College Crunch Time

Pain relief for college admissions stress.

But now is not the time to beat yourself up about your slacker ways and lousy attention span for academic pursuits. There's really no point in wallowing in guilt about your failure to join even a few clubs or pick at least one interesting hobby that might have made you look more like college material.

Face it. The die is cast. What you need now more than anything is a little distraction and a whole lot of luck. We're here to help you with the distraction part.

Here is an assortment of lists—and there's nothing like a barrage of incidental information to divert you from an unhealthy state of mind. In short, we offer you some academic trivia to soothe the soul. (We'd also like to wish you the best and urge you to think positively, but in your present state we realize such niceties are meaningless.)

• Four-Year Colleges and Universities by State
  With number of students, acceptance statistics, and tuition.
• Largest College and University Endowments
  These 75 schools are rolling in dough.
• Top 50 Colleges for Black Students
  An interesting and sometimes surprising list compiled by Black Enterprise Magazine
• Major Universities of the World by Date of Founding
  I'll bet you had no idea Salerno, Bologna, and Paris were the world's first universities.
• Foreign Language Enrollment in Colleges
  Chinese is becoming the hot language on campuses.
• Average Monthly Earnings by Field of Degree
  Want lots of $$$?? Pick your major from this list.
• Major U.S. College and University Libraries
  The fifty schools with the largest libraries.
• Academic Costume: Colors Associated With Fields
  Fear not; someday you'll be walking down the aisle dressed in black, and you'll need to know this stuff.