A is for Admission

<p>I don't know what you guys think, but I personally think Michele Hernandez's college admissions books are extremely insightful. Katherine Cohen's book was really bland and unrevealing.</p>

<p>i thought Katherine Cohen's book was great. I didn't read the Hernandez book.</p>

<p>Hernandez was often dead wrong, it my opinion, although it's arguable. She also sounded really pretentious throughout the entire thing. I've never even heard of Cohen's book.</p>

<p>Really?
What main points did she get wrong? I wouldn't want to make mistakes because of misinformation :(</p>

<p>Outdated--there is now a</a> much better book.</p>

<p>thanks! i just bought it... of course i have the others too, which i use to torture myself or calm myself, depending on the author (jay mathews:calm...michelle hernandez:anxiety!)</p>

<p>Keshira...
If you had one book and one book only to figure out elite college admissions, I would easily say it would be "A Is For Admission". The specific numbers are different today, but I don't think the process has changed one whit.
The Montauk, etc. book has 2 or 3 pages about the strategy of applying, especially about early applications, that is as good as anything I've seen in print.
I needed to serve as my kids' guidance counselor and the Hernandez book proved to be a reliable compass. Not from Mt. Olympus, but darned close. And free at the public library.</p>

<p>Jaques Steinberg and Alexandra Robbins for life.</p>

<p>A for Admissions is very outdated. I like this book that provides excelllent information.
How to Get Into the Top Colleges (Paperback)
by J.D., Richard Montauk (Author), Krista Klein (Author)</p>

<p>I just bought Hernandez's other book Acing the College Application: How to Maximize Your Chances for Admission to the College of Your Choice (Acing the College Application). </p>

<p>Is this one good according to CC?</p>

<p>What did Montauk say in his book for ED/EA and admissions in general?</p>

<p>I don't like Acing the College Application because she recommends doing things that I would consider risky or unnecessary.</p>

<p>there was a time where Michelle Hernandez used to post on the parent's forum. If you do a search for her screen name, aisforadmission you can find some of her posts.</p>

<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/search.php?searchid=8566318%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/search.php?searchid=8566318&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>what did Montauk say for ED/EA?</p>

<p>I have read the Montauk & Klein book word for word and think it has value.
I have two general problems with it.
First, the book is so detailed and all-encompassing that it is difficult for the reader to figure out what is likely to be important and what isn't. The Hernandez "A" book is excellent on that count.
The second problem I have with Montauk and Klein is that they rely so heavily on sitting elite college admissions officers. The book depends upon maintaining relations with these people. The result is about what you'd get from attending a panel discussion and question and answer period with assorted admissions officers sitting on stage. I don't think you are any more likely to get the whole story than you would listening to Bush administration officials being interviewed on the Sunday morning political shows, or from an interview with Howard Dean, for that matter. It's not these peoples' job to be candid, and they aren't.<br>
I prefer Hernandez, Toor, Steinberg, etc.</p>

<p>I hate Michelle Hernandez's books and attitude toward admissions. She is incredibly pretentious and everything that can be learned in her book is on CC. Don't waste the money.</p>

<p>Rachel Toor book is worst. That is all I can say, read it a long time ago. Have no need to reread it again. The gatekeepers from Steinberg is entertaining.
Maybe I'm jaded but after reading 30 of these same books, it seems like the Montauk book offers something new. Like what's consider Intellectual Vitality for example. As for ED/EA, it depends on the school and the person.</p>

<h2>My machine shut down abruptly after a meeting end so I did not get to post that I also like the following book:</h2>

<p>The college hook : packaging yourself to win the college admissions game </p>

<h2> Proctor, Pam, 1945-</h2>

<p>If you need to package yourself, this book will show you how to. My daughter read this book and thought it was very helpful. It shows how to do resume, etc..</p>

<p>As for the book, Acing the college application. I think MH may only have a few pages to write but had to stretch her writing to make it into a book. I did not like the advice of having to handwrite your application in blue(?). I was thinking these are superficial advices. The information a student provides in the application is more important than whether it was handwriting or applying on line, let alone whether it was in color red or blue.</p>