Wooster's presence in Colleges That Change Lives is a case in point. Almost 32 perecent of the Wooster students who used guidebooks cited Pope's book, which received the third most mentions behind America's Best Colleges and the Princeton Review . This book would likely appear in a similar way if the other 39 colleges cited in Mr. Pope's book were to take similar surveys of their students. What it underscores, I think, is that students do pay as much attention to what is written about a college as to the rankings that are attached to that college in other books. Asked to rank the relative importance of a series of possible influences, campus visits were well in front followed, in order, by parents, college admissions representatives, guidebooks, and then high school guidance counselors.
Students continue to consult guidebooks early in the selection process.