Customer Reviews

How to Survive Getting Into College: By Hundreds of Students Who Did (Hundreds of Heads Survival Guides)

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Hundreds of student contributors have submitted tips for survival on getting into college. Editor Rachel Korn has chosen 631 of these tips along with 40 ways to get organized and experience less stress. She includes pointers on how to score higher on tests, advice on how to get into the school you want, and some secrets of the admission office.

This is a particularly timely book as, "The year 2006 marked an all time high in the number of high school seniors, according to the National Association for College Admission Counseling. Sixty-five percent of them will enroll in some form of secondary education within a year after graduation." The author goes on to note, "There are more than 4,000 colleges and universities in the United States." These facts validate the need for a book of this nature. This is a working manual to help you know where to start. Ms Korn offers five important resources in the first chapter.

Testing, essays, applications, interviews, and visiting campuses are all covered in the material. A whole chapter is dedicated to scholarships, financial aid, and loans. A comprehensive list of "Really Useful Web Sites" is included at the end of the book, with a section devoted to funding sources.

Carrying out the theme of hundreds of heads a series of "head icons" help you sort out your personal priority for future reference. The categories include: Remember, explore, be careful, astounding, or something to think about.

As a former admissions officer and currently a private college counselor, Rachel Korn is well qualified to edit this companion guide to your college admissions process. The book will help you unravel the complicated options, advice, and suggestions you have already encountered.

This book will make an excellent junior high or high school graduation gift. The book is also a practical aid for college freshman, or for those taking a year's "gap" between high school and college.

The "Parent to Parent" suggestions make this book a must read for every parent. Every high school student can profit from these well chosen "Tips." Advice from the "Expert" and "The Other Side of the Desk" notes make this a valuable tool for the high school guidance counselor.

I was amazed at the depth of the material covered in this survival guide from "Hundreds of Heads" books.

I just happened to catch a segment on the Today Show with the editor of this book. I decided to buy it for my son. What a great choice. I gave it to him...and he actually read it. The best part about it was that he was getting good advice from other people (not his father) which reinforced much of what his parents had been telling him, but he refused to hear. I wasn't sure he would read a book on college admissions, but the fact that the book is all short snippets made it a perfect antidote to a teen's attention span...or lack thereof. I heartily recommend How to Survive Getting into College to students and parents.

My dad randomly got this book for me this summer because this year is my junior year. At first I was like "I already know where I want to go, Dad, (which is Duke)" but when I looked at it it was great because there were some things other kids said that I had not taken into consideration. Also I think the kinds of essay questions you get asked on applications can say a lot and now I am thinking more carefully about those things and my answers! Thank you for this great book!

I wish I had this book when I was applying to college. This book would make a great gift.

We can't recommend this book any more highly than what our son said. He is a big brother to our other two children and says he wishes he had read this before doing his research and picking his school. This book is full of practical 20/20 hindsight from many students so that others can learn from their mistakes. There are real life stories to help pick the size, location, and specializations of school, how to fill out effective applications, how to leverage recommendations and more. We've got one son at the University of Tennesee and now, thanks to this book, we're hopeful our other children will receive even better educations.

I love the approach this book takes - they went and interviewed hundreds of different college students to find out what they did to help them get admitted to college. That's so helpful - I really enjoyed this approach compared to those other books that just tell you what one person recommends. I highly recommend this book for high school seniors grappling with the college admissions process.

How to Survive Getting Into College is an amazing resource for high school students wanting advice from their peers on the college application process. A must read for any high school student needing advice on where to start and what to do to prepare for this tedious process!

A number of my friends recommended this book, and I was eager to read it as I've read Hundreds of Heads books on other topics. I knew what to expect - that there would be comments on every relevant angle on the college application process from real kids who have applied (as opposed to the usual expert talking about other people applying). I was not disappointed; true to form, the Hundreds of Heads format delivers gems that can't be found in the more traditional advice books. I like that it was edited by a former university admissions person. Reading this book in combination with a few choice "experts" books gave me a well rounded view of how students have succeeded in getting into their top choice schools.

When I chose this book among the hudreds available, I expected some well explained advice. Instead what I got is a book filled with one paragraph comments. It might have a couple of good ideas but not what I expected it to be.

I was skeptical about getting yet another college reference, but the kids will relate to this one even if you've heard most of it before. As for parents, I recommend "Getting in Without Freaking Out". My wife gave me the latter -- a uniquely humorous and therapeutic guide, as she felt that I was becoming more stressed out over the college application process than my my son was. She was right, as usual. Both these books are worth more than thickly bound lists of college descriptions, which seem to be outdated compared to information that is already online, and free.