College guides confuse, frustrate

Searching for the perfect college often leaves high school students overwhelmed and confused. College guides and special magazine issues like the annual U.S. News and World Report rankings are supposed to ease the burden. However, these guides and magazines sometimes only add to the confusion, especially since their accuracy and validity has drawn fire from educators and administrators. The University was ranked 13th in this year's U.S. News survey, published yesterday, a drop from last year's 11 rank. J.J. Thompson, who directed research for the U.S. News article, said the 13th place rating should not necessarily be considered a fall. "It's hard to say definitely that Penn fell from 11 to 13," said Thompson, explaining that since the University was tied for 11th place last year, it could have really been in 12th place, only one notch from the current ranking. Thompson also said last year's figures cannot be compared to this year's due to a change in methodology. This year, U.S. News included a "value-added variable" that predicts graduation rates based on a school's expenditures per student and the student's SAT or ACT scores. Using those standards, U.S. News determined the University has an 87 percent graduation rate. But Thompson was able to explain that Harvard University fell from position one to three because of a growth in Harvard's class sizes. U.S. News is not the only magazine going into the college guide business. And the growing number of publications makes the entire process even more difficult for prospective students. Princeton Review, in conjunction with Time magazine, and Kaplan, working with Newsweek, published college guides for the first time earlier this month. These guides do not rank the colleges but give advice including how to choose a college, write an application and afford the high tuition costs. With so many college guides to choose from, it isn't easy for prospective students to decide which books or magazines to trust. Many current University students said they were uncertain about the methods used to calculate various ratings. As a result, some of them chose not to use the guides at all in determining their college plans. "I don't know what they base it on, and I don't think they could be that accurate because the people who write them aren't students," College freshman Emily Wolfe said. University President Judith Rodin said she doubts the validity of rankings in general. "There is no doubt that this ranking, and others like it, are comparing 'apples to oranges' in many respects," Rodin said in response to the recent U.S. News ratings. "We take these rankings seriously because the public -- prospective students and their parents -- use the U.S. News rankings in their decision making," she added. An informal survey of 100 Penn freshman showed that 24 percent preferred Barron's college guide above any other book or magazine. U.S. News came in second, with 19 percent of students choosing it. Thirteen percent of the students surveyed preferred the Fiske college guide, and Princeton Review followed with eight percent. Guides receiving less than five percent included those coming from Peterson's, Business Week, Newsweek and the Internet. College freshman Sean Macmillan said he worked in a bookstore last summer and read every college guide before deciding he liked Barron's the most. "Barron's seemed to be most in tune to the important things that college students look for," Macmillan said. Many freshmen said they had studied different magazines and books while deciding which school to attend. "I'm like a walking college guide," said College freshman Michelle Sack, noting that Princeton Review is her favorite guide since it "gets to the heart of everything." However, 25 percent of freshmen said they did not use college guides because they relied on friends, guidance counselors and college visits. "I thought talking to people and hearing first hand was more important," College freshman Talya Gould said.