The Insider's Guide to the Colleges, 2006: Students on Campus Tell You What You Really Want to Know

by Yale Daily News

For more than thirty years, The Insider's Guide to the Colleges has been the favorite resource of high school seniors across the country, because it is the only comprehensive college reference written and researched by students for students. In interviews with hundreds of peers on campuses all over the country, our writers have gotten the inside scoop on every school--on topics from professors and campus life to dorms and student activities. Each school profile in The Insider's Guide cuts through the veneer of brochures and common stereotypes to reveal the college as it's seen through the eyes of its students. This comprehensive guide



-Revealing profiles of 320 top schools in the United States and Canada

-Essential statistics for every school, from acceptance rate to the most popular majors

-A "College Finder" that helps students find the schools that are right for them

-"FYI" sections with candid student opinions and outrageous advice

Genres: College

1024 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1978

Reviews

[Lily · Rating 3 out of 5]

(TALKING ABOUT 2014 EDITION) Interesting info from the students. And yet, it’s very poorly edited- acceptance rates, popular majors, and more details in the box of stats about the college are wildly inconsistent with the info in the written portion. Even within the text, I saw the popular majors of one college described as “Mathematics, psychology, government, and mathematics.” Although that isn’t great and the numbers are out of date (tuition is 15k higher, and the acceptance rate is ten percent lower. super disheartening.) But the interviews with students and descriptions of the dining halls, dorms, classes, and more can be useful to capture the general feeling of a school.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great guide. I'm in the process of browsing through a bunch of different college guides (and guides to the application process) to find a few we like since this is all new to us. This one is a great complement to some of the more traditional reference guides, providing more flavor for what campus life and academics are like at the various schools. This is my daughter's favorite so far, and I agree that it is very useful. Unfortunately, it looks like they have stopped updating it, so 2015 is the most recent edition. Nevertheless, we went ahead and bought a used copy because we've gotten so much use out of the library copy and know we will want to continue to refer to this one.

[ThinkingCollege · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like reading what Students have to say about a college. This book is a little old, but still interesting.
You can't just read just one review. Reading multiple reviews of multiple colleges is how you really get a feel for what students are looking at how they characterize different aspects of the colleges.

For instance, reading some of these reviews prior to going on some college visits could help you formulate some more probing questions to ask once you are there.

[Parisa Vaziri]

Overall, I found this book to be very interesting and useful for giving me an idea of universities I could consider later on. Since I will have to apply to colleges and figure out what I'm interested in, I must get a head start and figure out which universities give me the best options of what I want to study. I liked the fact that for each university, it said what to expect, what to bring, and what you should do by the time you graduate. When I'm a senior, I will definitely look at this book again to get an idea of what to expect of my university. Also, I liked the fact that it had some quotes from students that are attending the university because it gave you an honest perspective of what actual students thought. I didn't like the fact that none of the reviews had an average GPA and SAT score that was required to get accepted there. In general, I enjoyed looking up some of the universities that I wanted to look into and find more detailed information about.

[MaryBeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This gives an inside few of a select number of colleges, and it interesting to read. There's not much difference between this and the 2007 version. Helpful when you are looking for a more in-depth view of a particular college.

[Alexandra]

This is pretty helpful to give you a feel for the campus, has a lot of good stats and info from the students themselves. It has a ton of schools in every state but not all colleges are represented so only part of the book was helpful to me.

[Paula · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am a college counselor and this used to be my go-to book. However, it's gone way downhill. The reviews I've read since receiving it today are pretty lame. I've found inaccuracies, biases, and generally weak writing. I'd use www.collegeprowler.com instead.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Useful, but a repetition of what I've already read online at places like CollegeProwler. They did tend to go a tad more in-depth, though, and obviously put an enormous amount of effort into it.

[Joy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Need to read when you've narrowed down colleges