College Prowler

http://www.collegeprowler.com/guide.asp/1-59658-123-9/index.html

Description

College Prowler is the result of an effort to make public student opinions of their respective colleges. Not limited to Stanford alone, roughly 200 colleges have been visited by the authors and the results of interviewing students as well as fact collection have been put into books that one can buy for fifteen dollars. While the website is mainly one large advertisement for the books themselves, it does offer the visitor the chance the view a select number of pages from the book itself. Also, the site publishes a ranked list of how every college is "graded" in terms of 20 different categories, including "Academics", "Greek Life", and "Drug Scene". While the comparisons to other colleges is relatively useless for students who have already committed themselves to Stanford, it does reveal how Stanford ranked in every category.

Advantages

One of College Prowler's big selling points is its quotations, which come directly from the students. The selection of these statements is fairly widespread, with both good and bad things admitted. The authors have guaranteed the authenticity of everything on the site, and the information they provide does seem adequately unbiased (by the authors, that is, the students generally do have one but it's made clear). Because they have an obligation to be accurate, the authors do have to check on any claims that the students make. Also, the creation of books is their job, so they are professsional and have many resources at their disposal for use.

Disadvantages

First of all, despite the validity of the interviews with the students the editing of the quotations is done by an outsider to the Stanford campus. While this may in fact add perspective that Stanford students lack, more likely it just potentially skews the choice of what is important and/or relevant. Also, it is highly unlikely that the books get redone every year, so while the website will be easy to alter once they do there's still a significant amount of time when the information is outdated. The biggest problem, however, is the target audience for the site. Students who look at College Prowler are likely to be deciding between colleges, so the site is portraying Stanford in relation to the other 199 schools instead of as its own independent place. Therefore, certain information that is given the average Stanford student already knows. Additionally, not much is given in terms of explanations of how the school runs; instead, the authors focus on more static categories.