Loren Pope

Loren Brooks Pope (July 13, 1910 – September 23, 2008) was an American writer and educational consultant, best known for his book, Colleges That Change Lives. He was also the education editor of The New York Times.

Background Born in Minneapolis, Pope grew up in northern Virginia. He was a Democrat, in a family of stalwart Republicans.

In 1965, Pope, founded the College Placement Bureau, one of the first independent college placement counseling services in the United States.

Colleges That Change Lives

His final and best-selling work, Colleges That Change Lives, profiled his top 40 choices—schools that he said would "do as much as, and perhaps even more than, any name-brand schools to fully educate students and to give them rich, full lives." He focused mainly on small liberal arts colleges, arguing that smaller, less selective institutions offered superior educational experiences. A non-profit organization modeled after the book now carries the name.