In NOrthern Virginia, it's possible to start obsessing about colleges when your kids are still in kindergarten -- but this book provides a wonderful dose of reality. No, you won't "die" if your child doesn't get into Princeton or UVA and you might even find yourself shocked by the great education he or she can get elsewhere! (And apparently you don't have to torture them with SAT guidebooks in the intervening 10 or so years before they apply to make this dream a reality!)

His findings about the nominal link between alma mater and later in life satisfaction were extremely comforting, as were his prescient words about how technological changes practically guarantee your children will be working in fields which don't even currently exist. As I myself am!

Read the first paragraph in the book and then run. Pope's argument can be stated in a single sentence: small, liberal arts colleges throughout the U.S. can provide an excellent education. However, he ruins his credibility by using weak logic, meaningless examples, and very outdated personal research. It's like listening to your dad's retired guidance counselor thumping his fist on your desk, spitting, "The Ivy League stinks." Let's face it: the Ivies are great and small liberal arts schools can be great, too. It's all a matter of finding the right match, but Pope won't help you do that. Buy any other guide and you'll be better off.

This book is a load of crap... and thats the nicest thing I can say about it. I couldn't even stand to finish it, though I got most of the way through it.

Her statistics are all massively out of date (maybe the book is too, I don't remember) and the book is aimed at low level students. If you're a barely-making-it-c-student who needs a boost, read this. Otherwise, skip it.

The things she says about Ivy league schools (all the classes are huge and taught by graduate students with thick accents, etc) come off like she's presenting a conspiracy theory, and I hardly count her as a credible source.

If you want to read a book dealing with about the same subject matter, read "Harvard Schmarvard." The guy who wrote it is a Harvard alum, so I trust what he has to say slightly more than Pope. He takes a much more objective- and sane- view about the whole thing, and comes off as much more trustworthy.

Pope completely puts down big schools, saying their wrong for everything, along with competitve and Ivy league schools. Big schools are wrong for some, Ivy league schools are wrong for some, but the woman is crazy.

I read the library's copy, but I wouldn't advocate buying it. Even used.

As a guidance teacher, I always recommend Loren Pope's books because I believe they are a wonderful guide for aspiring young Americans. I also run West Point via Norman Thomas Remick's book, "West Point----", past aspiring young Americans. It is an all scholarship college, but don't let that scare you. Though West Point is 4th out of thousands of colleges in total Rhodes Scholars behind only Harvard, Yale, and Princeton, you can get in if, as Loren Pope says, the Admissions Dept at West Point thinks it is right for you, even if you're not a straight A student. And if you think it is right for you based on much of the criteria that Loren Pope so aptly presents in "Looking Beyond the Ivy League", plus the answer to "why West Point" in the Remick book, you could find that this is the best kept secret. Be sure to read Loren Pope's "Looking Beyond the Ivy League" first for overall perspective. Then check out West Point via the Remick book.