Guide to Performing Arts Programs : Profiles of Over 700 Colleges, High Schools, and Summer Programs (Princeton Review Series)

Rating:
Summary: Good Practical Guide
Review: This is a good book for 2 reasons. It clearly profiles college music programs, and also recognizes that there is a lot to be learned at the high school and summer camp level. The irony is that some high scools and summer camps are actually better than some colleges.It is very easy to read.

Rating:
Summary: Useless
Review: We bought this book because standard college guides focus only on traditional majors and standard academic measures (average SATs, male/female breakdown, etc.), without any kind of detail on the many performing arts programs hidden within U.S. universities. We hoped it would fulfill its promise of profiling hundreds of programs, so that my daughter -- an aspiring actress seeking good artistic training amid a rich liberal arts environment -- could zero in on the best schools for her needs. But upon reading through it we were appalled -- at first by the countless typos (clearly no copy editor reviewed the entries) and then, increasingly, by the lack of adequate information on well over half the schools we looked up. As a previous reviewer noted, the book completely misrepresents many respected and extensive programs by simply omitting much of their basic data from their entries. We finally gave up on the book because we could not trust it; how could my daughter use it to compare programs when so many listings omit extremely important program data -- such as whether there is an acting program at all, what the course offerings are, whether auditions are required, how many theaters the campus houses, etc.?

The impression I got after reading through several dozen entries is that the editors had sent surveys to hundreds of schools, but that they had a rigid deadline and went to press regardless of whether all the schools had sent back the requested information in time -- that they went to press thinking, "If these schools can't find time to send us information, that's their problem. They just won't have their information included in our book." And that would be an acceptable attitude if this were the Yellow Pages and the entries were paid advertisements -- but this is supposed to be a reference book, not a collection of ads. The readers shell out a hefty sum for it, and the editors owe us more than a "here's the information we got before deadline" attitude. This book is missing so much critical information, and the information it does include is so poorly presented, that it can't possibly be considered a valid resource.

Young performing artists have precious little information to draw upon when they are searching for a college, and this book does almost nothing to make their search any easier.

Rating:
Summary: Lack of Information
Review: While this guide boasts having a beefy number of pages, the information is what is lacking. Only the largest universities (i.e. University of ____ or ____ State) are properly defined in the performing arts areas. The majority of colleges out there are not the most popular but should be given this advantage anyway. Instead, a grand majority of this book's universities are shown as not even having fine arts programs when they actually have fantastic ones. I bought this book with the hopes of being able to narrow down my own college options and was appalled when I saw that it clearly does NOT own up to "700 programs are profiled--more than any other guide." So, when you're out searching for universities offering performing arts, just go to CollegeBoard. It's a much safer and cost-effective deal.