Unofficial, Unbiased Guide to the 331 Most Interesting Colleges 2005

Rating:
Summary: Not bad at all
Review: This book is quite good. After the Fiske Guide to Colleges, I think this is my favorite. Even though Kaplan makes it plain that they are biased as the "un" in "unbiased" is crossed out on the cover, the book is more balanced and less negative than Princeton Review's Best 357 Colleges. Kaplan says that the book covers the "most interesting" colleges as opposed to the "most selective." However, they say right away that highly selective schools happen to be very interesting, so you will see mostly the same schools you will see in Fiske. Princeton Review has been faulted for including some big public universities for the sake of sales that, according to many, don't really belong in books on the best universities. Well, for better or worse, Kaplan has a few less state schools (as does Fiske). The "interesting" schools that other books leave out include many music or art schools or other specialty schools. For example, I haven't found Julliard or the Culinary Institute of America or Gallaudet University (for the hearing impaired)in any other books of the best schools.

The statistics in the book are understandable and helpful. I feel that Princeton Review does a slightly better job with their coverage of financial aid, but Kaplan is sufficient. Kaplan does something smart by offering a range of SAT scores for the middle 50% of accepted students for each school instead of giving a specific median score. Even though I think it's fun to see median scores, it can be discouraging to students who score below the median, and is therefore a less useful statistic.

I think parents and students will find this a good compromise between Fiske and Princeton Review. One reviewer said he felt that Princeton Review quoted student statements that made good copy instead of statements that accurately reflected a school's true nature. There's no way to know that for sure, but Princeton Review is pretty gossipy, so I have a sneaky suspicion that the reviewer is right. Fiske does a really great job explaining the academic strengths and opportunities of each school, but someone else pointed out that Fiske says so little that's negative that the reader has a hard time figuring out which school is best. Kaplan provides readers with more student opinion than Fiske, and while the reading is a fair amount drier than Princeton Review, it focuses on the classroom a bit more than the frat parties.