The Insider's Guide to the Colleges. 13th ed.

New York: St. Martin's, 1987 .

The thirteenth edition of this fun-toread guide compiled and edited by the staff of the Yale Daily News covers more than 290 colleges and universities in the United States and Canada (the eleventh edition was reviewed in "Rankings," part 1.) Almost 800 pages long, it is full of tantalizing information concerning the variety and diversity of choices available in higher education. It includes a seven-page glossary of terms. Schools are listed in "The College Finder" in alphabetical but not rank order, according to areas not usually covered in other college guides: innovative and/or unorthodox colleges, schools enrolling fewer than 1,000 students, colleges with beautiful campuses, schools accepting less than 30 percent of their applicants, colleges de-emphasizing varsity sports, etc. Written in the same literary style as Fiske's Best Buys in College Education (above), this book succeeds in doing what it says in its preface-- giving a "snapshot of life" at these institutions. Used in conjunction, the Insider's Guide is the appetizer to other currently available guides and rakings research studies.

IV. COMPARATIVE ARTICLES

Basu, Janet Else. "Berkeley and Stanford: The Etiquette of Gentlemanly Competition." Change 16:32-37, 44 (Mar. 1984).

The Assessment rated Stanford and Berkeley as the top two universities in the nation by the quality of their graduate schools. First-place Berkeley was perceived as leading the nation in the areas of anthropology, chemistry, history, music, and civil engineering. Stanford, in second place, led the list in computer sciences, biochemistry, and psychology with both schools tying in the areas of biostatistics. The findings of the Assessment in the areas of chemistry and music differ from the findings of other studies. (See "Rankings," parts 1 and 3 for additional studies in chemistry, and "Rankings," part 2 for music).

This is a useful and enlightening article about the spirit of cooperation that exists between these top-ranked intellectual contenders in the areas of research facilities, grants, recruiting, library resources, etc., and presents them as allies, not adversaries. Each has strengths the other does not and neither is trying to be all things in all areas. The wisdom of recognizing their limitations has contributed to cooperation between the two schools on the part of their faculty and students. Those considering attending either of these universities should read this article to obtain a brief history of each school and the flavor of these West Coast institutions that Basu has imparted.

Martines, Lauro. "Large and Little School Teaching: Reed College and UCLA." American Scholar 54:194-203 (Spring 1985).

A comprehensive look at the environment and teaching styles of two schools that are consistently ranked in the forefront of many studies. Written from the perspective of a professor who has taught at both schools, Martines presents an objective look at the advantages and disadvantages of being a student and a faculty member at both. He concludes that the intellectual diversity offered by both "large and little" schools contributes to the quality of American education....