while the book obviously covers all major colleges and universities, do not expect details on lesser known (even when quite large) ones. Separate entry on Eastern Carolina U. for example, even with 10K+ students? sorry, about one sentence on it as if it was exactly the same as NC State.

I was enjoying the excerpts until I noted that the guide lists Cooper Union among the most costly colleges. In fact, although the stated annual tuition is $35,000, all 1,100 +/- students get a full scholarship. Of course, the cost of living in NY is not inconsiderable, but it is still quite a deal for a superb education, and the reason it is one of the most selective institutions in the country.

Fiske gives an overview of hundreds of colleges using the same format for each school. The scores, quality of life, seriousness of each school ratings are very helpful. The only confusing part is comparing what a particular school's primary majors are with the listing of what schools have great programs in each major--somewhat contradictory.

The selection of reviewed colleges is odd - there seems to be no particular logic and colleges I would have expected to find in here were absent. The reviews of the colleges in here are good but I assumed it would have been more comprehensive in its coverage. For example, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and Bradley University are not in here.

I think the book is easy to read with helpful profiles. Gives you a subset of colleges instead of trying to be all encompassing. Looking in the front, by public or private and strength areas by majors is a good place to start.

One gap is that the cost model is not particularly helpful, especially for folks who live in the Northeast. I would suggest categorizing further by geographic region and also costs for out of state students versus residents.

It is an interesting read, but not was I was looking for. Book is well written, clear and concise, but reads as a narrative about various colleges. Even the authors admit, the process used in choosing these colleges are selective and subjective. By choosing only 175 colleges , Many good institutions are unfortunately absent from this book. An hour spend reading this book is ample, and I doubt after reading it you would ever refer to it again. Check it out at your local library

Is it just me or are these college search/guidance books coming out sooner every year? I mean, we are barely into July, and here already is the 2010 edition of The Fisk Guide to Colleges. I am well aware that the publishing business on college search/guidance books is a multi-million business, but still.

"Fiske Guide to Colleges 2010" (774 pages) is a curious college-guidance/search book in my opinion. It lists the "best and most interesting" colleges in the country, about 300 out of 2,200 four year colleges in the US are written up. According to the introduction, they were selected on the basis of academic quality, geographic diversity, a balance of public and private schools, and schools that are currently popular for certain programs (engineering and technical schools, religious emphasis, etc.). Being from Ohio, I look at the list of schools that "made the cut" and inexplicably Xavier University (a fine Jesuit college here in Cincinnati) is left out of the book. Huh? While the descriptions give a good flavor of a particular college, there are essentials missing, such as the exact tuition/room/board (there is only a general 1 to 4 star rating on how expensive a college is). Also not helpful in my opinion is that the colleges are presented alphabetically, rather than by state, since most kids look at colleges in a particular state (usually their home state), although there is an index by state.

When my daughter was simply looking to get basic information, she did not spend a lot of time with this book. As she narrowed her choices, she did read up more on her pool of colleges in this book. Bottom line: if you are at the very beginning of your college search, this is not the book to start with. For that I would instead recommend "The Complete Book of Colleges" issued by the Princeton Review (the 2010 edition is coming out in early August). The "Fisk Guide to Colleges" is instead more helpful to get a second (or third) opinion once your child has narrowed down his/her selection of colleges of interest.