Fiske Guide to Colleges: A Comprehensive Overview
Deciding which guidebooks will be most useful to you in the college research process can be tricky. The Fiske Guide to Colleges is a resource for prospective college students, containing useful information. Fully updated and expanded every year, Fiske is a source of information for college-bound students and their parents.
History and Background
The Fiske Guide to Colleges was established in 1982 by Edward B. Fiske, a former education editor for The New York Times. While covering higher education for the Times, Fiske identified the need for a publication to help students and parents navigate the college admissions scene. The guide was meant to differ from publications like U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges rankings and similar competitors, which rely on reputational surveys and other quantitative measures but largely defer to schools to write their own narrative descriptions. This results in a focus centered more around individual fit than comparative prestige.
Updated and published annually by Sourcebooks, the Fiske Guide is now a top-selling college guidebook in the United States.
Edward B. Fiske, born in Philadelphia, graduated from Wesleyan University summa cum laude and received master’s degrees in theology from Princeton Theological Seminary and in political science from Columbia University. He is a regular contributor to the International Herald-Tribune and serves on a number of boards of non-profit organizations working for access to college and international understanding. Fiske has teamed up with his wife, Helen F. Ladd, a professor at Duke University, on several major international research projects regarding the development of education in various countries. Together, they are co-editors of the Handbook of Research in Education Finance and Policy, the official handbook of the American Education Finance Association.
Content and Features
The Fiske Guide to Colleges includes information about over 300 four-year colleges that its writers consider to be the “best and most interesting institutions in the nation”. The guide includes 175 of the most selective schools in the nation. In addition to schools with high academic standards, it includes colleges that lend geographic diversity to the list and create an equal balance of private and public schools. The guide also incorporates specialty schools that may be based around engineering, a particular religious denomination, or a devotion to environmental conservation.
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Every college page is equipped with a sidebar of quick facts that gives an overview of some essential statistics about the school. The Fiske Guide gives the percentage of students receiving financial aid at each school, a rating for how expensive the school is (ranging from one dollar symbol to four), and an indication of whether the college is public or private. A private college with the most expensive rating ($$$$) will be far more expensive than a public college with the same rating. The Fiske Guide provides SAT and ACT score ranges for each school. The ranges reflect the middle 50% of admitted students, meaning the low end represents the 25th percentile of scores, and the high end represents the 75th percentile. Admissions statistics include the number of applicants, acceptance rate, and percentage of students enrolled out of the pool of accepted candidates. The guide also provides each school’s graduation rate after six years and the percentage of returning freshman.
These ratings are unique to the Fiske Guide, and they can be a helpful overview of how well-balanced a school is when considering both its academic offerings and social scene. The Fiske Guide has this rating category because sometimes schools with good academics and a healthy amount of socializing still don't have a particularly happy student body. In these rare cases the college's atmosphere might not be supportive or the location might be very isolated, leading to a decline in general quality of life.
The guide also provides each school’s graduation rate after six years and the percentage of returning freshman.
Unique Approach and Value
The Fiske Guide is unique in that it is not based on a numerical ranking system, but rather on extensive research and personal visits to each campus. This lack of a traditional objective ranking means that students can focus on finding the ideal fit for them, rather than simply looking at which schools are said to be the "best" or "most prestigious." The guide covers a wide range of institutions, including public and private universities, liberal arts colleges, and specialized schools, and offers information on everything from academics and student life to campus culture and facilities.
One of the most valuable aspects of the Fiske Guide is its focus on the "personality" of each college or university. Personal anecdotes and unique rankings for things like social life give readers a real sense of what it would be like to attend the institution as a full-time student. Crucially, the guide also provides a list of "Overlap Schools" for each college, opening the reader's eyes to other colleges that share similar traits, values, or tone. Students are thus given an easy way to explore additional colleges that may appeal to them.
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The Fiske Guide has become known for its curated lists of colleges providing excellent educational value. The publication releases its 20 public and private "Best Buy" schools each year, which are frequently cited in the media. Other lists featuring colleges with particularly strong programs for certain majors or student support resources are also added periodically.
Strengths and Weaknesses
If you already have some schools in mind, this guide can give you great insight into the perspectives of real students through its descriptive essays. You may not be able to find such a concise yet comprehensive overview of what campus life is like anywhere else. The statistics are easy to digest and not too overwhelming. Specialized lists give you the means to conduct your search more logically.
Although this guide might be more fun to read than some other resources, it makes it difficult to filter out schools. The essays paint most schools in a pretty good light. There are also many statements like "humanities programs are very strong, but science majors are also enormously popular" and "students get the best of several worlds: excellence in engineering and the liberal arts, abundant research opportunities, and a healthy social life". The statistics are easy to understand, but they’re not particularly detailed. If you want more specific information about the costs of schools including in-state vs. out of state tuition and room and board, you will have to look elsewhere.
Subjectivity, as outlined by the authors in the introduction, is a key feature of the Fiske Guide. Academic ratings, in particular, can be difficult to sort out. The guide only recommends comparing these ratings directly from one school to another if both schools are of a similar “type” - that is, two large public colleges or two small private colleges. A small private college with a five-star academic rating may have a very different academic climate than a large public college with the same rating.
How to Use the Fiske Guide Effectively
The Fiske Guide is a nice accessory for your college search, but it can sometimes lead to more doubts and confusion. It contains so many seemingly great options that it becomes very difficult to sort through them. If this is your situation, a smart way use the book is to read descriptions of schools that vary significantly across different dimensions. For example, read the entry for a very small college and a very large college, and see which one appeals to you more. By doing this, you'll begin to see what your preferences are without having to zero in on a specific school.
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At this early stage, you could also just skim the book straight through and read more closely for schools that are of particular interest. For example, if you know cost is important to you, you can look at the school index by price and just read the descriptions of schools that are within your price range. If you're planning on going into a specific professional field, you can focus solely on schools listed as having top programs in that area.
If you aren’t sure where to begin with your college search and are already a junior or older, you may want to consult other resources before turning to the Fiske Guide. While the guide does contain a “sizing-yourself-up survey” to help you figure out what your preferences are for college, it may be difficult to apply your answers to your search within the book. Another good way to whittle down your choices is to decide if you might be interested in an in-state school.
Benefits for Parents and Counselors
For parents and counselors, the Fiske Guide can be a useful tool for guiding and supporting students as they explore their options and make important decisions about their education. The guide's extensive and unbiased information can help families have informed and productive conversations about colleges, and can provide counselors and mentors with valuable insights as they work with their students.
Integration with College Planning Platforms
CollegePlannerPro began licensing the Fiske Guide in 2016. It is accessible through both CollegePlannerPro and CustomCollegePlan. Since Fiske is built right into the CollegePlannerPro platform, it's easy for both counselors and their students to find and use, with no extra associated cost or login required. Members of CollegePlannerPro may also reference the aforementioned lists (Best Buys, strong programs, etc.) within the Custom College List feature.
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