<p>I'm planning on transferring colleges and I've been looking at the Princeton Review's website and 2006 book. I couldn't help but notice that a school I'm familiar with got exceedingly high marks (in the 90's for academics, quality of life, etc). I've spent a lot of time there and wouldn't say the school is quite so deserving. This has made me question whether the Princeton Review can be trusted as a good source of information about schools I don't know much about. Should I continue to value the rankings that the Princeton Review gives the schools I'm considering?</p>
<p>No. Their information given on colleges is sometimes, if not often, erroneous -- on selectivity, on aspects of the college in question, etc.</p>
<p>PR's rankings in the various areas are just wrong (leaving out schools that should definitely be there).</p>
<p>Its counselor-o-matic is just insane.</p>
<p>Not trying to strike you guys down or anything, but what are your solid reasons to believe this? What I mean is, do you know how PR collects its information or calculates its scores, and I was curious if you did and could explain its flaws. What are some instances where the rankings leave out schools that you think should "definitely be there?"</p>
<p>thaaanks</p>
<p>^ Like I said, I'm basing this off of one college that I know well. I've been there for the past two weekends and a few times over the fall (I have friends that go there). The Princeton Review gave it a 95 for quality of life when there's no way it should be that high. They gave the school a 92 for selectivity when the school accepts 44% of applicants. Because of this school's high ratings I'm starting to wonder if most of the Princeton Review's ratings are off.</p>
<p>If Princeton cannot be trusted then could US News and World Report be better ? I highly doubt it.</p>
<p>Hundreds of college administrators are already refusing to coopertate with US News because of their capricious ranking criteria.</p>
<p>Their information seems pretty off, sometimes. For example, for some reason, they consider Lehigh to be highly selective, giving it a selectivity factor of 97 (in comparison to, say, Columbia University, the Ivy, with a 99), even though Lehigh has an acceptance rate of nearly 40%.</p>
<p>On the other hand, they have good SAT prep books. So, I wouldn't trust their information about colleges, but do use their books for SAT prep if you so desire.</p>
<p>I think PR has its purpose but I wouldn't put stock in it's "Reach, Match, Safety" advice. It tends to overstate the applicants chances. But. it definately halped my DDs generate their original list of schools to explore. We first heard about several of the schools on their lists from the lists PR created. I also like the "students say" feature because it give you a little bit of the insiders view. I wouldn't believe everything the students say and I certainly wouldn't discount or discard any school based on what you read on PR. It does make for some interesting reading.</p>
<p>Princeton Review's test prep books are good...but their website has lots of wrong info.
It shows Yale's selectivity as 96 or something...lol.
Oh, and counselor-o-matic is a big joke, very misleading.</p>