<p>What do you think of the book Colleges that Change Lives by Loren Pope?</p>
<p>What do you expect someone to say?</p>
<p>I thought it was very interesting. Even though I didn't end up applying to any of the schools in it, it was still useful during the whole process.</p>
<p>Hated it. It provides good options for strong but perhaps not superhero students, but Pope has a very narrow focus. He advocates--to the point of ridiculousness--that students attend these mostly small, rural, often alternative schools. His refusal to acknowledge that the top, prestigious schools, while certainly elite and with problems, are actually still great schools that aren't totally unethical makes him less credible.</p>
<p>I don't think Pope is trying to put down the "top, prestigious colleges" in CTCL. This book is for the B student who doesn't have much of a chance at being admitted to a top college. My impression is that CTCL tries to provide alternatives to lesser, impersonal public universities by highlighting these colleges that provide a more personal and stimulating college experience and can, with scholarships, cost a similar amount to the publics.</p>
<p>I understand what you are saying, but I stick by my impression of the book. Admittedly, I read it once a year or so ago, so it isn't as fresh in my mind anymore, but I found Pope very shrill and that was hard for me to overcome.</p>
<p>i think its great in the sense that it shows that one can get a fantastic education at schools that aren't as well known- you don't have to go to harvard to be successful</p>
<p>It was the best college guidebook my son and I read. Coming from the northeast, we were unaware of some great colleges in other areas of the country. After reading the book, we visited Beloit, Earlham, Lawrence and Wooster, and my son loved each one for different reasons and would have been happy to go to any of them. Among other things, this took away a lot of the pressure from his college search process and made him a much more sophisticated consumer. </p>
<p>The book focuses on colleges below the radar screen for many students. It describes these colleges in detail without ranking them. It is particularly useful for those who are unconcerned with USNWR rankings, whose who may have underperformed in high school, but hope to blossom in college and/or those who want or need more merit aid than they are likely to get at the "top" schools.</p>
<p>My one complaint is that I do not believe that the college descriptions have been revised since the 2000 edition when Pope deleted Bard, Franklin and Marshall and Grinnell as being too well known and too hard to get into. Nevertheless, the detailed and interesting descriptions of the colleges in the book still make it very worthwhile and different from all of the other college guidebooks that I have read (which tend in the end to reduce everything to a numerical ranking).</p>
<p>I don't know if the author is that credible. Is it true, as he says, that at highly selective schools, "except in science and math, almost all the courses will be easy"? That, to me, is a little hard to believe.
I'll probably include a school or two from this book in my safeties list.
I'm still questioning the author's credibility.</p>
<p>I read through it once at a Barnes and Noble, since it kept getting mentioned here. Actually, one person in particular pushed it consistently as though she were getting royalties from it. I question the author's credibility as well. At a fairly quick glance, the book seemed a bit fake to me, and <em>some</em> of the schools mentioned were questionable as being "life-changers," in my opinion.</p>
<p>I've seen the author on TV. To me, she came across as having an agenda, with a main point of that agenda being academic standards and academic competition is somehow "bad" and encouraging it is "unethical."</p>
<p>EDIT: I was apparently incorrect about who I saw on TV.</p>
<p>I ran into it at Barnes and Noble as well. It did seem like he had an agenda, but nonetheless I found one of my (now) top choices there.</p>
<p>Loren Pope is male, and was previously the education editor of the New York Times. He is in his 70s or 80s now. Not sure who you saw on TV, jbruner.</p>
<p>Actually, I think he's well over 90, if he's still alive.</p>
<p>The Ivy bashing in the opening pages of the book are unfortunate, but if you're looking for detailed descriptions of some (mainly non-urban) LACs that are moderately, but not highly selective, then the book is still hard to beat. The danger in reading it is to assume that other types of colleges don't "change lives," too.</p>
<p>According to the Wikipedia, Loren Pope was born in 1910.</p>
<p>Good book, but not really geared to the College Confidential clientel. I found it useful to just read for some advice and have loaned it to friends who were beginning their college search. </p>
<p>In my opinion the better book- and certainly the more useful to the CC-type person- is Looking Beyond the Ivy League. I know some people refuse to acknowledge it, but there ARE amazing colleges, even for the uber competitive applicant that aren't in the Ivy League. It does include its fair share of Ivy bashing, but it is chock full of hard data on many schools, tips for the selection and application processes, and advice on gap years, course load, essays ect.</p>
<p>I ended up flipping through it too, even though I was unconvinced that:</p>
<p>1) ONLY LAC's were worth considering
2) A school that was "too competitive" (F&M, Bard, Grinnell) was no longer capable of "changing lives"</p>
<p>As far as I'm aware, the schools do market themselves together and give information sessions together, so it's not as though nobody is benefiting from the CTCL distinction. What really did open my eyes up, however, was the notion that you didn't have to select a college because it was selective or because others have heard of it-- some of my smartest friends are at schools I had never heard of before, and they are extraordinarily happy there. One of my friends, for example, specifically wanted a small, urban school at which she could double-major in English and Education, and she's currently at Simmons College and adores it.</p>
<p>The qualifications to be in the book include being - AVAILABLE TO 'B' STUDENTS.</p>
<p>That's why they were dropped for being too competitive. The purpose isn't to show all the colleges that change lives, but ones that are overlooked. It might be more aptly named : More Colleges that Change Lives.</p>
<p>And I agree, the looking beyond the traditional names is a very interesting thing.</p>
<p>Have worked with Loren Pope and used to work at one of the colleges that change lives. In some communities, guidance counselors and parents are so vehemently focused on a very narrow range of "acceptable" colleges that there really is no "choice" in the college choice process. These schools are excellent choices but are not suited to every good student, either academically or personally. When I worked at this alternative school, all too often, I heard from parents of prospective students that the only reason they were visiting campus was because it was their last hope of getting their alternative and willfully independent son or daughter into college ... any college. Loren Pope has done a great service in writing this book, which has lent some legitimacy to considering colleges which are out-of-the-box. The school for which I worked would not be a good match for everyone, but when the match was appropriate, the experience was truly transformational. The bottom line: not just getting into the best college to which one is admissible, but also getting into the best college which is a "fit" for the student.</p>