This document provides a tutorial on how to use the college handbook "Profiles of American Colleges: 2015" to find information about colleges. It discusses how the book is organized, including sections on the college selection process, tables with information about colleges grouped by state, major, cost, and test scores. It then provides examples of how to look up specific colleges using the index, tables, or sections based on criteria like location, major, cost, and test scores. The goal is to help patrons easily navigate this college handbook to find schools that fit their interests and needs.

1. “What” Ready Reference Question Tutorial
By: Emily Parker

3. Introduction: Why a College
Handbook?
• A tutorial on how to use a college handbook is very
important in a public library.
• The idea of looking for colleges is very overwhelming and
having a step by step guide is very useful in helping the
patron know what colleges are out there and what they
have to offer.
• The college hand book chosen is, “Profiles of American
colleges: 2015” and answers the question, “What college
do I attend?”
• The intended audience is anyone looking to go to a
college in America.
• This resource can be found in the LaGrange Public
Library. It is located both behind the reference counter
and available to check out.

5. Organization
• It is no doubt that the book, Profiles of American Colleges
2015, is a huge book. However, the layout is fairly simple
and straight forward. It is helpful to know the layout of
the book before learning how to navigate through it.
• How it is organized
– First there is the table of contents, a key to abbreviations, a
preface, and an explanation of the book.
• After the general information about the book there is something
that makes this book unique from other books.
• That is a section dedicated to the college process.: this includes
how to know yourself and what you want to study, finding the
right college, how to score high on entrance exams (ACT and
SAT), how to get into college (application), finding the money
for college, and lastly how to survive freshman year. (pages 1-
19)

6. Colleges at a Glance
• After all the helpful information about the college process
there is a table.
• This table is titled, “Colleges at a Glance.” The table is
organized as such.
– In the first column each school is listed alphabetically under the
state they are located in which is also in alphabetical order.
Next to the school is the town that the school is located in.
– The next six columns specifies environment (urban, rural,
suburban, small town), degrees awarded (associates, bachelors,
masters, doctorate), control (private school or public school),
fraternities and sororities (has fraternities, sororities, both, or
neither), students (coed, men, women, primarily men, primarily
women), and enrollment in 2013.
– The next four columns specify the requirement for the ACT,
SAT critical reading, SAT mathematics, and SAT writing.
– The last column tells the application deadline. (page 24-52)

7. Cost Ranges List
 The last table is “In-State Cost Ranges
Directory”
Here colleges are categorized by cost that ranges
from less than $2,000 to $30,000 and over.
This is very helpful if you want to search
colleges that fit your price range.
Pages 53-57

8. College Majors and Where to
go for them
• The next two sections focus on area of study.
• On page 61-80, there is the section of Deciding
on a college major and career.
• It tells of all the possible majors and careers one
could go into with a description of each that
includes what it is and what skills you will
learn.
• From page 81-257 there is the “Index of
College Majors.”-This lists all the college in
this particular book under the major that was
described in the previous section.

9.  Finally there is the Profiles of American
Colleges, which makes up of most of the
book.
 Before we dive into how to look up various
colleges using charts and the index, an
explanation of what information is included
for each college is needed.

10. • The information listed for each college is straight forward information
that would assist a student in finding a college for them.
– The details section includes what type of school it is, how many years,
full time, part time, graduate studies, application information, faculty
information, tuition, room and board, freshman class, and SAT and
ACT information.
– There is also general information about the history of the school,
student life, housing, activities, sports, disabled student, services,
safety, programs of study, what is required, special programs,
faculty/classrooms.
– The admissions section includes requirements, procedures, transfer,
visiting information, financial aid, international students, computers,
graduates, and admission contact.
– Pages 273-276.
– Now that we know the organization of the book now lets take a look on
how to look colleges up using both the tables in the beginning of the book
and the index in the back.

12.  For the tutorial I will explain how to
navigate the handbook by using the index
and tables.
 The good thing about this handbook is that if
you don’t know what college you are
interested in, there is enough of information
to help you figure out what area of study
you want to go into. Then you can look up
what college corresponds with the area you
are interested in.

13. If you know a school…
• The first example I am going to look up Dominican
University.
• First go to the index that is in alphabetical order.
Dominican University is listed on page 546.
• Next go to page 546 and there you go!
• *If you do not want to use the index but are aware that
Dominican University is in Illinois, you can page through
to find the Illinois section and you can find Dominican
University a few pages after. Everything is alphabetical.
• The only problem with this method is that there is a lot of
paging through the book and a lot of guessing. Using the
index, if you know the school’s name, makes it a lot easier
to find what you are looking for.

14. If you are wondering which
school has what….
• If you know what major you want to go into but don’t know
what school offers it you can go to “Index of College Majors,”
which starts on page 81, in the beginning of the book that was
described earlier in this presentation.
• Example:
• I am interested in what college has art history. On page 94 I found art
history section. There are many colleges to choose from but I am
interested in the colleges that are in Illinois. Next to the school listed is
the state it is in along with the cost of the school.
– Once you find one that looks suitable to you, you can then go to the
index in the back of the book to find the page that the school is listed
on.
– Or you can go back to the Illinois section and browse for the school you
found. It is listed alphabetically so you should be able to find it fairly
easily.

15. What school is in which price
range…
 Go back to the “Cost Range List” of each
college.
First look at the selection of schools that is in
your price range.
Then look the school in the index to find the
page number the school is listed on.
When you find the page the school is on, you can
see in more detail in the actual profile to
determine if it is a fit for you.

16. What College based on ACT
and SAT scores
• Go to the “Colleges at a Glance” table that starts on page
24.
• There are two ways to look at this.
– Fist there is a school that you know you want to go to but are
wondering what ACT or SAT score you need.
• For this you find your school which is listed under the state it is
in. Then you follow across the chart until you reach the specific
column you need. Then you can see what score you need to get
in by comparison to the median score of students. (the later
columns tell how many people have been accepted with a certain
score).
– Second you don’t know a school but you have a ACT or/and a
SAT score.
• It would be useful to look at the “median” column of the ACT
and the SAT scores. It is the general score of people who have
been accepted.

17. Follow up/closing
• Choosing a school can be difficult and stressful
but using this guide will help you have a restful
night.
• Though this book is very useful, my only
disclaimer is that this is one of many college
hand books. I would recommend, if you find a
college of great interest, that you consult other
books to see other information or you can
contact the school and go from there.
• If you have any questions or concerns you may
contact me at parkemil@my.dom.edu. -Thank
you.

18. Reference List
 The College Division of Barron’s
Educational Series. (Eds). (2014). Profiles of
American Colleges: 2015. (31st
edition).
Hauppauge, NY. Barron’s.