Rating: 
Summary: refreshingly conservative among college books
Review: although i'm a moderate liberal, i can't help but find this book refreshing. be prepared a find alot of "radical" bashing. this book sets apart from others because it's more critical/ truthful. it's hard to find a college he likes, but when you find it, it's like you've uncovered a treasure.
Rating: 
Summary: A must-have for conservative students
Review: Although it never says it outright, this book comes from a very conservative perspective. It reveals truths about schools that college admissions officers would never dream of telling you. If you want the inside story on a particular school, you need to buy this book.
I recently made the unfortunate decision of going to a college that I discovered was completely wrong for me. If this book had an entry for my current college, I probably would have never considered going here. I was stupid enough to believe some of the lies that admissions officers told me about my school--"Oh yes, this is a VERY conservative campus...", etc. The ISI book will give you pertinent information that administrators typically lie about, like (in my school, for example) insipid affirmative action programs, a dearth of conservatives on campus, and a general attitude of hostility towards anyone who's not a leftist.
As a conservative student stuck in a wretchedly liberal university, I urge you to get this book if you want to know the truth about liberalism on a particular campus. Don't make the same mistake I did.
Rating: 
Summary: Serious Printing and Factual Errors!
Review: Don't buy this book -- it is filled with errors. Here is letter that I sent to ISI:I am so disappointed with the gross printing and factual errors that the book contains. I'd like to be charitable and say that everyone makes a mistake, but, in this case, there are too many glaring errors for one not to be insulted for paying money for the book.
There are colleges whose "vital stats" clearly belong to another college (see vital stats for Holy Cross on pg. 458). The stats claim that 82% of applicants get accepted at Holy Cross; in reality, the acceptance rate is somewhere in the fortieth percentile. Expenses are more to the tune of 36K rather than the $21,686 listed in the stats box. Holy Cross relies heavily on the SAT, not the ACT. And, lastly, there are no fraternities or sororities at Holy Cross.
The expenses are completley incorrect for Seton Hall (first they are much higher than listed; secondly, Seton Hall, being a private institution, does not have different rates for in-state and out-of-state students).
You have a section under Iowa that has a heading of "Student Life: Athens is what you make it". Yeah, if you decide to transfer out of Iowa to the University of Georgia.
I have asked Amazon for a refund. But that's the least of my grievances. Your institute, as well as "Choosing the Right College", itself is concerned with excellance. To put out such a shoddy product is inexcusable. Obviously, there was no quality check by the editors. I found these errors just skimming through the book -- who knows how many others it contains. Frankly, a reader just can't trust what ISI has to say about colleges. After I sent the letter I found another error concerning Amherst College about how it competes athletically with the other "Five Colleges" in the region. Amherst is part of the Five College consortium that shares Academic resources. Trust me, Amherst doesn't compete with U. Mass in basketball or football.
Rating:
Summary: Unusual and interesting academic commentary from the right
Review: Having been a conservative most of my life and living with very liberal parents and friends, I found this book to be a welcome refresher from the usual inoffensive BS that is typical in many college books. Unlike most books which give blythe descriptions, this book actually explains serious problems and benefits of various colleges. Everything from the structure of the curriculum of various schools, to the political and cultural leanings to the social scene on campus is described here. The book even discusses many conflicts that have taken place on campus and how they have been solved. At times the conservativism can become slightly overbearing, however in general it is excellent. I wanted to find a college with plenty of Republican AND Democrats. This book proved an excellent guide.
Rating: 
Summary: Strange Emphasis
Review: I bought the 1st edition of this book when our son was in 7th grade, and bought the 2nd edition when he was in 12th grade and applying to colleges. I began as a real cheerleader for this book, as it seemed to attack the sacred, liberal bastion of higher education. We were scared about our son attending a school that would turn him into an Alan Alda-style liberal, or into anything else we did not want him to become. Our son just finished his freshman year at one of the schools in the book and I have had a chance to reflect on its advice. The book evaluates colleges on two main criteria: the presence and the content of the core curriculum (the courses everyone must take), and how liberal the administration and the campus is. The book believes that a college education should strongly emphasize the liberal arts. As to the core curriculum, the book values a traditional core of western literature, philosophy, and history. As to the liberal atmosphere, the book takes a strong conservative stand. The books favors schools that score well in these categories. As a result, the book embarasses itself by lavishly praising some schools that have serious alcohol problems and party atmospheres. Based largely upon this book's recommendation, we visited a school in Houston where the dorm rooms that we were shown on the guided tour looked like public bars, and where several students openly admitted to having serious hangovers. Another school in Middle Tennesse is highly praised for its core and for its scholarly atmosphere, but over half the kids go Greek and the place was ranked as the #7 party school in America. However strong the core curriculum, if the students are in to alcohol and partying, they aren't learning much. The book absolutely lambasts schools that harbor outspoken and/or outrageous liberal professors, women's studies departments, African-American studies departments, gay/lesbian activities, etc. The reality is that these things are a very small part of what goes on at schools like Stanford, Harvard, and Brown. They do not have enough critical mass to affect a serious student. It would be a mistake to throw out any school based upon this book's comments in this area. When I bought the 1st edition, I really believed in this book. By the time we got through the application/admission process, based upon our real experience of visiting schools, talking to teachers and adminstrators, and sitting in on classes, I saw it as a very slanted source of information about schools, some of which was good, but most of which misleads the reader in the direction of the editor's viewpoint. It made me feel embarrassed to call myself conservative. Initially, I was too worried about what the college environment would do to my son. The truth is that as a parent you have either raised them with the correct values or you haven't, and what happens to your child in college is feedback on your job performance, not the college's.
Rating:
Summary: Uber-Conservative
Review: I bought this book thinking that it would be a good, in-depth look at some of the top schools in the country, but as I sat down to read it, I saw the reviews on the back cover. Famous conservatives have given it rave reviews, and that made me a little nervous about how much I would get out of the book. It's definitely in-depth, but it only reviews well-known, selective schools and more obscure Christian colleges. It's also very editorialized. In one entry, a sentence ends with the phrase, "for pete's sake." There are complaints from seemingly unhappy students about politicized departments, but they're only politicized if they lean left-ward. This book tends to hate Africana and Women's Studies programs. It kept complaining about how Stanford abandoned its Western Civ requirement for a world cultures, American cultures, and gender studies requirement, then quotes a student who says, "The General Education Requirement forces students to take some sort of feminist class." Well, call me crazy, but I'm reading that it's a world cultures, American cultures, AND gender studies requirement, not just gender studies. It also hates Wesleyan University for being a nudist camp and Georgetown University for not being Catholic enough to dislike for being Catholic. Reading about Georgetown (one of my top choices, now even higher up on my list after seeing how much this guide hates it) is just comical, talking about "pro-abortion" groups, making it sound like they sponsor "Yay for Abortion, Let's all get one!" rallies or something. If you're conservative, have a blast reading this, but if you're not, try the Fiske Guide or the Kaplan Unbiased Guide with Trent and Seppy. Those guides have helped me narrow things down a lot more, and they have more than double the colleges reviewed. Hope this was helpful!
Rating: 
Summary: Useful points of view from a conservative perspective
Review: I have had a politically liberal bent for my entire life. I was a true radical in my college days; my back and arms have been the final resting spots of numerous swings from police clubs. My voting record is....well pretty obvious. My son was raised in a liberal environment that stressed the usual verities: respect for all of good will, intellectual curiosity, independent thought, etc. Inside this framework, he developed a set of notions unlike either of his parents; he is, frankly considerably more conservative than us. Articulate to the extreme, he annoyed some teachers and students while in high school. The annoyance usually centered around challenging notions dear to the hearts of certain groups- political correctness be damned. Unlike most of those who have reviewed the many college guides, I have not been a big consumer nor had I been interested in such until the later part of the kid's junior year. I was looking for a book that would(hopefully) be somewhat counterintuitive to my own thought process. If it challenged other perceptions, so much the better. Most of the "guides" give snapshots in prose so inoffensive as to be unusable; others just reinforce one's own beliefs. Besides, I wanted to help Junior find a school where he wouldn't be shouted down by "totally accepting students" whose concept of "acceptance" was, shall we say "limited". This book IS unabashedly very conservative in outlook though "right wing" is an exaggeration. It is politically charged and does not recoil from strong opinions. As the general view is right of center, it takes to task some of the cupidities of the left and in this context, will leave most truly honest observers nodding rather than shaking their heads. While I give the book kudos for its damnation of the stultifying incidences and effects of the rampant political correctness that is endemic on far too many campuses(and reversed hierarchies of the "oppressed"-the implicit sense that all races are better and more noble than whites, that women are better than men, gays better than straights, vegans better than vegetarians better than omnivores,etc,etc), it makes a case for certain schools whose "political correctness " is of another sort(not surprisingly, similar to the editors' own). The latter schools are, unquestionably ones of rigid excess in both cultural and religious contexts-not unlike the schools that they criticize but from a different perspective. Their inclusion is merely as a cultural counterpoint, not as a serious educational alternative. But alternatives there are. My goal was to help find and then present to my son some nuanced choices. In his case, I wanted to be assured that both sides of the political square dance were adequately represented and I feel that this tome was very helpful in differentiating the pack. Despite the general "victim" drivel that the right uses about the media and academe, there are plenty of profs of a conservative mind-set (just read this book) and vibrant Republican presences on most campuses, particularly the most elite ones(take a look at the Cabinets of every conservative administration since the founding of the Republic). In my case, my son joined the Republican club. Its membership,and that of the Democratic and other political clubs is not insignificant; its members are the future leaders of this country and others. This collection is a valuable resource whether you read its lines or between them.
Rating:
Summary: Wrong Person Writing Intro
Review: I reviewed this book and its actually pretty good. I wonder though, what old high roller Bennett had to contibute...the top schools nearest to casinos? How about slots between classes? I can't for the life of me figure why author Beer had 7-11 Bennett write his intro. Maybe he needed help with those gambling debts. Do not buy this book. You are only feeding an addiction.
Rating:
Summary: Way Too Conservative
Review: Luckily, I didn't buy this book. I checked it out from the library, because like most college reference books, I didn't see myself referring to it more than a few times to narrow down my top choices. This publication (admittedly) heavily favors a traditional liberal arts education; ie a core curriculum is often viewed as a necessity. The book is close-minded in this respect. Any university provides the means for a liberal arts education for the student savvy enough to find the courses and responsible enough to enroll in them. My politics inevitably come into play as well, as liberalism is often associated with some form of radicalism that I, even as a heavily left-leaning student, fail to recognize. In other words, liberalism seems to be viewed as a negative thing that puts the moral integrity of the college student in jeopardy. This alone is not a big issue, as I can't justifiably give the book a bad review based on politics alone. As a liberal, most college guides probably favor my views, so I can concede that conservatives need a voice in the market too (though most higher education institutions do fall left-of-center). My real gripe is that there is just no pleasing this guy. He gripes about every school, and even with my top schools (Stanford, Duke, Rice, etc), I found that I always left the essay with a negative image of the school. I can't believe that these schools, universally regarded as some of the nation's top universities, are as bad as they are made out to be in this book. In the end, a combination of liberal-bashing and a narrow perception of what a college education should be (forcing that perception upon everyone else) makes this guide very difficult for me to read. I HIGHLY recommend the Yale Daily News' Insider's Guide to the Colleges, which gives a similarly balanced review based on the opinions of actual students, without all the negativity of this guide. It does, however, offer a refreshingly critical view of the schools, not making every school out to be perfect. But he bashes some schools so thoroughly that it seems no student could ever be happy there, though obviously every schools is the perfect match for SOMEONE. So, in summary, avoid this guide unless you are looking for an ultra-conservative, ultra-picky, and hyper-critical look at schools you think you may like. And if you do read it, consult other guides as well, to avoid being discouraged from a school that could actually be a good match. Get the Yale Book or the Fiske Guide (a little less critical, but still great) or visit princetonreview.com for guides that trust you to form your own opinions of the ways in which your time (4+ years of it) and your money can best be spent.
Rating:
Summary: Way Too Conservative
Review: Luckily, I didn't buy this book. I checked it out from the library, because like most college reference books, I didn't see myself referring to it more than a few times to narrow down my top choices. This publication (admittedly) heavily favors a traditional liberal arts education; ie a core curriculum is often viewed as a necessity. The book is close-minded in this respect. Any university provides the means for a liberal arts education for the student savvy enough to find the courses and responsible enough to enroll in them. My politics inevitably come into play as well, as liberalism is often associated with some form of radicalism that I, even as a heavily left-leaning student, fail to recognize. In other words, liberalism seems to be viewed as a negative thing that puts the moral integrity of the college student in jeopardy. This alone is not a big issue, as I can't justifiably give the book a bad review based on politics alone. As a liberal, most college guides probably favor my views, so I can concede that conservatives need a voice in the market too (though most higher education institutions do fall left-of-center). My real gripe is that there is just no pleasing this guy. He gripes about every school, and even with my top schools (Stanford, Duke, Rice, etc), I found that I always left the essay with a negative image of the school. I can't believe that these schools, universally regarded as some of the nation's top universities, are as bad as they are made out to be in this book. In the end, a combination of liberal-bashing and a narrow perception of what a college education should be (forcing that perception upon everyone else) makes this guide very difficult for me to read. I HIGHLY recommend the Yale Daily News' Insider's Guide to the Colleges, which gives a similarly balanced review based on the opinions of actual students, without all the negativity of this guide. It does, however, offer a refreshingly critical view of the schools, not making every school out to be perfect. But he bashes some schools so thoroughly that it seems no student could ever be happy there, though obviously every schools is the perfect match for SOMEONE. So, in summary, avoid this guide unless you are looking for an ultra-conservative, ultra-picky, and hyper-critical look at schools you think you may like. And if you do read it, consult other guides as well, to avoid being discouraged from a school that could actually be a good match. Get the Yale Book or the Fiske Guide (a little less critical, but still great) or visit princetonreview.com for guides that trust you to form your own opinions of the ways in which your time (4+ years of it) and your money can best be spent.
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