I recently purchased the ISI college guide and wondered why my school wasn't included. How are schools chosen to appear in the book?

We have several selection criteria. First of all, we include the schools we most highly recommend for providing comprehensive core curricula--such as Thomas Aquinas College, St. John's College, Columbia University, University of Dallas, Wheaton College, Thomas More, University of Chicago, and a few (too few!) others.

We also cover the obvious elite places--the Ivy League and other famous schools (Seven Sisters, Stanford, MIT, Caltech) which have a reputation for academic excellence.

We include the schools ranked each year as "Most Selective" by U.S. News and World Report.

We cover at least one major regional public university in each region of the country, plus schools which we've learned through the grapevine offer something special and valuable--such as Wofford College in South Carolina, Hampden Sydney in Virginia, and the University of the South at Sewanee.

This year, we're adding 7-10 new schools, including the three major military academies, Ave Maria University, and Southern Methodist U. We also plan to include some 2-year schools that offer Core Curricula, such as Campion College and Deep Springs in California.

If your school deserves a write-up, why don't you look at one of the models offered online from the 2004 edition, and write up a short essay covering some of the same bases--we'll be happy to post it on the Web site, and pay you something for it, too! Write me at Zmirak@hotmail.com with your ideas.

What about schools that are well-known for a specific program (such as science or music) but are only so-so in liberal arts? Does ISI review schools like that?