Profiles of American Colleges: Includes FREE ACCESS to Barron’s web-based college search engine (Barron’s Profiles of American Colleges)
July 26th, 2010 | 
Author: Profiles of American Colleges: Includes FREE ACCESS to Barron’s web-based college search engine (Barron’s Profiles of American Colleges)
- ISBN13: 9780764197680
- Condition: New
- Notes: BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed
The latest information on enrollments, tuition and fees, academic programs, campus environment, available financial aid, and much more make the 29th edition of Profiles of American Colleges America?s most comprehensive and authoritative source for college-bound high school students. Every accredited four-year college in the United States is profiled, and readers are directed to a brand-new Barron?s Web site featuring a FREE ACCESS college search engine that presents exclusive on-line information to help students match their academic plans and aptitudes with the admission requirements and academic programs of each school. The book presents profiles of more than 1,650 colleges, each profile including details on:
? Admission requirements ? Library and computer facilities ? Admissions procedures for freshmen ? Campus safety and security ? Thumbnail descriptions of faculty ? Requirements for a degree ? Athletic facilities ? Extracurricular activities ? E-mail addresses ? College fax numbers and web sites ? Admissions Contacts ? and more
Schools are rated according to Barron?s reliable competitiveness scale, which ranges from ?Noncompetitive? to ?Most Competitive.? The book?s tinted pages section presents an Index of College Majors that lists all available major study programs at every school. Also profiled are excellent colleges in Canada and several other countries, as well as brief profiles of religious colleges, and American colleges based in foreign countries.
Rating: 
(out of 8 reviews)
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Tags: 5 Responses to “Profiles of American Colleges: Includes FREE ACCESS to Barron’s web-based college search engine (Barron’s Profiles of American Colleges)”
Review by Darshan for Profiles of American Colleges: Includes FREE ACCESS to Barron’s web-based college search engine (Barron’s Profiles of American Colleges)
Rating:
I’m not sure there’s any specific reason, but it seems that counselors trust the information in Barron’s more than other guides, but it may have to do with the fact that it’s been around for almost thirty years. The CD-rom is pretty helpful for searching for schools by major, by location, by price tag and several other variables.
The problem with listing just about every four year college is that you’re not going to have much space for in-depth description. The entries are dry but factual and makes comparisons very easy. Noticeably there are many schools that don’t list their SAT medians in Barron’s when the information can be found in other books such as Princeton Review’s. My suspicion is that Barron’s is the one being honest — the precise information isn’t being made available. However, I have to admit I buy the other guides also to see what scores they are reporting anyway.
If a student isn’t considering one of the top 350 or so schools or wants more choices than most books offer, then he or she probably needs a book such as this. Frankly, if the book and software are available at a library I might sooner suggest looking at it there, and then buying a more in-depth guide such as Fiske, Princeton Review or Barron’s own guide to the “best” colleges as this book may frustrate high school seniors who want some sort of opinion from the college students themselves instead of just statistics their parents want to know.
Review by David A. Baer for Profiles of American Colleges: Includes FREE ACCESS to Barron’s web-based college search engine (Barron’s Profiles of American Colleges)
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Guides to colleges tend to convey either statistical reportage derived from the college itself or anecdotal subjectivity provided by the school’s students and other constituencies.
The Barron’s Guides lean strongly in the first of these two directions.
You get information on the demographics of the student body, admission percentages, faculty qualifications, tuition prices and room and board (sometimes out of date or rounded down by the time it hits these pages), average SAT and ACT scores, and a ranking provided by Barron’s or its suppliers (most competitive, very competitive, etc.). After using Barron’s and another couple of guides with my two college-bound sons, I believe the competitiveness ratings tend to be generous. Many schools are rated surprisingly high and there is no category entitled ‘You’d have to really hate your child to send him to this joint.’ We all know there should be.
There is also information on international students, disabled students, campus security, and similar categories.
You get a lot of good data here. What you don’t get is color commentary. For that, you’ll need to make a campus visit or buy a guide like the one published by the Princeton Review. It rates fewer arguably more select colleges and universities, whereas Barron’s attempts to be exhaustive on a state-by-state basis.
Review by Paul Allaer for Profiles of American Colleges: Includes FREE ACCESS to Barron’s web-based college search engine (Barron’s Profiles of American Colleges)
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I have been through the college search once before, and now am at it again with my daughter who is a HS junior. There are several of these mammoth guides out there. How does this one stack up?
“Barron’s Profiles of American Colleges 2007″ (1656 pages) is divided up in several sections. The first part brings a listing of which majors are provided by what colleges. This was a very handy tool for my daughter, who has very specific ideas as to what majors she is interested in. This section also ranks the colleges in competitiveness/exclusivity (going from “Most Competitive” to “Highly Competitive” etc. all the way down to “Noncompetitive”. After that the book brings an overview, thankfully state-by-state, about 1700 colleges. It focuses mostly on the “hard” data such as admittance criteria, tuition and room/boarding fees, etc. As such this book is also handy. What you will not not get is the more subjective assessments on what it’s really like at a particular college, but there are other college guides for that, such as Princeton’s “The Best 361 Colleges”.
Due to its massive size (and weight), the book is somewhat hard to use, but generally speaking this is not a bad place to start off the college info gathering process. There is also a CD-Rom which I must admit we have not used.
Review by Nick for Profiles of American Colleges: Includes FREE ACCESS to Barron’s web-based college search engine (Barron’s Profiles of American Colleges)
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I’m going to be a senior this year, which mean’s im on my search for college. This book is great for the in depth details but probably isnt the best… I like the princeton review alot better. This thing gives you the basic facts, but the Princeton gives you the student’s opinions on the college. But anyhow, this is a great guide that just about every major college you could think of for a reference. I also like the “competitive” rankings that it has- to see how hard the school actually is. But i think this book needs to be on a more personal level than just spitting out the facts you could find on any online site.
Review by Momoftwosons for Profiles of American Colleges: Includes FREE ACCESS to Barron’s web-based college search engine (Barron’s Profiles of American Colleges)
Rating:
I’ve been using this book for awhile and I have found it thorough and pretty accurate. I like the way it is organized by state. Once you have a list of schools you should then go to the web for more information, but this is a great way to get that initial list put together. Alas, I could not get the CD to work – but that was probably just me!