<p>A few months ago I received a review copy of **Teens Talk GETTING IN ... to COLLEGE **, the latest in the Chicken Soup series of story collections. I devoured it in almost one sitting, which is unusual for me these days (I don't always get through "Dear Abby" in one sitting anymore ;) ) and was happy to provide an endorsement. </p>
<p>Last week, the book hit store shelves, and I highly recommend it to those of you are now facing the admissions fray. The 101 vignettes are divided into 15 chapters, and you'll probably nod your head just from reading the table of contents alone ("Standardized Testing Madness," "Parental Pressure and Support," "Hey, I Totally Changed My Mind" ... ) Each story reminded me of someone I know: The boy who was denied by every college on his roster; the girl who landed on a gazillion wait-lists; the student who thought she'd never be able to afford college, and the one whose parents could afford to pay, but didn't. There are tales of surviving SATs (or not), of essay angst, of gap years and alternative choices. </p>
<p>So, whatever it is that is keeping you up at night these days, there's likely to be an anecdote in the book contributed by someone who faced those same fears and lived to tell the story. It's fast and fun reading, heartwarming (as can be expected of any Chicken Soup edition) and occasionally heart*breaking*, too.</p>
<p>My more thorough comments will be posted soon in the CC book review section. But, meanwhile, I just wanted to get the word out. I think you'll find this book to be a welcome antidote to all the gloom and doom we're seeing in the media these days about plummeting endowments, acceptance rates, and financial aid awards. As one father-turned-Chicken Soup-author noted as he looked back on his son's college admissions experience, "The process had been arduous but not life-threatening ..." You, too, will get through it, and it's definitely uplifting to read the tales of those who already did.</p>
<p>If you've read **Teens Talk GETTING IN ... to COLLEGE **, I'd love to hear your thoughts. Which vignettes really hit home?</p>
<p>Sally...just curious...Is it primarily geared towards elite college admissions or do you think it would be beneficial even for an average student to read (or geared more for parents?) Sounds like a great stocking stuffer/Chanukah gift.....</p>
<p>This book covers EVERYTHING. Some stories are from those with the all-too-familiar Ivy-or-bust attitude, while others are gratefully heading off to community college ... with lots of other scenarios in between. One of my favorites (of many) was submitted by a young woman who got into her dream school (Northwestern) but couldn't afford to attend, so she went to Purdue instead and loved it. There are a number of other "happy ending" sagas like that, but there are also others that confess "mistakes" that one only sees with 20/20 hindsight.</p>
<p>I definitely think this is a book that anyone going through the college process (or anticipating it or looking back on it) will appreciate. Last week I gave a copy to a friend who is totally stressed over her daughter's applications. Here's what she wrote in her latest message to me: </p>
<p>** [Daughter's name] loves the book of college essays that you gave me and i read a few and thought they were very good. Nothing better than students telling students."**</p>
<p>This is a girl who is not applying to the so-called "elite" schools (and who doesn't seem to be agonizing over the process as much as her mom is ;) )</p>
<p>I think it would be a perfect holiday read ... a good way to tear everyone away from The Princeton Review and Fiske guides!</p>
<p>Yep, good for a junior, in my opinion. Some folks might argue that the holidays are a good time to take a break from all the admissions fracas, but I think that this is one book that will actually ease the pressure and not turn up the heat yet another notch.</p>
<p>I'm glad I'm done with admissions. Worst two months of my life. What if they didn't get everything? What if they send it to the wrong address? What if I'm watlisted? What if someone steals my envenlope, (crazy I know). What made it even worse was that I got the decision ten days later then they said it would arrive. Checking the mail everyday and seeing nothing there was not fun. </p>
<p>It is kind of exciting once you think about it after you've got your decision back, but during the time you're waiting you hate everyday of it. I did at least.</p>
<p>I hope you enjoy it. I'm often asked to review and endorse various admissions-related books, and I only give the two-thumbs-up to those that I can truly recommend enthusiastically. This is one of them.</p>
<p>Gr... this is an agonizing choice! I have a reading list of about ten books piled up that I've been sitting on since starting this process. I've just started cracking into it with my early app submitted, and I know I'm going to have to stop that as well after Thanksgiving break when I start work on my regular decision applications as well.</p>
<p>This sounds like a great book, Sally, but I'm worried I won't be able to read it for quite a while.</p>
<p>One plus of this book is that the vignettes are all short ... typically about 1,000 words (like a too-long college application essay) so you can read one or two if you have a few minutes to kill (e.g., when your ISP tech support puts you on hold ... though that can be more like twenty minutes ;) ). And if you put the book down and don't touch it for a week, you don't lose the continuity that you might with a novel.</p>
<p>Hi everyone. I'm the publisher of Chicken Soup for the Soul and I'm thrilled that College Confidential is endorsing our book. I love College Confidential --both my kids were waitlisted at schools and I turned to College Confidential for information during that trying period.</p>
<p>I took a personal interest in this book because we just lived through two getting-into-college experiences in my family and it was one of the most stressful things we have ever been through. </p>
<p>We couldn't find any books out there that provided emotional support and shared experiences for kids applying to college. All we saw was a bunch of how-to books. As Toni Morrison said, "If there's a book you really want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it." So we did.</p>
<p>The stories in this book open a window into the experiences of other high school students as they prepare to apply to college, go through the application process, wait for the answers, and grapple with their choices. We have stories on grade pressure, SAT meltdowns, disastrous interviews, parents being annoying, parents being helpful, kids deciding not to go to college, kids taking gap years... with 101 stories there is something for everyone.</p>
<p>Someone asked if the book was only about elite schools -- it is definitely not. We have kids applying to Princeton and kids applying to community colleges. Kids with money and kids who don't know how they're going to pay for school or who have to give up their first choice school because of money. I think no matter where you are applying, the emotions are pretty much the same.</p>
<p>So let me know what you think after you read it, and by the way you can find it for as little as $10.17 online so it's priced right for students.</p>
<p>Thank you so much for recommending this book! I just had it sent from Amazon to my daughter who is away at boarding school and stressing through the Common Application right now!</p>
<p>Can you all please stop publishing the Chicken Soup books? I'm sure they're cash cows that cater to a certain demographic, but it's really gotten outrageous. </p>
<p>I have no idea about this particular book, but the "Chicken Soup" brand has really abused what was once a respectable concept. </p>
<p>At the very least, stop deceptively labeling them "From the best-selling authors of..." Of course they are, but those "best sellers" happened years ago and there's a subtle implication that the "best seller" status transitions to books about horse lovers or knitting lovers or whatever. It's just a little disingenuously riding on coattails.</p>
<p>Thanks. I don't want a debate out it. Just know that your brand has become a bit of a joke in many circles. That is all.</p>
<p>I had never read a Chicken Soup book until the college admissions version showed up in my mail box last August, and I really enjoyed it. It didn't make me want to rush out and buy the entire Chicken Soup collection, but I bet that the various books in the series hit home with their target audiences, as this one has. Not every Chicken Soup theme is for everyone, but I do think that the books fill a need.</p>
<p>By the way, in case any of you have an older sibling or a child in college, we are collecting stories for Chicken Soup for the Soul: Campus Chronicles, which is coming out in April and will have 101 stories about life as a college student. Our last book for college students came out ten years ago and sold 1.3 million copies, so we know it is a popular subject, and it is definitely time for an update. If you know someone who likes to write and wants to be published, send them to our website: chickensoup.com. Thanks!</p>