Departments and Programs Books

I originally bought this book to have a text that I could easily check through--rather than going online--to find graduate programs in the humanities that interested me. On that score, I wasn't disappointed, although by now (2005), some or much of the specific information has changed. In short, this kind of book is a good place to start for those who are interested in exploring the wide range of programs that are available in the humanities.

That said, there are some shortcomings. If, like me, you don't have easy online access, the book's frequent referrals to more detailed online information is not all that helpful. Moreover, in the fast paced world of online communication, web sites and email addresses change, well, not quite with the speed of light, but almost. Second, they say that their information comes from the colleges themselves, but I am not 100% convinced. One university sent me its brochure, dated 2001, that was almost completely different from what appears in the guidebook. Related to this is my third point, the question of deadlines. If you miss a deadline, you've missed it, as I found out to my dismay after submitting two applications with the application fee (online). In the guidebook, the deadlines for these schools were listed as May 15 and June 1, but in fact they were April 15 and April 1, respectively. This confusion over deadlines is perhaps the worst feature of the book.

Overall, the Peterson's Guide to Graduate Programs is a helpful indicator of what programs are available. For someone not sure how to get started, this kind of book can show the way. Just keep in mind it's only a book, not The Book, after all.

Considering the sheer volume of Holocaust accounts, it has become incumbent upon the author of each new title to justify its existence. Diane Wolf does this by claiming "a substantially different spin from conventional Holocaust testimonials." By this she means that most oral history interviews of Holocaust survivors give short shrift to their lives after the war and give little attention to how they might have gone on to create meaning and a new life out of the chaos and horror that they once endured. For example, the Shoah Foundation video interviews cover their subjects' post-war lives only briefly and conclude with a view of the survivors surrounded by children and grandchildren. With a seemingly happy ending thus affixed, any continuing bitter memories, regrets, and unresolved trauma on the part of the survivors are downplayed, or not explored at all. Wanting to avoid such an oversimplified portrayal, Wold takes a life review approach to reveal how her subject's personal identity was "reconfigured in a post-Holocaust world."

Following an introduction that blends the theoretical (editing methodology) with the personal (her long-term friendship with her subject), Wolf presents her interviews with Holocaust survivor Jake Geldwert. Mr. Geldwert recalls his life growing up in the predominantly Jewish town of Auschwitz prior to World War II, the rise of Nazism and outbreak of World War II that results in his imprisonment at the Auschwitz concentration camp, a recounting of that imprisonment, and an account of his eventual liberation, marriage to his wife Jeannette (who was also in Auschwitz), and their post-war adjustment period. He goes on to describe their emigration to America, and new life in Ithaca, New York, where for many years he worked at the grocery story of his wife's relatives. The book ends with Mr. Geldwert's expressed hope that younger generations will "remember what happened to the generation before, to watch out to do the best they can to have a peaceful world."

Whereas books based on oral history vary from the raw (such as certain Texas Folklore Society Publications) to the well-cooked (Studs Terkel), this one may be considered lightly steamed. The five chapters that comprise the main body of the text consist almost entirely of Geldwert's words. Though the lack of explanatory material may leave some general readers adrift, many of the stories speak for themselves. My favorite anecdote of Jake Geldwert dates from a time many years after the war when he was taking his oral examination to receive United States citizenship. The interrogator sprang a question on him at the end that was not in his study book: "How come they have a Senate and a Congress? Isn't one of them enough?" Mr. Geldwert's winning reply: "In our home town at home when we served the tea, they gave you a glass of tea and they gave you an empty glass right with it. Why did they give you the empty glass? Because if the tea was too hot for you, you poured it into the other one to cool it off. And the same thing here. You put a law into one house, so if it's too hot they cool it off in the other one."

Even though the Kaplan website appears to state that this package is Mac compatible, the entire package is not. The Mac compatibility refers to the online prep that is available. The CD ROM that is included with the book is windows only. The prep is good as usual, but the Kaplan website is misleading about compatibility. Kaplan says that they are aware of this and the product description may be changed soon.

Essentially, there are a million reviews of this book under the "Premier Edition" version - and I agree with everything they say. The first crucial thing to know is that the Kaplan tests are NOT representative. My Kaplan test scores: 560, 570, 560, 610 (all of this had me in tears and ready to cancel my test date). Well, my real score was a 760. I think the two reasons for this discrepancy are that each Kaplan test section begins with a fairly difficult question (the first question in each section on the real GMAT was much easier by comparison) and overall the Kaplan practice test verbal sections are much harder than the real GMAT verbal section. By the time I picked up this book, I was mostly done with my studying - I just wanted the practice tests. Given that, I don't have anything to say about the review sections of the book. I will say, scoring WAY below what I was hoping to in these practice tests taught me to keep my cool and not panic whenever I hit a rough patch (so thanks, Kaplan, for the tough love... it paid off on test day). I also really liked the "Math Reference" appendix in the book - very helpful. As for the NYC stuff - it wasn't useful. It was only $2 more and that's about what it was worth. My NYC advice? I only took the test in one place, but I have to highly recommend the Lower Manhattan Pearson Vue test facility. It was awesome. Peaceful, professional, and the people were really, really nice. They even gave me a hug when I got a good score - considering my low Kaplan practice test experiences, I was happily in total shock!

After paying over twenty dollars for a copy, I wish I could find more information on more AACSB-accredited doctoral programs in this book. Towards the end of the book, there is a list of all such programs. However, detailed information is only available for a small subset. I do not think my money was well spent.

I ordered this guide for the "40 in-depth profiles" of the most important schools, but found this guide completely missing the mark. There's no ranking whatsoever of the "top" schools. Also, if you look at the faculty lists for the schools that they *do* profile, you'll find that the top schools hire faculty from a very select 10-14 schools; a large portion of these schools are omitted from the "40 in-depth interviews" that this book promises. Nothing on Harvard, MIT, Northwestern, Carnegie-Mellon, Yale, Columbia, Berkeley, London School of Economics...these are the key schools where the faculty of the leading institutions are hired from. Yet there are plenty of write-ups on second- and third-tier schools...no offense, but if you want to discuss Doctoral programs, leaving out the top schools gives your "guide" virtually no credibility, despite your nod to the masses who aren't necessarily targeting the elitist institutions. One last point, some professional layout for the guide is in order. It looks like it was desktop published by someone on their home computer. Not to mention written by someone who is not familiar with the subject matter. The last point to add is that this claims to be "the only comprehensive guide to US doctoral business and management programs in print." Frankly, if the standards remain this low, it won't be the only guide for long.

When I read the reviews of other readers, I thought some of the comments could not be true. But after buying it myself, I totally agree with everyone's rating. The book is a waste of money. Especially when the authors keep emphasizing that this book is the only one of its kind on the market. The AACSB is supposed to be an informative and reliable source. If I were the AACSB, I would withdraw as soon as possible because this guide is not worth even a $1.

If you are interested in the university programs that paid to have themselves profiled in this book, then it might have some value to you. Otherwise, there was very little information on the majority of doctoral programs currently being offered in the United States. A big disappointment coming from an agency that would have complete information.

I bought this book at the beginning of my search for Graduate Schools. After researching on my own and comparing the information I found with that in this book, my experience is that this book is very incomplete (excluding whole schools/programs). Also, what information I did find in this book was very hard to use/follow.

Forget about this book if you want to get into an "Ivy League" School. MIT, Georgia Tech, Berkeley, Purdue, Stanford, U of Texas...none of them are in this book...too bad, this book is not helpful to choose a right program...If you want information on one of the schools listed in this book (like Clarkson University, U of Hartford) the book could be useful. However, fact sheets on the schools are not always complete.For example, you will not find GRE average scores or minimun required scores for most of the schools and it is not clear if the schools do not require it. Student profile figures neither are complete for most of the schools. In conclusion: 3 Stars for quality of information given f / each school, 1 Star for the variety of schools profiled - Average 2 Stars.

This isn't really a bad book it just isn't that helpful in the long run. Requirements (GPA or GRE scores) are missing in most sections, the tuition amount is always outdated. I could see how a book like this was helpful ten years ago but right now I believe the internet is more helpful. All of this information can be found on www.petersons.com for free. Either way if you buy this book you will have to use the internet to get more updated information. Not bad to flip through in the library but not worth the money to buy it.

I was disappointed in the scope of the book and its contents. The information was thin and I felt that I got just as much if not more info from the web or annual graduate guides. Additionally, the information included didn't provide the "in-depth" information it advertised. The most pressing problem is that much of the information is out of date. Tuition has increased, other schools are in the running, programs are changing, and contacts have changed. The book is fine for someone who doesn't have access to the internet or a bookstore, but I would recommend waiting until a new edition comes out before buying it.

I found the book to be short-handed in the number of programs it reviews. While it offers comparative charts for easy reference, it only includes forty or so Nursing programs around the country in its graduate profiles. This book might be a good primer for someone looking for undergraduate programs (it includes notes on campus life and local climate), but it is severely lacking in choice--especially on the state college level!

although it's pretty rare to find any specific information on graduate schools for architecture, i was pretty disappointed with this book. if you're looking for gradute schools for fine arts i think you would be more pleased. i could find much more information on the web about architecture schools than in this guide. the information in pretty limited and i don't think it mentions all of the schools. also, it would have been more helpful if the authors included a ranking of schools.