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A few words about guides ...
 There are
objective guides and subjective guides. There are special interest guides and
there are lists created by specific criteria. Be sure you know the source of the
information, what criteria the authors are using to judge colleges and whether
there's a profit motive behind what you're reading. All of these factors make a
difference in how the information is presented. (Take a look at
CollegeScoop.com's favorite guides.)
Usually, if you take the time to read
the introduction and the backs of the books, you'll gain some understanding of
the source. For example, The ISI
Guide to Choosing the Right College: The Whole Truth About America's 100 Top
Schools has an introduction written by William J. Bennett, former Secretary
of Education under President Reagan. The back of the book has endorsements by
Dr. Laura Schlessinger, Rev. Richard John Neuhaus, Michael Medved and John
Silber, chancellor of Boston University. All are well known for their
conservative politics. Therefore, when you browse through the descriptions of
the colleges, understand the filter used in gathering the information - in this
case, the authors were looking for schools with conservative values
as positive and diverging views as less than positive.
Examples of annual rankings are the
popular US News and World Report lists. Rankings always use a formula of
criteria the people involved have created in order to judge the colleges. The
criteria used by US News and World Report are specific and controversial.
Check them out. Are the factors US News uses to select the colleges factors that
are important to you or not? Can this help you choose a college?
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