<p>Is it Princeton Review's 371 Best colleges or is it the College board one or is it something else?</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>I know websites and forums may be more in date, but I would like a handbook</p>
<p>IMHO, it’s the Fiske Guide to the Colleges.</p>
<p>Read both at your local bookstore.</p>
<p>Fiske is widely considered the best, but supplement it with PR.</p>
<p>That “Colleges that Change Lives” by Loren Pope is a usefull little book about liberal arts colleges. Sometimes you can pick up an older version of the guides at a used book store.</p>
<p>PR’s Best ___ Colleges, IMO.</p>
<p>I agree with MD Mom about that book, its very, very insightful. Even if you don’t pick any of those 40 schools, you might learn a little more about what you are looking for in a college. I have Fiske’s and it is massive and great.</p>
<p>Fiske Guide is the superior choice, in my opinion.</p>
<p>Princeton Review is okay. They seemed somewhat superficial, in my opinion, but their ranking system was a nice way to begin the search process.</p>
<p>Colleges that Change Lives has a lot of useful information, in my opinion, but also has a lot of bias. Don’t let yourself be too easily convinced.</p>
<p>Getting into the Right College is a good review guide, too, in my opinion, but its conservative bias really turns me off from time to time. Nevertheless, its nice to have a more critical look at some of the same colleges you’re interested in applying to, rather than instead reading positive review after positive review.</p>
<p>How about the Insider’s one?</p>
<p>I liked the **************'s Big Book of Colleges, but that one is best for when you have begun to narrow down your list of schools and you want the lowdown of superficial aspects such as quality of food and dorms, how the students are, etc.</p>
<p>The Princeton Review’s Best 371 Colleges provides nice and rather concise summaries of American’s most popular colleges.</p>
<p>I think the Fiske guide, like everyone says, is the best choice though; it’s written in a very thoughtful matter and its overview of each featured school gives you the perfect amount of info regarding all aspects of it.</p>
<p>I am not a fan of Colleges that Change Lives because it is severely biased toward LACs and if you are interested in attending a large university the book will most certainly turn you off to big schools. (Don’t allow it to)</p>
<p>The CollegeBoard’s guide is best if you just want the basic stats on each school (acceptance rates, majors, etc). No juicy info in that one.</p>
<p>PR’s book has good information on admissions for many schools. I found The Insider’s Guide to Colleges to be the best for revealing academic foci, student life and traditions, and info about the surrounding areas.</p>
<p>Princeton Review, definitely</p>
<p>Because it won’t do you any good to find the perfect college if it turns out you can’t afford it, I feel the best and most indispensable college guide to be</p>
<p>“Paying for College Without Going Broke” from the Princeton Review series.</p>
<p>Insider’s Guide to colleges is written by college students and captures and explains the nuances of each campus’ social ambiance. Once you have a short list of schools, this guide can point out strengths and weaknesses of dorm life, food, and traditions as well as academics.</p>