Choosing a College

A Guide for Parents and Students

By: Thomas Sowell

Narrated by: Robert Morris

This book starts at "square one", before you know what questions to ask, what colleges to read about, or what statistics to look up. Sowell candidly describes the inner and outer workings of scores of American colleges and universities, big and small. He gives special attention to special programs, financial aid, and the academic environment.©1989 Thomas Sowell (P)1989 Blackstone Audiobooks

Should have found this Sooner

Thomas Sowell is a very intelligent man, I wish that I had found this book earlier in my life. I actually quit going to school at one University because I got tired of the campus life, lack of professors caring, Etc. 5 years later I chose a different University that is more suited to me and I am almost with a bachelor's degree but I still wish I had found this book sooner

Timeless wisdom

This is an excellent guide that gives the reader an overview of the college system and what weigh while making a choice. It need not to be current to be useful since he gives the reader a frame that transcends time and place.

Still relevant

Listen to this first if you are considering hiring a college consultant- you will either realize that you don’t need one, or you will be very prepared to get the most out of such a relationship. This is also an excellent overview of the whole college endeavor and my two teenagers have said they’ve heard things they never would have thought about- like the fact that famous professors at high- profile institutions are under pressure to “publish or perish” and so, in many cases, do not have the time or incentive to dedicate themselves to excellence in teaching their undergraduate students. Also helpful is Mr. Sowell’s insistence that the student’s personality and lifestyle are of utmost importance in choosing a college…he stresses over and over that a “good school” is one that fits the particular student socially, personally, and academically. The statistics are unavoidably outdated, but from the book you can learn WHAT statistics to consider and find them at your fingertips instantly through an internet search.

Still Somewhat Relevant

Still Somewhat Relevant. I am long out of College, but I wanted to read the works of T. Sowell. It is funny how not much has changed on the university side of academia since 1989.

Great for those going to college

I loved every book by Thomas Sowell, except this one- but that is because I'm NOT the intended audience. I went to college 45 years ago.

However, this is still a good book and had some interesting parts in it for me.

I would highly recommend this for those going to college- there are good tips and some things to look out for. For example, if you hate the dorm food, do you still have to get the food plan if you are forced to live in the dorms? Go visit. try the food. Check out what the student newspapers talk about.

Partially outdated, but quite insightful

The book was originally published in 1989 and some elements of it are outdated, but otherwise Sowell is a thoughtful guide to the college admissions process, who as a professor offers valuable inside insights that are not obvious to people outside academia.

Sound issues

There seems to be some talking in the background of the recording that I found to be very distracting.

Whoa! References to 1987? WTF?

This thing must have been written in the late 1980s. But you won't know that from the description. My first clue was him telling you to write away to the AAA to get copies of travel guides to different regions. Umm.... can't you just look on the internet? Then he refers to some guides written in 1986 and 1987. Huh?

But there's still some good timeless advice in here. But really, Audible? Isn't this a subject that requires CURRENT information?

Dated but worth a quick listen

The author makes thoughtful and worthwhile observations and has many useful and timeless suggestions about the process of choosing a college. However, you do need to sift through a fair bit of chaff to find the wheat. Tables of data are read in a monotonous fashion and there are suggestions about calling or writing for more information rather than using the internet. An abridged or updated version would be a great addition to the Audible collection.

Incredibly outdated

I wish I had looked at when this book was published before purchasing. It's from 2006 and incredibly outdated at this point. Maybe there is some useful information, but it's not worth sifting through to find out what's still relevant. I'm sure it was a good book back in its day.