money, if saving dough is imporant to you. Also, any of the major online booksellers have used editions at very low cost.</p>
<p>I looked at the Fiske guide for the first time this week. It didn't impress me as much as I expected it to. Then again, maybe my standards for it were too high. </p>
<p>It did give a decent amount of information, but nothing that can't be found on campusdirt or any other such review site. I also noticed quite a few errors (according to Fiske, Franklin and Marshall has an acceptance rate of 4%, and Hamilton admits over 80%...). </p>
<p>C a m p u s p r o w l e r is good.</p>