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(More customer reviews)The Princetown Review publishes a number of college search-related books, including the "Complete Book of Colleges" and this one. This book is essentially a distilled version of the "Complete Book", and frankly a lot more useful (but for people completely new to the college-searching process, definitely check that out too).
"The Best 376 Colleges (2012 Edition)" (840 pages) is similar to last year's edition. After holding the number of best colleges at 373 last year (remember this book started off in 1992 with the best 350), this time there are 6 new "best" colleges: Champaign College, Christopher Newport University, Portland State University, Roanoke College, the University of Houston, and the National University of Ireland, Maynooth. Three schools from last year's list were dropped (but if the inflation of "best" colleges continues, I surmise we'll get to 400 by 2020 or so). There are over 60 fun-to-browse top 20 lists of best/worst, such as "Most Beautiful Campus", "Students Study the Most", "Party Schools", and "Most Politically Active Students" (my daughter is attending the #5 ranked school on that list, it was ranked #1 last year, so yes these rankings change from year to year, although not sure how exactly these rankings come about, a drop from 1 to 5 in a single year seems pretty steep).
The best feature of this guide remains the 2 page layout for each of the colleges, with in-depth information on campus life, academic selectivity (the number of applicants, how many were accepted, and of those how many actually decided to attend), up-to-date tuition and room/board costs (I checked the numbers of the college that my daughter is now attending, and they are accurate), etc. Another aspect that is very helpful is the "Survey says" sidebar, in which the essence of the university is distilled from the college students themselves, and "The Inside Word" segment on how tough it really is to gain admission when all is said and done. I can't help but notice that the tuition and room/board numbers for Xavier Univeristy, a fine Jesuit school here in Cincinnati, are completely wrong (they are double from what is listed in the book), an unlikely and uncharacteristic mistake.
In the end, the proof is in the pudding: of the many college guides out there, my daughter spent more time with this book (when she was looking at colleges a few years ago) than with any other. This book is not the first place to start the college search, but once your son or daughter has narrowed down his/her colleges of choice, and assuming those colleges are featured in the "best 376", this book clearly is the best resource, the last step before a campus visit, and can be used again following the campus visits. I've looked at a lot of college-search books and if I was forced to recommend only one book among all the college search guides, this book is it, period.
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What makes The Best 376 Colleges the most popular college guide?*DIRECT QUOTES FROM STUDENTS that give insight into each school's unique character, classes, financial aid, social scenes, and more*ONE-OF-A-KIND RANKING LISTS that reveal the top 20 colleges in 62 categories based on how students rated their school's dorms, professors, food, athletic facilities, and financial aid*DETAILED ADMISSIONS INFORMATION that gives tuition, application criteria, deadlines, student to faculty ratios, graduation rates, and the most popular majors*BONUS FEATURES like the "100 Best Value Colleges List," plus unique ratings with all 376 schools scored on Financial Aid, Quality of Life, Fire Safety, Green Ratings, and more.Written for any student or parent mystified by the confusing college admissions process, The Best 376 Colleges provides the facts and information needed to make a smart decision about which of the country's best schools to consider.What the media is saying about The Best 376 Colleges from The Princeton Review: "The offbeat indexes, along with the chattily written descriptions of each school, provide a colorful picture of each campus."–The New York Times"The most efficient of the college guidebooks. Has entertaining profiles larded with quotes from students."–Rolling Stone"A great book…it's a bargain." –CNN"Our favorite college guidebook." –Seventeen"Provides the kind of feedback students would get from other students in a campus visit." –USA Today
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