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Book Review: Unofficial, Unbiased Guide to the 331 Most Interesting Colleges 2005

From time-to-time, as we receive career-related and job-hunting books and other resources from publishers, the staff of Quintessential Careers will review them to help you make better decisions about the best books to use in your career and job search.

Unofficial, Unbiased Guide to the 331 Most Interesting Colleges 2005, by Kaplan, 720 pages. Simon and Schuster: ISBN 0743251997. $19.00.

Reviewed by Randall S. Hansen, Ph.D.

The idea of choosing a college, of narrowing down the list of the thousands of possible choices of colleges and universities of all sizes and shapes in all parts of the country, can be -- and often is -- a daunting task for any high-school junior.

And it's not just the sheer number of possible choices, but also the great wealth of sources of information. College bombard postal and email boxes, beckoning you to their Websites where they tell you how great they are. And then there are all the college-choice Websites and guide books, with their various descriptions and rankings.

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With this information overload and marketing hype looming all around, there is hope in the form of the very user-friendly and informative Unofficial, Unbiased Guide to the 331 Most Interesting Colleges 2005. The book is written in a very casual style, and offers practical and opinionated advice college-bound students won't find anywhere else. (That's the inside joke -- it's a biased book with unbiased in the title, with the "un" crossed out.)

The thing that makes the Unbiased Guide so good is that these 331 colleges are an eclectic mix of college and universities that offer strong programs and opportunities for their students. There are no rankings in this book -- and there are more than a few of the more "selective" colleges that did not even make the cut, replaced by schools you might otherwise never have known existed.

The book is basically divided into two parts. In the first part, the folks at Kaplan offer lists of colleges that meet various criteria -- some of which are serious and some which are silly -- such as:

Schools that provide laptops for incoming students
Schools with impressive 4-year graduation rates
Schools with celebrity alumni
Schools where most students have a job at graduation
Schools located in great college towns
Schools that provide a great deal of financial aid
Schools with a low faculty-student ratio
Schools with selective acceptance rates
Schools that were used in television shows or movies
Schools where most students join fraternities and sororities
Schools that are innovative or unconventional
Schools where the majority of students have more than one major
Schools where the majority of graduates attend graduate school

This first section is a great way for college-bound students to see the many criteria that could be used in finding and evaluating schools. And, again, some of these schools may surprise you because many are not household names.

The second section of the Unbiased Guide is the book's real strength: the insider profiles of the 331 colleges and universities. Each profile provides key data about the school (type of school, affiliation, location, student body stats, admissions data, costs, financial-aid percentages, and alumni profiles), as well as an in-depth look inside the classroom, at the campus environment, and at student life.

Inside the classroom deals with what's available to undergrads in terms of majors, research opportunities, and internships. Because this is an insider guide, you'll also learn which are the strongest and weakest majors, as well as what to expect as a new student in terms of workload, competitiveness, class size, and faculty accessibility.

The campus-environment section describes the physical layout of the campus and the surrounding areas off campus. Anecdotes and information about dorm life, as well as the availability and quality of off-campus housing, is also included. You'll also learn how well the surrounding community and the college students mix.

The student-life section is designed to help you decide whether or not you would fit in to the college's culture. Besides a description of the student body, you'll also find information on the popular -- and unpopular -- clubs and organizations, including Greek sororities and fraternities. School traditions, major events, the party scene, and the social dynamics are all also covered.

But where do the editors at Kaplan get their inside information? Besides using the standard statistical data that all college pump out about admissions, majors, minors, costs, etc., the folks at Kaplan also sent out detailed surveys to students, recent grads, and college officials. Finally, they also asked guidance counselors to provide their insights about the schools they know the best.

The latest edition takes the original authors off the byline, though both still make contributions to this edition. Trent Anderson is the vice president for education at Cablevision, Inc., and a previous vice president of publishing at Kaplan. Seppy Basili is Kaplan's resident "college guru," having spent the past 15 years analyzing college trends.

The Unbiased Guide is unusual in its approach and selection of colleges to profile. Its style is informative and useful. And its value is unbeatable.

Bottom-line: If you are tired of all the rankings and hype and want to think about college choice in a boarder context, then the Unbiased Guide is a great choice. Readers will not be disappointed in the choice of the 331 colleges nor in the information and insight provided.

Check out all our book reviews in Quintessential Reading: Career and Job Book Reviews.

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