The Princeton Review's Best 366 Colleges: 2008 Edition aims to dish out the real deal with information from actual students - but schools have some say over which students fill out the surveys used to compile the book.
This year, the Admissions Office asked members of the Kite and Key Society, a volunteer group of undergraduates who serve as ambassadors to the Penn community through tour guiding, overnight hosting and other outreach programs, to fill out the questionnaire.
The Princeton Review uses an 80-question survey to evaluate quality of life for students at many schools across the country. It sends a link to an online survey - available year-round on the Princeton Review Web site - to admissions offices once every three years to encourage students to complete the survey so the book contains current responses.
And then, "it's upon the school to ensure a random sample," said Jen Adams, the student survey manager for Princeton Review. "It's an honor policy."
The decision to send the survey to Kite and Key members was made because of time constraints and the Admissions Office's access to the listserv, interim Dean of Admissions Eric Kaplan wrote in an e-mail.
"We expected that Kite and Key members would complete the survey and also would forward the link to other Penn students," he added.
In an e-mail inviting Kite and Key members to fill out the survey, Jordan Pascucci, coordinator of on-campus programs for the admissions office, wrote, "As tour guides and ambassadors you will be able to convey your enthusiasm and positive Penn experiences and I trust that you will be in touch with me if you have any questions."
The e-mail did not encourage Kite and Key members to forward the survey to other students, although a link to the questionnaire can be e-mailed upon its completion.
"I think they figured that tour guides and ambassadors would be enthusiastic about Penn anyways," said College junior Daniel Lustig, the president of Kite and Key.
Other schools take different approaches to alerting students about the survey. Stanford University, for example, uses student volunteers to staff tables around campus where other students fill out the surveys in person, according to Shawn Abbott, Stanford's director of admissions.
At other schools, Adams said, information technology departments send e-mails to a randomly generated sample of students.
Despite the relatively small pool of students notified directly by the Admissions Office about the survey, Lustig said he believes the diversity of personalities within Kite and Key would present an accurate portrait of Penn student life.
Penn's results "look random. We can see the differences with classes and genders of students," Adams said.
She added that the Princeton Review would likely catch cases of administrators trying to skew the survey results positively. In 2001, Adams noted, the president of Macalester College tried to target responding students after alumni complained about the school's appearance on the Review's "Students Ignore God on a Regular Basis" list and Princeton Review noticed the statistical shift.
The Princeton Review surveys are completed by about 120,000 college students nationwide, averaging about 325 students per school.
