<p>Hi, I was checking out some books on amazon and I would like to know which book gives the best descriptions on say, the 50-100 best ranked colleges in the US. I have one that gives all the facts, so I am looking for one that describes the colleges...</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>I would say that Fiske is one of the best. I also think the Insider's Guide to Colleges is good.</p>
<p>I also reccomend Fiske. It was extremely helpful and detailed. It gives you a really good perspective of the school, not just the good stuff.</p>
<p>Definitely Fiske or possibly Barrons. IMHO, the Insider's Guide is PR puff for the most part.</p>
<p>Fiske, Princeton Review Best 357+ Colleges, US News and World Report Best Colleges</p>
<p>Whatever you do, don't get PR. They're dreadful. Their only helpful feature is they have a good amount of statistics</p>
<p>Student's Guide to Colleges - written by students (2006), I just bought it, and it's great, real reviews by students who go there!</p>
<p>Don't bother with PR guides -- you can get everything free on their website with an account. Also, don't buy anything new. It's too expensive, and you can get all of these books (generally speaking) from your local library. It's not worth the money.</p>
<p>The fiske college guide is really truth in advertising when it comes to evaluating schools. The down side is that Fiske only evaluates 300 schools so if you are looking for a school out side of of the usual suspects, it will much be much help.</p>
<p>I definitely do not recommend the PR.</p>
<p>kristian:
Save yourself a lot of time, and read this recent thread. :)
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=81260%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=81260</a></p>
<p>I would recommend Fiske Guide for accurate blurbs that really capture the campus culture of each school.</p>
<p>Subscribe to the USNEWS on-line database, not for their rankings, but for their statistical data (median SATs, diversity, % varsity athletics, size, and everything else). The online is useful because you can sort the tables by any criteria -- for example, by median SATs.</p>
<p>Fiske College Guide & Fiske Guide to Getting into the Right School</p>
<p>"Choosing the Right College" has some good info despite the conservative viewpoint.</p>
<p>Listen to me when I say DO NOT GET PRINCETON REVIEW.</p>
<ol>
<li>all the stuff is free on the website upon registration</li>
<li>the book is an extremely dense read...no narrative / nothing enjoyable to read</li>
<li>your guidance department at school will have one on hand to browse</li>
</ol>
<p>Fiske for the basics and then Choosing the Right College(discount the bias).</p>
<p>Personally, I'm a fan of the Insider's Guide to the Colleges. :)</p>
<p>i hate princeton review. like others have said before its a watse of money because you can find everything online and the 'rankings' it has are terrible. for 'best library' harvard only ranks #2. the last time i checked, harvard has the largest university library in the world. the college ranked first was one that i've never heard of before.</p>
<p>i like the book by yale, i think its the insiders guide. however the info it provides isn't the best. for carnegie mellon's review, it barely mentioned its business school which is stupid because tepper is very prestigious.</p>
<p>Which school did they have ranked first? It can't be that obscure. I didn't read their overall book, just the Northeastern colleges one.</p>
<p>Thank you VERY much!</p>
<p>I think I`ll get the Fiske one then....</p>