The College Solution: A Guide for Everyone Looking for the Right School at the Right Price

An Alternative

Obviously, you need to be cautious about relying too heavily on the Cliff Notes version of academic analysis. Here’s perhaps the biggest flaw in the U.S News & World Report’s methodology: The approach only tells you about the credentials of a school’s incoming crop of freshmen. It does absolutely nothing to elucidate what kind of learning is taking place. And isn’t that what finding a college should be focused on?

If you want to view the college hunt in a different light, I’d suggest buying a slim book that the crusading Thacker edited titled College Unranked, Ending the College Admissions Frenzy. The book, which was published by Harvard University Press, is a compilation of essays from college presidents, deans, and others in ...