They are a superior bunch as college students go, with overachieving tendencies and big earning potential. But in one category, the men of Carnegie Mellon University are, to borrow the title of a TV show, just average Joes.

In fact, they mustered only a grade of 'C' based on assessments from their campus peers, who in a survey were asked to judge how "hot" males on the science-heavy campus are.

The question is one of several involving campus life posed by a student-run Pittsburgh start-up company, College Prowler. It produces paperback guidebooks on 100 colleges and universities nationwide, relying heavily on random surveys of students at those schools on subjects from academics to dorm living to the weather.

The firm, which released a sampling of its results from Pittsburgh campuses, is seeking a niche in the increasingly crowded field of guidebooks aimed at students and parents seeking the right school.

Co-founder and CEO Luke Skurman, 23, a graduate student at Carnegie Mellon, said the letter grades are not based on a scientific formula but instead reflect the prevailing opinions of the 200 or so students from each campus who are asked to respond to the online surveys.

Some of those anonymous responses are blunt.

On the subject of Carnegie Mellon's men, who account for 65 percent of the campus population, one student quoted in the 70-page guidebook said: "The saying on campus for guys is, 'The odds are good, but the goods are odd.' There are a lot of nerds, but the guys are generally decent and really nice. A lot of them sit in front of the computer playing games all day."

"We're a nerd school; what do you expect?" said another student. "When you get out of here and you're starting off at about $50 or $60 grand a year, it'll all be worth it."

The guidebook gave Carnegie Mellon women a slightly lower ranking of C-. Skurman said the company found similar assessments of the opposite sex at other elite science schools like Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Case Western Reserve University.

He said the ratings reflect the level of student satisfaction.

"You could have a campus where students love the meals. It could be actually pretty bad food, but if they really love it, we're going to give [the campus] a good grade," said Skurman. "We're letting the students do the talking."

Dan Gilman, president of the student body at CMU, said students there are down-to-earth and nice. He doesn't fault the guidebook but believes the comments play to stereotypes.

"It does bother me, mostly because it's students from our campus. It's one thing when you hear it from outsiders," he said.

According to the company's Web site, www.collegeprowler.com, the surveys involve 20 subjects such as safety and security, facilities, academics and professors, diversity and night life.

Each survey includes a two-paragraph, student-written review explaining the letter grade given by the guidebook.

The books also include data gathered directly from the campuses such as costs, acceptance rate and student SAT performance.