A guide to 320+ four-year schools, including quotes from real students and information you won't find on college websites. In addition to detailed and candid stories about each school, you will find lists of strong programs and popular majors at each college, information on how to apply, graduation and acceptance rates, and exclusive academic, social, and quality-of-life ratings. -- Adapted from back cover.

"The first practical guide of its kind that helps students transition smoothly from high school to college. The transition from high school--and home--to college can be stressful. Students and parents often arrive on campus unprepared for what college is really like. Academic standards and expectations are different from high school; families aren't present to serve as 'scaffolding' for students; and first-years have to do what they call 'adulting.'...

Meet nine courageous young adults who have lived in the United States with a secret for much of their lives: they are not U.S. citizens. They came from Colombia, Mexico, Ghana, Independent Samoa, and Korea. They came seeking education, fleeing violence, and escaping poverty. All have heartbreaking and hopeful stories about leaving their homelands and starting a new life in America. And all are weary of living in the shadows.

"Trip. My parents started using that word about a year ago--'one day, you'll take a trip to be with us. Like an adventure.' Javier's adventure is a three-thousand-mile journey from his small town in El Salvador, through Guatemala and Mexico, and across the U.S. border. He will leave behind his beloved aunt and grandparents to reunite with a mother who left four years ago and a father he barely remembers. Traveling alone except for a group of strangers...