College Prowler

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

College Prowler is a company started by Carnegie Mellon graduates in 2002. It started as a project by Luke Skurman and Joey Rahimi in their Entrepreneurship class at Carnegie Mellon University. Their mission was to provide high school students with every last detail about a college, both good and bad, so that they could be confident enough to choose the school that is right for them.

[edit] College Guidebooks - Each School Has Its Own Guidebook

There are over 200 College Prowler guidebooks on over 200 different colleges across the United States. Each guidebook is approximately 180 pages long and filled with student reviews about their school. A student author interviews hundreds of students on campus to cover the following topics:

[edit] College Rankings

• Academics - As many as 1 in 4 college students drop out after or during freshman year. One of the reasons for this trend is that many incoming freshman just aren’t prepared for the enormous academic transition from high school to college; it’s a huge change to deal with.
• Athletics - Even if you’re not a hardcore athlete, a school’s athletics can still be important to you. School spirit can be an exhilarating feeling, and intramural sports offer you a social outlet and a break from the academic routine.
• Campus Dining - The food a school offers probably doesn’t seem particularly important, does it? When considering a school, students often fail to consider that they’ll be living (and eating) at the mercy of the institution for the next four years.
• Campus Housing - Living in a dorm is going to be a huge part of your college life. Your living situation will influence almost everything about your four years in college. The people you live with and the comforts you’re afforded will affect your personal and academic life.
• Campus Strictness - You’re going to have a lot more freedom as a college student. What you do with that freedom, though, isn’t always up to you. Some schools don’t seem to care what you do; others impose curfews and lights-out policies.
• Computers - College is becoming more dependent on technology every day. You may get to school and kick yourself for leaving your computer at home; if the school has tiny computer labs packed with students, you may want to bring or buy your own machine (it’ll make printing out assignments ten minutes before class much easier).
• Diversity - College isn’t just supposed to be high school with more buildings. It’s supposed to be an experience that broadens your horizons, and it’s hard to do that if you only meet people exactly like you.
• Drug Scene - Drugs have been an issue ever since people discovered that they could grind up, inject, smoke, melt, or swallow various kinds of stuff to change the way they feel.
• Facilities - Okay, you’ve paid the school thousands of dollars. Now you expect them to give you a little something in return – nice buildings, up-to-date computer labs, a decent gym or two.
• Girls - Guys, you’re going to have a hard time enjoying your next four years if there just aren’t any worthwhile girls on campus. College should offer you an entirely new and engaging social scene, and with that comes members of the opposite sex who are not only attractive but fun and personable.
• Greek Life - Whether or not you plan on joining a fraternity or sorority, Greek life will still be a huge part of your college experience; Greek events are major social functions. You may discover that joining a Greek organization is a much more enriching and worthwhile experience than you’d ever expected (or much less).
• Guys - Girls, college guys are very different from the high school guys you’re used to; they’re a different breed. College should offer you an entirely new and engaging social scene, and with that comes members of the opposite sex who are not only attractive but fun and personable.
• Local Atmosphere - When you’re not studying, you’ll probably want to be doing something other than sitting around. Every school offers different surroundings, and visiting for a few days isn’t going to give you all the information you’ll need about what other students do for fun off-campus.
• Nightlife - Work hard during the day, play hard at night. The nights of your college years will be the most exciting you’ll ever have. Every school offers a different kind of nightlife for you to unwind after a long week of classes.
• Off-Campus Dining - Face it. You will get tired of the cafeteria food very quickly. You’re going to have to explore the surrounding area for great restaurants with affordable prices.
• Off-Campus Housing - You’re not going to want to live in the dorms for four years, are you? One of the greatest experiences of a college career is moving out of your dorm and into a house with your friends. Living off campus is one step closer to living in the world beyond college.
• Parking - When the time comes to bring your car to school, a horrible parking situation is going to make life difficult. Very few schools make parking trouble-free.
• Safety and Security - The presence of crime on campus is something you should strongly consider when choosing a college. Your chosen school may look like Pleasantville when the tour guide shows you around campus, but there may be more to the picture than what you’re shown. Your safety and security should not be taken for granted.
• Transportation - Freshmen are usually not allowed to have cars on campus. Imagine being unable to explore your new town because the busses never run on time and the cab drivers charge an arm and a leg.
• Weather - Hurricanes, blizzards and grey skies are regular to some of the finest institutions in the nation. Constant bad weather is something you’ve got to take into consideration when preparing for school.

These are the aspects of campus life that are considered to be the most important. Each aspect of campus life is discussed by hundreds of students and then summarized by the student author. College Prowler then compares that aspect of student life to all of its other schools, and then gives a grade on a scale of A+ to F. These College Rankings are considered very popular amongst guidance counselors and high school students.

According to College Prowler, schools that are given an A+ in Academics are: MIT, Stanford, and Princeton.

[edit] Trivia

College Prowler is known for its popular rankings of the student body. Schools that were given an A+ for girls are: Vanderbilt University, Loyola Marymount University, McGill University, LSU, University of Texas, University of Central Florida, Arizona State University, University of Arizona, University of Georgia, University of San Diego, and Pepperdine University.

The schools with the least attractive women are: Carnegie Mellon University, Carleton College, Drexel University, Cornell University, West Point Military Academy, Bard College,Georgia Institute of Technology (GeorgiaTech) MIT, Caltech, Emory University and Williams College.

While many colleges object to the content College Prowler writes, they know they are acurate portrayals of campus life since a random sample of students are interviewed for the guidebooks.