Colleges That Change Lives [ ctlc.com ] We also recommend the excellent book by Loren Pope, Colleges That Change Lives. Another excellent book that will help you put the college admissions process in perspective is Bill Mayher's The College Admissions Mystique. We highly recommend David Denman's article "A Complete Education," available at timeoutadventures.org/testimonials.html "Who Needs Harvard?" By Gregg Easterbrook This article that appeared in The Atlantic Monthly in October, 2004, provides ample evidence that it's the student and not the name of the college that leads to financial and career success. The author emphasizes that it's getting a four-year college degree that matters, not where you got it. Available at http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200410/easterbrook If you haven't already read it, the article "Time Out or Burn Out for the Next Generation" by the Harvard admissions leaders is a must read: www.admissions.college.harvard.edu/prospective/applying/time_off/index.html For more perspective, don't miss The Education Conservancy [educationconservancy.org] and College Unranked: Ending the College Admissions Frenzy edited by Lloyd Thacker If you are a college-bound teen, or the parent of one, please read Less Stress, More Success: A New Approach to Guiding Your Teen Through College Admissions and Beyond by Marilee Jones, Dean of Admissions, MIT and Kenneth R. Ginsburg, MD, MS Ed, FAAP. The authors offer non-stop insight, understanding, and sane alternatives to the knock-out stress of the crusade toward college. For comprehensive statistics on college admissions, see the 2006 State of College Admission report: www.nacacnet.org/MemberPortal/ProfessionalResources/Research/SOCA.htm Organizations that help students locate gap year placements: The Center for Interim Programs interimprograms.com Time Out Adventures and Siena Sojourn timeoutadventures.org sienasojourn.com Dynamy dynamy.org Earthwatch Institute earthwatch.org City Year cityyear.org Youth Conservation Corps www.nps.gov/youthprograms/ycc.htm Read the Spelman's blog during their cross-country bike trip (as described in the ReelWisdom DVD, Time On: Planning a Successful Gap Year). bikexc.blogspot.com