College Unranked

Ending the College Admissions Frenzy

Edited by Lloyd Thacker

Paperback

ISBN 9780674019775

Publication date: 09/30/2005

Stressed and sleepless, today's high school students race from school to activities in their most competitive game of all: admission to a top-ranked, prestigious university. But is relying on magazine rankings and a vague sense of "prestige" really the best way to choose a college? Is hiring test prep teachers and consultants really the best way to shape your own education?

In this book, edited by a veteran admissions counselor, a passionate advocate for students, the presidents and admission deans of leading colleges and universities--like Dartmouth, Vanderbilt, Harvard--remind readers that college choice and admission are a matter of fit, not of winning a prize, and that many colleges are "good" in different ways. They call for bold changes in admissions policies and application strategies, to help both colleges and applicants to rediscover what college is really for. It's not just a ticket to financial success, but a once-in-a-lifetime chance to explore new worlds of knowledge.

Praise

The truth could set you free! This collection of essays adds real insight to the search for college and re-centers the focus to the student's development and well-being. Full of excellent observations and advice.

—Richard H. Shaw, Dean of Admission and Financial Aid, Stanford University
This book is welcome, if not overdue. The leading figures in college administration and admissions articulate with insight, candor, and compassion what the college admissions process should and should not be. This book is required reading for every parent, counselor, and aspiring student. It is more honest, helpful, and important than any guidebook or ranking magazine that exploits the misplaced anxiety concerning college admissions among students and their families.

—Leon Botstein, President, Bard College
College Unranked is the most important effort yet to yank back the college application/admission process from the grasp of college rankings, commercial guidebooks, and expensive private consultants, and to restore it where it belongs: in the hands of students and their parents. The voices of the book's contributors are a calm, thoughtful force propelling us through the national blast of anxiety that dominates college selection and admission.

—Bob Laird, former Director of Undergraduate Admission, University of California, Berkeley
[College Unranked] is a collection of essays by some of the most thoughtful people working in college admissions today...[Thacker] has an unusual perspective, an irresistible writing style and a passion to help students.

—Jay Mathews, Washington Post
These college-insider contributors deride the 'commercialization of college admissions,' the obsession with college 'rankings' and the 'test prep industry' in a compelling critique of college admissions today.

—Eric Arnesen, Chicago Tribune