Rating: 
Summary: Hidden and not so hidden gems
Review: This book inspired my daughter to take a closer look at some colleges that were a little off the beaten path.
It also got us thinking about what she really needed in a college as opposed to choosing a school by a rating system using others criteria.I also would highly recommend the college fair based on this book, as a great opportunity to talk to admission reps from highlighted schools in a much smaller environment than other college fairs. Another book that helped with the decision for her to attend a college that is not on the top 5o countdown of US NEWS, was a book written by an alum of her college, Donald Asher, called Cool Colleges for the Hyper Intelligent, Self Directed, Late Blooming and just Plain Different.
A quote " You could take from me everything I've learned at Reed, and I could get it back on my own. What they really teach you here is how to learn" That is what we were looking for.
Rating: 
Summary: Vital to the inspired student
Review: This book is a guide to extraordinary colleges for extraordinary students. The schools are for those gifted in more (or other) ways than just getting good grades. The amazing thing is that these schools are also for ANYONE. I believe they all accept over 1/2 those who apply, and in most cases "accepting" doen't just mean matriculation, but acceptence into the community as a respected human being. "Hazing" of any form doesn't fit in most of these communities, because it does not respect the new community member. (USMA is a great school. How welcome would be a person who refused to bear arms? Would they be willing to abandon hazing?) These colleges help the students develop more than their knowledge. They help them develop their understanding, their wisdom, and their hearts. We forget that there can be much more to a college education than the coursework and the degree, and when we do so we invite things like the cheating scandal that wracked otherwise excellent institution of USMA (West Point). Guilford and Marlboro are legendary in their ability to help students develop. St. Olaf, Ursinus and Earlham are extraordinary places as well. How many students know of their secrets, or have even heard of them? Far too few. If you know a young person who wants to be more than a cog in the machine, give them this book so that they may be among the few who Know.
Rating:
Summary: Evergreen State College, good exampl from Loren Pope's book
Review: This book is awesome. Makes me wish I could turn back the clock three years and begin college over again(but since this is my last year of college....oh well). Not only does this book profile 40 colleges that have the RIGHT focus(unlike the University of California Irvine...cough...cough), but it also gives some examples of peoples' personal experiences. If I were to choose again, I'd probably go to Evergreen State. This book is a must buy for any high school senior or college freshman!
Rating:
Summary: Great resource but do further research
Review: This book is probably one you will not read from cover to cover because a short perusal will lead you to home in a few schools that interest you. For example, geography (e.g. a desire to be relatively close to home) will probably be one of the many limitations on which of the 40 schools you are interested in. To further limit your choices, you may need to do further research. For example if a religiously active student group is important to you, you may have to log onto the web page of organizations such as the Neuman Club (Catholic), Hillel Organization (Jewish) or Campus Christian ministries to see if they are active in the school you are contemplating. In short, this fine book gives you an enormous amount of pertinent information to find a school that is right for you but based on further research and narrowing down, you may ultimately find the one or two that seem just right. Furthermore, different schools that Mr. Pope reviews have different emphases. For example, some have few required courses and through close work with a faculty member, you must take responsibility to design your own program. Student initiative is empasized (for example, Hampshire College). Others may be much more traditional. Therefore, you must know what you are looking for. What all of these schools share in common, however, is a caring faculty that values each individual student and wants to facilitate success in each. The colleges in this book do not require an A average for admission and I'm sure there are many good schools that would rank among these 40 but are excluded because they are more difficult to get into. An example might be Franklin and Marshall which was in an earlier edition of this book. Even if you are an A student, one of these schools might still be the best one for you. This is a fine book if you are looking for a first rate education in a school that is the right fit for you. This book is not for you if you are more concerned with a degree from a prestige institution. My advice, opt for the good education.
Rating:
Summary: A very important college guide book
Review: This book proved instumental in my son's college search. I highly recommend it for the student that is interested in schools that offer a personalized to education. We found schools that he is applying to from this book. He went to a special college fair that featured the schools highlighted in Pope's book.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent unconventional wisdom!
Review: This book was a key factor in college selection for our seventh child to attend college. Without it, she would probably be at a top-name university which is best suited for graduate students, and not the community of learning of a small liberal arts school. What's more, she was offered merit scholarships (not need-based) from 7 of 8 of the schools on Pope's list to which she applied. (The so-called "top" universities give very few merit-based scholarships). She is in her second year at the College of Wooster, and I believe that she is happier and receiving a better college experience than she would have at Duke, where she was also accepted. The only drawbacks are that very few have heard of these schools, and the nearly-universal "conventional wisdom" fails to recognize the important truths that Loren Pope's books explain. His book "Looking Beyond the Ivies," was also helpful. This book may turn your college search upside down!
Rating:
Summary: Best College Guide Out There!!
Review: This book was an excellent guide to the choices when I was a C+ student in high school. Without it, I would not be in my second semester at Earlham College, a Quaker college of 1100 students in Richmond, Indiana. The acedemic experience here has been a thousand times better than my large suburban high school in New Jersey. This book is a true gem in the search for the best college for you. It puts the person before the numbers.
Rating: 
Summary: Creative recommendation but obsolete data
Review: This is a sequel to the author's first book: "Looking Beyond the Ivy League." It has the same qualities and flaws as the first book. This list of colleges gives you a great incentive to explore small liberal arts colleges not only back East but all over the country. That is a good thing. On the other hand, some of his information is out of date. Out of the 40 recommended colleges, I found myself screening out 20 of them because of either low freshman retention rate, low graduation rate, and low percentage of graduates going on to graduate schools. In other words, half of these recommended schools are actually poor college educational performers. This is obviously way too high a failure percentage (50%) to give this book any higher rating than I have.
Rating:
Summary: Creative recommendation but obsolete data
Review: This is a sequel to the author's first book: "Looking Beyond the Ivy League." It has the same qualities and flaws as the first book. This list of colleges gives you a great incentive to explore small liberal arts colleges not only back East but all over the country. That is a good thing. On the other hand, some of his information is out of date. Out of the 40 recommended colleges, I found myself screening out 20 of them because of either low freshman retention rate, low graduation rate, and low percentage of graduates going on to graduate schools. In other words, half of these recommended schools are actually poor college educational performers. This is obviously way too high a failure percentage (50%) to give this book any higher rating than I have.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent but also read other college guides
Review: This is an excellent book about lesser-known yet excellent colleges. It does not include those in the west. DO read this book with a grain of salt, though. The author praises these schools so much that you have to read other college guides in order to get a more balanced view. For example, He rightly praises Hampshire College for its fine film department (Ken Burns is an alum) but he does not tell you how isolated it is or the fact that there are a lot of drugs on campus. So DO read at least four other guides besides this one. Do your homework and compare write-ups in all the guides to get a balanced view. Definitely visit campuses before you decide where to apply or go to. Otherwise this is an excellent book with a great deal of useful information.
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