<p>Rock Hard Apps: How to Write a Killer College Application</p>
<p>The Gatekeepers: Inside the Admissions Process of a Premier College</p>
<p>A is for Admission: The Insider s Guide to Getting Into the Ivy League and Other Top Colleges </p>
<p>What You Dont Know Can Keep You Out of College: A Top Consultant Explains the 13 Fatal Application Mistakes and Why Character Is the Key to College Application</p>
<p>Getting In: Inside the College Admissions Process</p>
<p>lol why are college help books all named Catchy Title: Description?</p>
<p>But of course it would be silly to spend money on them all (or even one of them, at all) so has anyone read any of these? A total waste of time and money? Any other titles you'd recommend instead? </p>
<p>Which ones are just silly stories and which are actually helpful advice?</p>
<p>In addition to educating yourself on “getting in”, don’t forget the other piece of the equation – how to pay for it:). Figure out your family’s EFC and learn about need based versus merit opportunities that are out there.
Back to getting in – the only book my D bought and both of us read was by Harold Baud, On Writing the College Essay. Easy and informative read.</p>
<p>I agree that you should check out your local library. And my favorite for a general overview of the college admissions process is Admission Matters by Sally Springer et al., there’s a new version out which is very up to date.</p>
<p>Honestly, a majority of the information that you will find in those books is free right here on this forum. Look through the different threads over the years and see what people are talking about and you should get all the answers you need.</p>
<p>I agree with M’s Mom. I’ve read all of these with the exception of “Rock Hard Apps” prior to applying for college, and all of them were available at my local public library. It’s good information, but I wouldn’t recommend spending too much money on these.</p>
<p>Try Amazon for the books as you can get some really great deals on used copies. I just finished The Gatekeepers and must say it is far superior to A is for Admission.</p>
<p>Yes, but for someone just starting the process and without much background, some of these resource books can help to give an overview with much less time and effort. With that basic information in hand, it makes it much easier and more efficient to navigate CC and get answers about finer points.</p>
<p>One of the most useful books not on your list: “What Colleges Don’t Tell You (And Other Parents Don’t Want You to Know): 272 Secrets for Getting Your Kid into the Top Schools” </p>
<p>Definitely get them at the library or skim them at the bookstore. Many of the best books repeat the same information and IMO, it’s not worth it to spend almost $200 on some books you’ll read once.</p>
<p>"the only book my D bought and both of us read was by Harold Baud, On Writing the College Essay. Easy and informative read. "</p>
<p>I’ve already ordered that they’re taking 2 months to ship it I’ll hopefully finish it in the summer :)</p>
<p>These are quite affordable here, actually, about 11-12 US dollars each to ship.</p>
<p>I’m international and these are absolutely not available at the libraries :D</p>
<p>I’ve already ordered On Writing Well (Yale admissions officer told me it’s definite must-buy, probably because Yale professor wrote it lol) and On Writing The College Application Essay by Bauld.</p>
<p>I think I’ll scrap A Is For Admissions and get Getting In, Gatekeepers, Rock Hard Apps, and What You Don’t Know?</p>
<p>I’ll need to scrap another one of the 4 though, any suggestions?</p>
<p>And Amazon, though their book costs are absolutely amazing, their shipping cost is about 10 times higher than the cost of the book :(</p>
<p>I definitely love the second hand prices on Amazon, they can go really low but the problem is, the cost of shipping a book (and Amazon charges a flat rate, no decrease with bulk orders) is about 300 Baht, the book could cost 100 Baht, for example, so a total of about 400 Baht to ship a second hand copy to me. At the local bookstore, the cost for ordering a new copy shipped is about less than 500 Baht. Instead of going through all the trouble of shipping stuff across the world at outrageous fees and get a battered second hand copy, I’d rather ask my bookstore to do it for about the same price and get a new copy :)</p>
<p>Drelnis, you want to start by reading everything (and I do indeed mean everything) at [EducationUSA</a> | Study Abroad, Student Visa, University Fairs, College Applications and Study in the U.S. / America](<a href=“http://www.educationusa.state.gov/]EducationUSA”>http://www.educationusa.state.gov/) Then you need to make an appointment with the counselors at the advising center closest to you. They are the experts on helping students from your country get into good colleges and universities in the US. They will have some of these books on their shelves so you can look at them for free. </p>
<p>I’ve skimmed over EducationUSA’s site and didn’t find much useful information, I’m already familiar with what needs to be done involving the application process, what I’m more interested in is how the process works and the ways I can polish and improve my application. And you guys might have heard on the news we’re having a whole load of political unrest here
All the advising centers are in the heart of the city (which, beginning this morning is full of smoke from thousands of care tires burned by the protesters). Test centers are canceling exams like crazy, all competitions, athletic meetings, performances, mostly canceled. Although there’s no problem here in the suburb, the city’s stocking food like crazy there’s literally no bread in the supermarket!</p>
<p>I can’t tell you how much I despised A is for Admission. The author was very very condescending and I do not believe the information was accurate. She talks about the academic index as if every college uses it for regular admissions. This is certainly not the case. It is used by some schools to calculate the readiness of recruited athletes. Long story short, I wouldn’t waste my time.</p>
