Book Review of the Peterson College Guide
A Comprehensive College Resource for Parents and Students
Aug 9, 2008
Understanding how to choose a college can be like backpacking through a foreign land without a map. Many publications are available to assist in the college selection process; however, none are as comprehensive and as valuable as the Peterson's Four Year College guide (updated yearly). The 2800+ page book is divided into three helpful sections.
The Advice Center
This section could be renamed "The Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about College Planning." Pertinent articles on the college process abound in this section. Readers can review topics such as Choosing Your Top Ten Colleges, Surviving Standardized Tests, Applying 101, Searching for Four-Year Colleges Online, Financial Aid Basics, Honor Programs, Distance Education, The Military and Higher Education and several more. These articles assist the reader to develop a full college knowledge base to start the college selection process.
Majors and More
The Majors and More section provides the reader with smart reference lists. For example. one part of this section contains the names of every major and every four year college that offers that major. Majors include accounting to nursing and secondary education to Ukraine Studies. Also within this section are listings of college admission entrance difficulty, tuition range, colleges by state, and colleges by alphabet.
College Data Center
The bulk of the book is comprised of this section, which hosts a wealth of information on every United States and some Canadian and international four year colleges. Each college entry is set up in the same fashion to assist with easy comparison to one another. Headings in the entries include faculty ratio, academics, student life, athletics, standardized tests, majors, demographics of the freshmen class, tuition and costs, financial aid, applying, and contact information.
Positives of the Guide
The book is like having your own personal school counselor or college advisor available at any time. The topics are relevant and convenient. The editors have done all of the legwork and have pulled together college information in an easy to use reference. The price of $32 is a great value for the plethora of information provided. Also, the book has a complementary website that offers the reader a free college search.
Limitations
The book is rather large and bulky, and the font is small.
Summary
The Peterson's company is a reputable business with a 40 year history of providing college information. This history has enabled Peterson's to provide the most comprehensive college guides. The Four Year College Guide could stand alone on the shelves of a library's college reference section. Parents and students need not look any further for a resource that provides a reference map to creating a list of potential college choices. The articles are relevant and informative, the lists are specific and helpful, and the college section is massive and yet concise. This book is a must for families starting the college selection process. I highly recommend this guide.
Peterson's also publishes several other college specific reference guides, which can be viewed in their online catalog. Such guides include two year colleges, vocational and technical colleges, colleges for students with learning disabilities and ADD, colleges for performing arts majors, colleges for visual art majors, financial aid/scholarships, standardized college entrance tests, and many more. These guides are a great reference for students who may not be directed to the traditional four year college route.
Peterson's. Four-Year Colleges 2009. 39th ed. Lawrenceville: Peterson's, 2008.
