FOCUS: Rating the college guides

It's that time of the year for high school seniors. All over the country, seniors are frantically trying to think of answers to questions like, "If you could spend an evening with any person, living, deceased or fictional, whom would you choose and why?" And students are up to their ears in guide books, rankings and lists, trying to find the school, the one that's perfect for them, the one that will make their life complete. But some are wondering, just where do these books come from? Who makes up the lists, and decides which schools go where? And how accurate are these things anyway? Administrators, consultants and guidance counselors alike say college guides such as The Fiske Guide to the Colleges, 1992 and Barron's Top 50: An Inside Guide to America's Best Colleges are useful, but all agree that they are "completely subjective." "They are very subjective, some less than others, but there are always judgements to be made," said Fred Brooks, an admissions officer at the State University of New York at Binghamton. "Certainly Mr. Fiske would agree that he's making judgements based on experience. I think most students and parents realize they're getting opinion." "They're vehicles that sell books," said Leonard Krivy, an educational consultant. Wendy Robbins, who works for an educational consulting firm called College Information Services, breaks guide books into two kinds, descriptive and prescriptive. "Descriptive guides give statistics and things like that, while the prescriptive guides are telling you in many ways about life at the school," Robbins said. Robbins, and many others, said that while the statistics in most books are updated every year, some information, including the prescriptive essays, is often very out of date. "I'm very concerned about accuracy," Robbins said. "Sometimes one says 30 percent [of students] leave campus on the weekend, another says 15 percent. One uses them carefully, because half [of the information] is obsolete by the time it reaches the press. You can read through '89, '90, '91 versions and there is little difference." For example both the current Barron's and Fiske discuss the University's football team, describing it as a powerhouse that still dominates the league. The Fiske Guide says that "manic loyalists now sleep outdoors for days in order to purchase season tickets." One wonders if these writers have gone to Penn State by mistake. But Carolyn Horne, project editor for Barron's defends the guide, saying that the books are relatively accurate. Horne said that when the rights to the book were bought by Barron's from another publisher, some editing was necessary. "The book has essays written by former students and statistics on the schools," Horne said. "We updated statistics and edited copy, here and there, depending on whether it needed it." However, Horne said that the publishing company did not check the descriptions of student life. "We used info from the '89 to '90 profiles and certain statistics, but it was up to the person writing the article to make sure it's accurate," Horne said. "And I don't think things like the football team are that important." · While some students rely very little on the guides, others become attached to them, touring schools and attending meetings with the books firmly in hand. "I was visiting a high school last fall in New York City and there was a young man sitting with a college guide book on his lap under a table, hiding it from me," said Sally Osann, an associate dean of admissions. "He was asking questions straight out of the book and I had read this book. For instance, the book had said that our Poli Sci Department was weak, and he asked me 'How good is the Political Science Department at Penn?' I wanted to answer, 'Why don't you just ask the guy who wrote the book?' " However, some people think that bringing the books to schools can be useful. "I try to have a guidebook with me while visiting schools," said Terrie Ballak, a guidance counselor at Brentwood High School in Brentwood, California. "I read them overall and then try to see how accurate they are. It's a good test." But while almost everyone involved in the admissions process agrees that students do not, and should not, use the only the guides in deciding what school to attend, many students use the books as a means of choosing schools to apply to. "Students definitely use them to decide where to apply," said Ballak. "I recommend that students use them as starting place, but I caution that these are opinions, and to use more than one source. If there is a negative comment, students cling to that comment. A lot [of the guides] try to show both sides, but the negative aspect sticks out more." But while negative reviews hurt schools, positive ones can make admissions soar. After SUNY Binghamton was listed as a "Public Ivy" by a book in 1985, applications rose considerably, according to Brooks. "I think what it does is encourage people to look at a school more carefully," Brooks said. "It's another way to get information out to the public. Since these people are respected, it leads people to look more carefully at the school." "For our kids, it validates that they're making a good decision," said Ballak. "If a school they're interested in does well, perhaps a regional school they haven't heard much about, it validates their decision." The big attention-getter for schools is something every admissions officer dreads. The rankings. Admissions officers have a "love-hate relationship" with the annual ranking of schools by U.S. News and World Report, according Richard Fuller, director of admissions at John's Hopkins University in Baltimore. "They are a very poor barometer of whether a school is a good match. People give them too much credence," Fuller said. "On the other hand, we're much more pleased to be included then not. We moved up this year [from 14 to 11], and that will help us in terms of attractiveness, and appeasing current students and alumni." Admissions officers, consultants and guidance counselors all agreed that the rankings are "arbitrary." "They're so arbitrary, it's based on what they decide is important, not necessarily someone else's criteria," Fuller said. "Last year they reported statistics [on faculty student ratios] incorrectly." "They're only for the purpose of selling magazines, and they're going to get in even more," Robbins added. "I'm always reluctant when people rely on a quick easy list. A school like Cornell, one year it's nine, now 13. Come on." And educators agreed that the rankings are often used incorrectly, by both students and schools. "There are schools more on the margin that use the rankings, schools more in middle field. They put things like 'In 1988 we were ranked number five,' when they're not even on the list anymore. It does happen," Fuller said. And educators also complain that students place too much importance on the "prestige factor" in the rankings. "They're helpful in putting things in order," Krivy said. "But the mere fact that schools are ranked in that order is not the most important factor. People think prestige makes you stand out, but that's a lot of bull." "I [used] the rankings," said Jessica O'Connell, senior at Brentwood High School. "I guess I'm a pretty good student. I rank how I feel about myself as student on how those books rank the schools."

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