Greenes' Guides to Educational Planning: Inside the Top Colleges: Realities of Life and Learning in America's Elite Colleges

Howard Greene, Matthew W. Greene

Harper Collins, 2000 - Education - 320 pages

The competition for admission to the best colleges keeps getting tougher.

There are 12.5 million college undergraduates. Fewer than 90,000 attend the top twenty-five colleges.

Ten prominent institutions -- eight Ivy League schools, Standford, and MIT -- enrolled 1 percent of all entering freshmen, representing one-third of the highest academic achievers and test-takers in the nation.

There has been a substantial rise in applications to elite colleges and universities. In 1999

Harvard received 19,000 applications -- including 2,900 from high school valedictorians -- for the 1,600 spaces for the class of 2003

Stanford received more than 17,000 applications for 1,550 places; and

Princeton received 14,875 applications for 1,694 places

Based on a survey of more than 4,000 current students at twenty of the country's top colleges

Academic reputation is the number-one reason students apply to Ivy League schools, but are they prepared for the host of other factors that will affect their success on campus? "Inside the Top Colleges" breaks through the "halo" of prestige surrounding the nation's elite schools to reveal what the quality of education and daily life is really like on these campuses. Every institution has its strengths and weaknesses; this book examines those factors that can result in a highly positive college experience or a potentially negative one. Students speak out on

The Top fiveadvantages of an elite education

Intellectual confidence

Foundation for future self-education

New intellectual and social perspectives

Social connections

Business/career connections

The top five student suggestions

Reduce class size

Increase diversity

Increase faculty accessibility

Provide better counseling

Review core curriculum

At all these colleges, students complained about the stress of the workload and the cost.

Contents

• The Major Findings: 1
• The Cost of an Elite Education: 65
• Is This All There Is? Social Life on Campus: 93
• Diversifying the Campus: 119
• Safety on Campus: 155
• EIGHT: 173
• NINE: 187
• ELEVEN: 221
• TWELVE: 251
• Bibliography: 285

Bibliographic information

• Title: Greenes' Guides to Educational Planning: Inside the Top Colleges: Realities of Life and Learning in America's Elite Colleges; Greenes' Guides to Educational Planning
• Authors: Howard Greene, Matthew W. Greene
• Publisher: Harper Collins, 2000
• ISBN: 0060929944, 9780060929947
• Length: 320 pages
• Subjects: Education / General; Education / Schools / Levels / Higher; Fiction / General; Reference / Dictionaries; Study Aids / College Guides