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“What do you mean by “top” colleges?” people often ask when they come to my book signings or college admissions talks. “Your college book’s subtitle is ‘272 Secrets for Getting Your Kid into the Top Schools.’ What constitutes a top school, and aren’t you only talking about the Ivies?”

No, I explain emphatically. A top school in my book is a college that offers the best opportunities for the student applying—according to that student’s interests and dreams.

If, for example, your child is interested in film animation, some top schools might include NYU, USC, UCLA, CalArts and RISD—none of them an Ivy. If your child is interested in robotics, top schools might include MIT, Caltech, Stanford, Carnegie Mellon, Johns Hopkins, Harvey Mudd, Olin, Rensselaer Polytechnic, or Rose Hulman. Or for a student interested in Peace Studies, some top choices could include Swarthmore (Peace & Conflict), Wellesley (Peace & Justice), UC Colorado (Peace & Conflict), Brandeis (minor in Peace, Conflict & Coexistence), and Bryn Mawr (Peace & Conflict).

How about a college where the students travel around the world—Global College—gaining firsthand experiences? While some colleges may offer semesters abroad, or even entire years abroad, Global offers four solid years of travel. In the first year, students live in Costa Rica.

What I want high school seniors to know is that many, many wonderful programs exist outside the Ivies—an important concept in this most competitive year of college admissions—and new opportunities are opening up in various parts of the country.

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Nora Roberts took home the prestigious “Book of the Year” award for her book, Angels Fall (G. P. Putnam’s Sons), at last night’s third annual Quill Book Awards, presented at a star-studded gala at Lincoln Center, hosted by NBC News’ Al Roker and Hoda Kotb, with a special guest appearance by Stephen Colbert. This is the second consecutive year that Penguin Group (USA) has won “Book of the Year,” an award that was voted on by consumers via a month-long online voting system this Fall. Tyler Perry claimed the prize in 2006 for Don’t Make a Black Woman Take Off Her Earrings (Riverhead).

Award winners also included Penguin Group (USA) authors Al Gore, Michael Weinreb and Patrick Rothfuss: