Ivy League Books

This book gives a behind-the-scenes look into the college admissions process from the eyes of the kids themselves. While much of the Ivy chasing is to be expected, there are many surprising moments here. The five kids in the book are so exceptional yet so human, making it heartbreaking and fascinating to get to know them.
I was hooked into this book from the moment I picked it up until I finished it a mere day later, a very satisfying read!

Interesting book about five young people trying to get into major colleges. All have their own ways and different backgrounds. You will find yourself hoping for the best result for all five. A must read for high school seniors, but I think anyone would enjoy this book.

--Gerard Zemek, husband of author of "My Funny Dad, Harry"

This book leaves me amazed by both the focused young ones out there and the rigorous climb to get into the right college. I started college in 1998 and even then, the desperation was evident. But today the process seems that much more saturated in complexity. Jager-Hyman has introduced a new era with her book-- she is a fresh voice of reason. Out with the books of plain old "How to" and in with this excellent documentary style "How to." Jager-Hyman gives us the real scoop. Any parents or would-be college students should be grateful!

The format of the book looked promising: following a group of students through the college application and acceptance process. However, except for the math student, the characters came off as totally shallow. As a whole they seemed more interested in getting in a `big name' college than finding the right fit for their interests and abilities.

The author provided little additional insight into the application process than other books. Furthermore, when a student's paperwork was due "on April 31" I wondered how much fact-checking went into writing this book.

Fantastic book! This book is so well written and engaging. I felt like I really felt like I knew the students whose college application journeys were portrayed. I even cried when one of them had (his or her - don't want to give it away) dream come true. It was also beautiful to read how their views of what will make them happy in the end changed over their senior year. I hope to share this book with other parents whose children are applying to colleges. Although my own children are presently at (and also looking at)state colleges, it's such an honest and personal portayal of the pressures of senior year. I hope the author will write a follow-up to describe the pleasures and challenges of college.

A must read for all parents of prospective college goers. This book removes all the marketing ideas of what we have been led to perceive a college "should" be for our children. Very freeing. This book will pay for itself!

There certainly is life and there certainly are alternatives outside the Ivy League. You can get an Ivy League level of education plus so much more in the way of building leadership and character for your future life at a college like West Point, a college that, believe it or not, everyone has a good shot at getting into despite its reputation. You can learn the real story of the West Point way of education by reading "West Point: Thomas Jefferson: Character Leadership Education" by Remick.

I agree with all the positive reviews of this book -- Mr. Mathews does a great job in convincing students and parents that all that glitters is not Ivy. In case you weren't sure, you can be happy and successful and not graduate from Harvard or Yale. The author includes several real life anecdotes and some statistics, and takes a good look at the admissions game. This is especially a must-read for overwrought parents and nervous students who face a lifetime of Prozac without an Ivy degree. Mr. Mathews does justice to the many other fine schools out there, many of whom offer comparable or superior academics. It isn't an indepth guide to particular colleges, and although Mr. Mathews offers pointers for the application process, it isn't a how-to guide for college admissions. I am puzzled, however. This is the second time a Harvard grad informed me that Harvard isn't the ticket I think it is. The first, an administrator of a private school, went so far as to suggest that a Harvard degree is a burden. Yet most of the administration at this school are Ivy. Mr. Mathews and his wife are both Harvard grads. His daughter attended one of the most prestigious private schools in the D.C. area, and his son, one of the most elite public high schools. So while I appreciate the reassurance that my public college degree isn't an impediment and that my public school son is on a fairly level playing field in the admissions process, I still don't quite believe it.

Harvard Schmarvard is an excellent resource although it is not my favorite book on the college admissions process. The author, Jay Mathews, is funny and insightful, but doesn't always make the best case against brand name schools as his many stories of where students happily ended up include schools which really are pretty well-known powerhouses like Tufts, UCLA, or Columbia.

Here's where this book is indispensable: Wait-lists. If your student is wait-listed, things really don't look that rosy, but Mathews has some excellent advice on how to handle the ever increasing phenomenon and ways to get in that involve starting school during the summer or spring semesters instead of the fall. His information about how to analyze "college visit weekends" for admitted students and his advice to potential transfer students is also very good stuff. His position about the US News rankings seems very smart. He notes they can actually hurt students since they force colleges to panic about selectivity and yield, factors which can lead to wait-listing or rejecting strong candidates. In addition, Mathews' stories of students and parents he's known are excellent examples of what the college search can be like. Overall, this is a book I recommend picking up.

However, Mathews occasionally gives some odd advice. He suggests that visiting colleges in a student's junior year isn't a good idea because the schools will be too busy worrying about seniors. I can understand waiting to interview until senior year, but just about every other resource will tell you that students need to begin visiting colleges by, at the latest, the second semester of their junior year or they may face a bit of a time crunch. Mathews also suggests buying "all the textbooks" of the classes that interest you at a prospective college. What?! I can see that it would help to review the texts to see if the school chooses books that are compelling reading, but who has that kind of money? Mathews also claims to favor big state schools, which also flies in the face of what many of the other college experts say. Mathews cites the numerous activities, the top-flight professors that rival Ivy League offerings and the ability to choose and switch around many different majors. I feel he's neglecting facts that others frequently bring up. Competition for leadership positions in extracurricular activities is often very intense at big state schools, the top-flight professors are often too busy with research and graduate students to be available to undergraduates, and layers of bureaucracy can make it very difficult to switch majors or take classes outside of one's field of study. It's interesting to note that in his list of one hundred schools he thinks are worth giving a good look, the vast majority of them are small. I only saw three that were over 15,000 students and a total of five over 7,000. Also, I feel Mathews book is geared to families that don't need much information about financial aid, so if that's not true for you, you'll need another resource.

I did say this book is worth getting, but if you buy only one book to guide you through the admissions process, right now my recommendation would be Fiske's Guide to Getting Into the Right College. Its information is very clearly and intelligently written, especially their portion about financial aid, and I feel the advice it offers is generally the wisest. Still, the Fiske book (not to be confused with the Fiske Guide To Colleges - also very good) does not discuss individual schools to any real degree. In this case, I'm still not sure Harvard Schmarvard would be my first pick even though he discusses a hundred underrated schools as his blurbs about each are usually too brief. Many schools on his list are actually quite well-regarded, such as Bates, Bard, Kenyon, Macalester, Davidson and Grinnell so information about them is readily available in other guidebooks. For a better look at underrated schools, I would suggest Loren Pope's Colleges That Change Lives. Even though Pope's book is a bit dated, Mathews reconfirms Pope's choices by including most of the same schools including Rhodes, Goucher, Austin College, Eckerd, Hendrix and Millsaps, but the reviews in Pope's book are much more thorough.

David CollegePlanGuy@aol.com

If this was written by a Harvard-reject, credibility would be the central issue. This author, however, received his undergraduate and graduate degree from Harvard and is one of the few insiders who is qualified to reveal the secret: Harvard, etal are great institutions because of the kids they get and not what they do for the kids.

This is an important book for kids and parents of children who are considering the highly selective schools, particularly those with the out-sized reputations.

Lincoln has written a very good book. He has interviewed many coaches, especially coaches at Dartmouth. For the record, John Lyons and Pat O'Leary have both been fired (the latter by the new returning coach Teevens, and later filed an age discrimination suit, which was thrown out). May be if Lyons had landed Slaughter, he may have saved his job, and Slaughter would not have ended his career as a backup secondary and kick returner at UCLA. Lincoln offers a valuable insight into elite schools and recruiting. This book should be read together with John T. Reed's 70+ page essay on his son's experiences with Ivy football recruiting (available on the internet, type in "John T. Reed Dan Reed Columbia" in google). Reed makes specific comments about the level of play in Ivy football (pretty good), and the down side to coaches pressuring players to commit during recruiting visits (Lincoln's book offers coaches' perspective).

Capsule summary:

Strengths: Clean crisp style, easy to read, good use of quotes from coaches, wide research, good forward by Fiedler. Do not be turned off by the name Nomad Press, which I had not heard of before.

Weaknesses: no index, organization could be tightened up here and there (but not too bad). Additional perspective of players would have offered a counterbalance to extensive interviews with coaches.

If you have a high school aged son or daughter who hopes to be an Ivy League athlete, this book is a must read.

My daughter, after reading Chris' book, learned what motivates the coaches and how to approach them in a straight-forward and ethical way. At the same time she was able to take control of the process and ultimately achieve her desired outcome, a scholarship offer from Stanford and a "Likely Letter" from her first choice, Dartmouth. She couldn't have done this without this resource.

I have a high school senior son who is looking to participate in college sports after graduation and I was looking for a book that would help provide some understanding of the whole Ivy recruiting process. This book provided great insight into the Ivy recruiting process from both the college coaches and administrators perspective. It provides the insight though true experiences of athletes, coaches and administrators. It also sheds light on the conflicts within the Ivy League about the process.

An excellent book for high school students and their parents interested in Ivy League and even NESCAC schools and how sports recruiting at those schools works. I learned about "likely letters", "supports" and other details that are otherwise difficult to learn, even from the coaches.

My only reservation is that with Harvard's recent decision to stop early admissions, and I assume others will follow, the book will need updating to reflect the changes in sports recruiting due to this.

A great learning tool for anyone connected with a high school athlete looking to play sports in college. Unfortunately, I read this too late to help. Just witnessed first hand a scenario whereby a "solid commitment" did not materialize at an Ivy - putting a student athlete in a very precarious spot. To the reviewer claiming that Lincoln was "creating a controversy and scandal that does not exist", I can personally tell you that Lincoln is right on the mark. I have already re-read the book and advocate that all who are ever thinking about entering the recruiting process should take detailed notes.

This book IS for you if:

1) You are involved with B2B, complex solutions that typically have longer sales cycles, higher contract value and involve multiple individuals or departments within an organization
2) You enjoy good stories that are detailed enough to provide salient examples yet are not too industry specific
3) You are searching for benchmark strategies for strategic selling

This book is NOT for you if:

1) If you are involved with transactional, typically one-time sales with limited complexity
2) Your sales involve only one obvious decision-maker
3) Your sales are generated online

Although it is easy to argue that this book is applicable to all sales situations, those involved in transactional, one-time sales - especially of a perceived commodity - rarely have the time or resources to go strategically deep within an organization.

To save yourself valuable time and money, be sure to honestly and accurately understand your sales model. If you're looking for a book to provide understanding and insights into the nuances of enterprise sales, this book is well worth your investment in time and money.

From the get-go, the book sets the stage - you only lose sales to the next best alternative by being outsold. Everything else is an excuse.

Having read several books on the topic of sales strategy, as well as taking training on the subject, this book really nicely summarizes everything I've seen covered on the topic of strategy (and then some).

Highly recommended.

Almost all sales books have two major flaws: 1) They give you high level advise, such as "have a strategy" without giving you the "rubber-meets-the-road" actions to take. 2) They expect you to operate within a vaccuum where their selling system or methodology will work every time.

Power Base selling does not contain the first flaw and does an admirable job of trying to avoid the second. It is the first and best book I have read attacking the problem of organizational politics and the human dynamics in a corporate or complex selling environment. It gives very practical ideas on what to do in most political/selling situations to tilt the decision in your favor.

What this book does not do, nor attempt to do, is discuss the importance of a value proposition and the solution you are trying to sell. This is a great book to complement other famous sales books such as "Solution Selling."

I recommend this book highly to anyone that sells in a complex sales world.

Forget all the Zig Ziglar-type sales technique books! This is the real deal; It's about methodology, not how to glad hand or do an end run around the CFO or purchasing manager. If you want to understand the nature of truly competitive selling read this book, then watch the movie "Glegarry Glen Ross" for contrast. We trained the worldwide sales force of a F500 company on the Holden methodology. Results speak for themselves

The first time I read Power Base Selling, I thought it was great. Now that I have just re-read it, I am blown away by points that I missed the first time around. I recommend that everyone read it, apply it and then read it again -- it not only sharpins your political skills in selling, but in life.

Reading Secret Society Girl: An Ivy League Novel (Ivy League) put me in righteously indignant mode for two days straight. Now, admittedly, it doesn't always take much to send me there but, since my indignation was on behalf of fictional characters and couldn't hurt anyone, well, real, I figured it was okay to let the wrath reign. Besides, some of those dudes really deserved it. My wrath, that is. Reading UNDER THE ROSE was an entirely different experience. I spent the majority of the time grinning madly, silently egging certain characters on while berating others for their a) lack of the barest trappings of a conscience or b) inability to just come out and say what's really bothering them.

And boy was there a lot of bothering going on. At the start of the book, it quickly becomes apparent someone within the secret society is leaking information to outsiders intent on destroying them. Amy, known within the Rose & Grave annals as Bugaboo, is dismayed to find out she's lived up to her society nickname when none of the other Diggers will listen to her pleas for help investigating the leak. Caught up in their own lives and dramas, her fellow Diggers leave Amy alone to fret and fester over the fraying society she's been so loyal to (and so instrumental in saving in the last book). And Amy has her own heady distractions in the form of her senior thesis, her roommate Lydia's love life woes, and the persistence of one George Harrison Prescott.

I thought UNDER THE ROSE was an even stronger story than its predecessor. The pace never flagged, the dialogue was sharp, and the characters became more interesting and more dear, as evidenced by the fact that my heart went out to two of them who'd done nothing but irritate me in the first book. I love it when that happens! I was particularly enamored by the unwilling alliance Amy forms with a certain caustic law student and the verbal sparring that ensues. Ah, the things she gets roped into doing in the name of the greater good. This book was a smooth, delicious treat and when I closed it I felt like we'd all of us had a good time.

This is the second book in the "Ivy League" series by Diane Petrefreund. The third book in this series - Rites of Spring - will be available June 2008. In general, between this book and the first one, Secret Society Girl, I still feel like these books are failing a bit at living entirely up to my expectations - I feel like there are just too many archetypes to make the books really satisfying as other books in this genre of fiction can be.

In this one, Amy Haskel is back at school for her senior year as a full-fledged Digger (member of a secret society) but things are once again on the fritz within the Rose & Grave as the group receives threatening messages and their secrets are being leaked to a conspiracy website. The author does a good job of setting up a ton of suspects and subplots from the first chapter - you never know who to trust within the group and on the outside, which makes for a fun guessing game as to who the rat within the group is. Even then, once the main mystery of the story is uncovered, it's suddenly revealed that the betrayal in the group goes much deeper than originally thought!

These books are hard to sum up without giving a lot of information away so that's all I can really say. In terms of pros, the book really was good at making me suspicious of a lot of people in the beginning and I kept on guessing what the twists were going to be - I didn't anticipate too many of them mostly because some of them were kind of completely from left field. Still I found the book entertaining and gripping enough to be a page turner that I finished in a few days so that's probably a good sign.

Also I still give the author credit for creating some very realistic portrayals of the different types of college students out there, I recognized almost every 'archetype' she had, and the protagonist was a good mix of ivy league pretentiousness and naive twentysomething. All in all I'm looking forward to the next book, if only for a bit of fun reading.

I read "Secret Society Girl" recently, and enjoyed it but i felt it didnt live up to my sxpectations. I bought this one hoping it would be better and it was! It was well written and a fun novel.

Diana Peterfreund has her second hit with UNDER THE ROSE. Peterfreund has big shoes to fill after the popular Secret Society Girl and she fills them with ease. The book is witty, sexy and engaging from the first page to the last. The enjoyable Amy Haskel shines in UTR and the plot didn't stop twisting until the final page. Definitely a must read and a book you'll enjoy again and again.

I was so excited when my copy of 'Under the Rose' came in the mail. I literally did not put it down for an entire day. From page one Peterfreund has the reader hooked not just with the story line, but with the characters and their relationships. This book was amazing and I just cannot wait until the next one comes out!

This is the best collection of law school statements around. Whatever your situation, there's an example to help you. I am 110% satisfied.

Compared to the essays found in the Princeton Review's law essay collection, I found the quality of these essays to be mostly average, a collection that emphasizes quantity over quality. While the Princeton Review book has many essays written by applicants who do a great job with little material to work with, this collection is filled with applicants who do an average job with a tremendous amount to work with. After looking at essays written by people who'd lived 15 years in China, or had 10 with the red cross, or was the most successful investment banker in the country, I didn't find much inspiration for my essay. In an essay boasting of fewer accomplishments, the author announces his dedication to public interest law without backing up his motivations with serious evidence - a cardinal sin in a field where 50% of polled applicants plan to practice public interest, but only 2-5% do from any given school.

There's lots of essays to work with here, but you really have to hunt to find anything useful. I recommend reading another book first, and if lacking ideas, look here.

Before I bought this collection, I had already read through most of the other collections of law school personal statements that Amazon sells. This one is FAR superior in terms of variety, quality, quantity and organization.

There are excellent examples of different writing styles and topics, including several that I never would have considered. I am extremely grateful to have found this in time to write my own personal statement. It's the best investment I could have made.

This book tells an important story about political correctness on America's college campuses today. It is told in a funny and sometimes hilarious way, as it contains stories about the screw ball left wing professors that populate our schools. Of course much of what went on was college silliness, but the Dartmouth Review has done so much to expose the pretensions of what passes for academic thought today that it can be forgiven. (P.S. the previous reviewer who did not read this book is one more example of the twisted minds out there today, a saboteur on the style of Michael Moore.)

While I don't agree with every single position they take, I have to tip my hat to the _Dartmouth Review_ and its writers for their willingness to stand up to the campus liberal establishment and its endless harassment. I have had some hard things to say about my alma mater, but if I'd faced the sort of treatment some Review staffers got, my parents would have been up there with blood in their eyes, and the responsible faculty would have been in a World o'Hurt.

The Review's feud with an incompetent black music professor is worth the price of the book all by itself.

This is a book about James Hogue, a liar, thief, and cheater who is most famous for attending ivy league Princeton University under an assumbed name and identity. I decided to read this book to get a clearer pictire of James Hogue, after watching the excellent documentary on his crimes entitled "Con Man" directed by Jesse Moss. This book does not disappoint. It opens on his stay in Telluride, Colorado in which he posed as a world class runner, or entrepeneur, or engineer, or master carpenter (depending on who you talk to) and stole (from people he knew or worked for) over $100,000 worth of furnishings and trinkets; which he was convicted of recently and is currently serving ten years. It delves into his con at Princeton under the name Alexi Indris-Santana (he told others he was a self-taught sheep herder while he was there who happened to be good at running); and when he was caught by a person who saw him at a track meet who recognized him as "Jay Riivk Huntsman" who had attended her high school and wowed people with his running scores who was outed by a local reporter who got suspicious.
The author seemingly identifies with Hogue in lying, and discusses this in his book. He was a youthful liar that told lies about himself to people who were willing to listen, so he could get them to open up and he could gain insight into what made them tick. Samuels (the author) describes his lies as "... products of circumstance, and of some real and obvious instability in my own character." However, Samuels describes knowing when he lied in the past, and how he felt he should not do it because he would start to get truth and lies confused. Hogue is not able to do that, and seems to beleive in whatever lie he is telling at the time, including at the end of the book a con with the author concerning a freshman at Princeton.
The tale is fascinating and completely true. There is not a psychological disorder currently recognized for what Hogue has-someone who is compelled to lie, who is not happy with who he is so he feels the need to change and reinvent himself. There is also not a psychological disorder for his compulsion to steal, and then hoard the items he has stolen either.
The only way this book could possibly be improved is if the author had chosen to include a few pictures of Hogue from his "Jay Huntsman" and "Alexi Indris-Santana" days; and some pictures of Hogue growing up and currently today as an incarcerated man. Many true account books include pictures of the person the book is about at different stages in their life. It still stands as an excellent and chilling read into the mind of a forever imposter.

There are few funky part even I could tell it's typo. Someone properly edited this book, right?
It is confusing because I can't tell when the interview with Hogue in the dorm at Princeton took place. I mean, how could they even let him back in there?
He is arrested 2006 then sentenced 2007 refused to see the author in his jail in first half of the book.
Suppose the author is obsessed and following Hogue for ten years, there is not much have done since their first meeting in Princeton ( it is the first and only, right? I don't know for sure) to write the book about it now.
I wish the author left out his own agenda out of the way so we could concentrate on Hogue character, not the author who identify with the subject and want to tell about why.
I can't care less he went to Harvard because of fluke or couldn't drink milk with meat.
Oh, I love the cover design if anything, he made concept so it says, he shoulda be book designer instead of writer.

Was not an overwhelming book, to say the least. But then again, it is supposed to chronicle the true tales of Hogue. THe author has a bit of a disjointed writing style; there are a few times where you question the relevance of a passage. So sad that Hogue apparently does have the brains, the drive, and the talent to have a great life; too bad he didn't capitalize on his potential in an honest way.

Samuels has taken an admirable stab at dissecting this enigmatic Gatsbyesque con man's psyche for motive, astutely tabulating the paltry gain from the years of petty crime. In a funny aside that Samuels to his credit puts in the book, Hogue responds to one of Samuels's elaborate and quirky questionnaires by closing with this jibe: "What's with the janitor garb? Are you trying to show your solidarity with the lumpen?"

The book is an elaboration of a New Yorker article and probably should have stayed as such (much like Barry Werth's Scarlet Professor), as it feels stretched and padded. Although not a great writer, Samuels rightly senses that he holds compelling subject matter. One fault is that the chronology would have been much better as a simple linear progression; it confusingly yoyos between past and future. Also, instead of just letting the story tell itself, Samuels often intrudes with exaggerated veneration of the privilege of a Princeton (or his own Harvard) education, with admissions committees' self deluding liberal smugness, and with largely irrelevant autobiographical items.

Hogue ultimately proves uncooperative and Samuels is left to speculate on his quarry, but perhaps there is no very profound mechanism at work here. Although I have to admit I'm looking forward to seeing the documentary Con Man. One wonders what a Truman Capote or a Norman Mailer might have done with this material.

Just finished reading Samuels The Runner, and literally could not put it down. Wow! What a crazy fascinating story. It's amazing that people like Hogue exist and that people like Samuels can tell their tale so well. I really felt like I was there, meeting Hogue in person. Not sure what the other reviewers problems are... I thought it was great, and so did every other members of my book group (expect Andy, but he hates everything!) Really, this is a five star winner!

After browsing Diana Peterfreund's blog, I found myself charmed and went and snagged a copy of SECRET SOCIETY GIRL. And though I didn't almost get hit by a car, I did stay up too late two nights in a row finishing this one. I found myself alternately morbidly fascinated by and completely frustrated with a world that (though "real") was so utterly alien to the one I experienced at college. More to come on that further down.

Amy Haskel is your average overachieving junior at Eli University. Editor of the school's lit magazine, she's up to her elbows reading War and Peace, sorting writing submissions, and negotiating a very tenuous friends-with-benefits relationship with her assistant editor. Amid all this, Amy is shocked when Rose and Grave, the most prestigious secret society on campus, taps her for their annual initiation. BTW, it's clear from the get-go that Eli is not-so-loosely based on Yale, while Rose and Grave is patterned on the infamous Skull and Bones secret society.

The notion of a secret society is so outside my realm of experience, that that alone made the book interesting. It's hard for me to wrap my brain around the fact that these groups actually exist and have persisted into the present day, albeit in altered and, one would hope, slightly more enlightened forms. In fact, the admission of women forms the backbone of this story as Amy's initiation class is the first to include a female contingent. Rather unsurprisingly, I spent a good portion of reading time railing away in my head at the archaic, misogynist, preposterous ways the men of Rose and Grave viewed the world. Don't even get me started on the so-called "patriarchs" who threaten (and come through on said threats) to make Amy's and the other girls' lives a living hell if they insist on remaining members, aka Diggers. Suffice it to say, I was ready to lose it long before Amy did. And I'm not at all sure I would have made the choice she did in the end.

That said, I sank into Peterfreund's clean, light prose. Just when the whole thing seemed too much to take, she'd include a quiet scene where Amy reminded me why I liked her so much. I like this girl. I just do. I finished the book still conflicted over Amy's choice and that of her fellow Diggirls. Still unsure which (if any) of her male friends can be trusted, particularly the intriguing GHP. Still supremely relieved I'm not living her life. And still satisfied in an I'll have another dish of pie, please, kind of way. I've got the sequel on my nightstand and I'm thinking I'll "dig" right in.

I really enjoyed this book. I just recently reread it in preparation for RITES of SPRING BREAK.

I enjoyed it immensely. My only issue with the book was keeping track of the real names and society names of the characters. More than once I had to flip to the list of the society members to see who was talking. There were a lot of characters, and some got lost in the shuffle. Diana Peterfruend somewhat remedies this in the future books. She focuses more on a small set of characters.

Overall, I thought that this was a fun book, and if you enjoyed it too, you'll really like the UNDER THE ROSE and RITES OF SPRING BREAK!!

This book was great! I read it in two days. It kept me wondering what was going to happen next. It was a cute fun read.

As a teenage girl, I really liked this book. It was fast paced and interesting and I felt like I could relate to the main character, "Neophyte" Amy Haskel. But one things got me - the language. It was very obviously trying to say "I'm smart AND sexy!"

To put it in more understandable terms, anyone who uses "proffer" three times in one book and thinks its okay should really consider a different profession.

I loved this book! The character starts out as a normal, unsure of herself girl with smarts and talent, and is invited into her college's most prestigious society, even though everyone knows they don't accept women, at least not until now.

As one of the first women invited, she faces hazing and discrimination from both "friends" and enemies.

This is a well-written and engaging chick-lit book that goes a bit deeper than usual and explores gender, intelligence, and historical tradition in a different way than most books of its ilk.

I've already read and enjoyed the sequel, and can't wait for the latest installment to come out!

After reading this book, I was glad that I didn't purchase it, but instead borrowed it from a friend. The whole book is a list of `secrets' for getting your kid into a top school. Some of the more helpful secrets, I thought, were not so much secrets as much as they were good old-fashioned common sense. One example of this can be found on page 245, where secret 231 gives you a list of questions that your child should not ask during a college interview. A few of those questions: Is the drinking age really enforced on campus? Are there dorms for smokers? Are drugs tolerated? Is there a wakeup call in the dorms?

Another example of common sense is found in secret 160, it suggests that your kid doesn't sabotage his own admissions by putting inappropriate e-mail addresses in his college application. Secret 160 gives examples of such e-mail address: Naked1, or Druggy2, or XFelon3, or Crack4, or Jailbird, or Dumbchick.

The least helpful secrets, to me anyway, were mostly over the top helicopter parenting tips. A few examples:

SECRET 60, suggest that your child's backpack is "family property" and should not contain anything personal. It says to go through your kid's backpack nightly (the author is talking about a high school aged child). Make folders for each course and keep score on course averages.

SECRET 63, "Secretly organize your child. Foolish parents complain to teachers or other parents that their kid is so disorganized or keeps a messy backpack or even a messy room. Invade. Clean up the kids act."

As a parent, I was able to find a few helpful hints, but not enough to justify spending $15 for my own copy. If you are considering purchasing this collection of 272 'secrets' let me add my own secret...Take an hour at the book store and skim through these secrets with a cup of coffee before spending your money.

My thought: A college should meet the true needs, skills, talents, and ambitions of the student, not the capability of the student's parent to manipulate not only their kid, but also the admissions office of their perceived "top school".

I also was sorry this book was not available until my daughter's senior year. And I wish the same author's book for high school parents had been available earlier, too. We struggled through the high-anxiety of senior year (and are fortunate to have a college freshman who received a lot of fat envelopes and is happy with her choice). We had the benefit of an enormously talented college advisor at school, but not every family does. For them especially, this book is essential. One will never think the same way about things again and can avoid some now-obvious mis-steps. She will not take away all the worry. That goes with the territory.

I know this book is written for the parents, but, as a student, I found this book to be EXTREMELY helpful. I'll tell you the difference right off the bat: as a high school senior, I applied to renowned universities like Johns Hopkins, Tufts, and Boston College, and was not admitted to any of them. I was forced to go to the one public school I applied to and was very bitter about it. The first year at my public college, I tried to transfer to Johns Hopkins, hoping that my previous wait-listed status meant I would make a terrific transfer student. I was rejected once again... Then I bought this book the following year, and I was able to get into every college I applied to after that, including Cornell. I went from being turned down by second-tier schools to getting accepted into the Ivy League.. all from taking advice from this book.

Other reviewers complain about the cut-throat and perhaps manipulative approach this book wants parents to take, but I didn't read this book as a parent. The tips I focused on instead were the ones about the application process itself. I do believe that parents should encourage their kids to take part in extracurriculars in which the child both enjoys and stand outs, but someone that deserves to go a good school should be able to handle their own homework deadlines and applications. The book instead should be taken as guidance for things like writing a non-blasé application essay, getting good recommendations, what to do on college interviews, and how to show an admissions committee that a student's qualities and passions are essential for their university.

Having recently gone through the college admissions process with two children, we've looked at most of the books in this category. What sets this book apart from the others is the fact that the author is unquestionably on the side of you, the consumer. Ms. Wisner-Gross lends transparency to the business of college admissions, and offers many suggestions reflecting her ability to think outside of the box. This book was extremely helpful to us, and a clear favorite.

The presentation emphasizes the importance of monitoring grades from the
9th grade onward because this provides a good predictor of future performance. In addition, parents should track grading rubrics. Student
practice is important to solidify knowledge of the technical subject areas. i.e. math, science and foreign language

Sometimes, group study can make tedious work more palatable and manageable. The author provides a list of excellent colleges that do not require an SAT score. i.e. Bates, Bowdoin, and Harvey Mudd engineering school. Olin College provides a free engineering school. The author recommends that students provide a resume, chart and no picture.

Essays should provide a sincere recitation of your accomplishments and what you plan to contribute to the college. Applicants should demonstrate a passion for the area of study in the application. In addition, areas of strength should be emphasized.

The authors really do not explain the pitfalls of selecting a top school.
First of all, what is a top school? Is it a place with a 100% job
placement rate or a place where only PhDs are hired or a place where
top SAT scorers are highly sought out? In my own experience, it is
important to visit the institution of choice and talk to current and
former students. Do students seem to be happy? Are they overworked?
Do teachers teach or do student teachers take up most of the teaching
load because professors are too busy publishing and doing research?
These are all areas to be investigated because college is a multi-year
commitment in time and money.

The author doesn't say so; however, a top school consists of the following:
o excellent job placement/prospects in your major area of study
o good preparation for graduate school work, if ever contemplated
o comprehensive teaching by academic types or working professionals
o a current curriculum (although professional licensure courses of study
are mandated by state or federal law)
o a reasonable cost for the value of the education provided
o a roster of accomplishment by the alumni
i.e. Professional licensure, PhD or graduate education, publishing,
inventorship, identification by the print media

There are things you do not want in a top school. i.e.

o professors or teachers who delegate too much teaching to assistants
o instruction that is too esoteric or theoretical
o an institution that doesn't link the education to professional placement
o too much adherence to bell curves and rigid grading rubrics
o teaching that assumes too much prior background in the subject matter
o an environment which is not conducive to learning
o an unaffordable cost for the education