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Peterson's 1999: 2 year Colleges - this is a good guide for those who are unsure about whether they are ready to go to a four-year school or who have not yet been admitted to the school of their choice. It has listings for more than 1,500 community and junior colleges. It even gives helpful tips on preparations for transferring and what types of classes are general enough so that the credits will be accepted at most colleges. There is also information on what types of financial aid are given by community colleges and procedures for going to a community college that is out of your district. This book also gives the advantages, such as cost and smaller class size, that can be obtained from attending a 2-year college. An interesting part of the guide is a section where fifteen popular questions, such as the importance of GPA or whether all colleges accept transfer students, are answered. This can be helpful for students who are just beginning the process of looking at colleges and need a basic starting point. The individual school profiles focus mainly on statistical information such as location expenses, enrollment profiles, programs, majors offered, financial aid, and general information. A guide such as this serves the purpose of giving a student demographic information on a school but does not do much in terms of describing the character of a school and the students that attend it. For this type of information a visit or further research may be necessary. 
Barron's Profiles of American Colleges - this guide gives a no frills profile of each school touching on areas such as student life (origin of student, racial makeup), activities, sports, safety and security, programs of study, etc. It also helps students gauge their chances of getting accepted into a school that they are interested in by giving a SAT profile of each school. This can be dangerous because it may discourage a student from applying to a school if they feel their SAT scores do not match up with the school. On the other hand, keep in mind that other factors, such as extracurricular activities and GPA, are considered in the selection process. This book also has its own unique features that make it very appropriate for someone trying to make the transition from high school to college, such as survival tips on how to get through freshman year. They even give helpful hints on writing a college essay, and where in the process of selecting a college you should be by your junior and senior year of high school. College Planning for Dummies by Pat Ordovensky - the amount that this book will help really depends on where in the college process you are. If you have already begun to do research and narrow down your choices then this book may be a little too basic. However, someone starting from scratch can greatly benefit from the easy structure and way that this is written. It takes the reader step-by-step through the whole process of selecting a college. It begins with tips on getting started all the way down to options if you do not get into the school of your choice. It covers all the basic areas, giving informative and clear instruction on how to navigate through these areas. The last chapter is called a "Pack of Tens" and covers loose ends like important abbreviations (ACT, SAT, FAFSA), mistakes, and orientations in groups of ten. This guide is very useful if you need a place to begin. The Princeton Review: Student Access Guide To The Best 309 Colleges – This book is very unique because instead of dealing solely with facts, it interviews 56,000 different students from 309 different schools and allows them to voice their opinions on what they feel are their school's strengths and weaknesses. It allows you to get a student perspective if you do not get the opportunity to visit the campus. It gives student perspectives on issues such as the social atmosphere and how fun the school is. These are topics that none of the three books above touch on at all. On the other hand, the other books are still very useful because this guide does not go too deep into facts, such as what majors are being offered. In this area it gives a quick and general overview. However, it does give a "What's hot and not" section where students tell what types of activities are popular. Another remarkably useful feature for those unsure about their chances of gaining admission into the school of their choice, is the alternative section. For each school featured they give 9 to 10 additional schools that students who apply to that school also apply to or attend. The only drawback to this guide is a lack of information and the fact that in many cases when schools are ranked numerically, it can be cumbersome to distinguish between schools with very close ratings. |
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