What don't we know yet about the "40 Colleges That Change Lives?"

Parents Forum
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<p>Loren Pope is a guy. ;) So send HIM props.....</p>

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<p>he kinda reminded me of Orville Redenbacher bowtie and all</p>

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<p>Loren Pope is a guy. So send HIM props.....</p>

<p>yes...Him</p>

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<p>Per an earlier post, any single source of information, especially one as judgemental as the Pope books, needs to be supplemented with other information. And the Pope books do not seem to be up to date regarding campus social environments and strong/special programs.</p>

<p>However, they are important books. And I will let Pope hype these schools a bit otherwise he'd never be heard over the din cranked up around HYPS/AWS/State U.</p>

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<p>Another good resource for information on "colleges beyond the Ivies and Big Names" is Jay Mathews' Harvard Schmarvard. It's not organized as a "list of colleges," but rather as advice for the college search process. However, within the book there are various lists and mentions. I recommend it.</p>

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<p>Also "Cool Colleges"- by Donald Asher
I gave a copy to my daughters high school career center, so kids can see there is something inbetween the ivy league and large instate schools</p>

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<p>This is an article worth reading -- someone posted it last year:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A1454-2003Apr1&notFound=true%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A1454-2003Apr1&notFound=true&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>With respect to infallability, Loren should be regarded as a Pope, not The Pope.</p>

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<p>Books, web site's for evaluating your chance or to match you with a college list are all parts of a beginning. If you know kids a grade or two ahead ask them about their colleges and compare them to the descriptions you find in these other sources.</p>

<p>You can also learn a lot about a school by reading the local papers for a couple of months, researching the police reports, and, oh yes, visiting the college and asking questions.</p>

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<p>I like ReidM's suggestion about cross-checking information. Imo, you can't do enough of this. If you find conflicting info and the subject area is important to you, that should highlight an area of more than casual investigation when it comes time to visit, overnights, talking to current and former students, etc. If the data varies, it's important to understand <em>why</em> the data varies and how a particular student such as your D or S might be affected by it in context.</p>