College Prep: What To Read (and not)

College Prep: What To Read (and not): If you need more information about how to manage the college application process than you found in our College Prep: What To Do … And Don’ts (we knew that you would) then you came to the right place.  Our panel of local experts also provided book lists to prepare high school students for college. Plus, a separate list of books for parents to help you control the tiger mom within as your kids prepare to choose a college and leave home. “Chill out M&D”

What To Read: College Prep

• A is for Admission, Michelle Hernandez
• The Fiske Guide to Colleges 2014, Edward Fiske
• SAT Prep Black Book: The Most Effective SAT Strategies, Mike Barrett
• Outsmarting the SAT, Elizabeth King

– Neal Schwartz, Tutoring Club

• Colleges That Change Lives, Loren Pope
• Fiske’s Guide to Colleges

 – Carol Gill, President of Carol Gill Associates and College Counselor for Soundview Preparatory School

What not to read

Anything titled – “Best Colleges” – Neal Schwartz, Tutoring Club

Do not read the US News & World Report College Rankings.  It has been discovered that several colleges have been found to report statistics that are not accurate in order to inflate their rank. – Carol Gill, President of Carol Gill Associates and College Counselor for Soundview Preparatory School

Try to avoid only using ranking books or insider guides…some can be useful in helping set up search but there are so many other books that I would add to the parents and students list. – Christine Cahill, Director of College Counseling, The Harvey School

Essential Reading for students before you go to college

• Chicken Soup for the College Soul, Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Kimberly Kirberger, Dan Clark and James Malinchak
• Conquering the College Admissions Essay in 10 Steps, Alan Gelb
• The Naked Roommate: And 107 Other Issues You Might Run into at College, Harlan Cohen
• Getting In, Karen Stabiner
• Don’t Stalk the Admissions Office: How to Survive the College Admissions Process Without Losing your Mind, Risa Lewak
• Brave New World and Brave New World Revisited, Aldous Huxley and Christopher Hitchens
• Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies, Jared Diamond
• A People’s History of the United States, Howard Zinn
• The Jungle, Sinclair Upton
• The Prince, Niccolio Machiavelli
• Frankenstein, Mary Shelley
• Les Miserables, Victor Hugo
• 1984, George Orwell
• The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
• Angela’s Ashes, Frank McCourt
• All the Kings Men, Robert Penn Warren
• Lincoln at Gettysburg, Garry Wills
• Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austin
• Sense and Sensibility, Jane Austin
• Flags of our Fathers, James Bradley
• Flyboys, James Bradley
• Chickenhawk, Robert Mason
• Baptism by Fire, Mark K. Updegrove
• Triangle: The Fire that Changed America, David Von Drehle
• Never Give In! The Best of Winston Churchill’s Speeches, Selected by His Grandson Winston S. Churchill
• When Pride Still Mattered: Lombardi, David Maraniss – Christine Cahill, Director of College Counseling, The Harvey School

                                                                                                                                                                 Books to help parents make it through college application hell

• Getting In, Karen Stabiner
• Acceptance, Susan Coll
• Colleges that Changes Lives, Loren Pope
• Looking Beyond the Ivy Leagues, Loren Pope
• SAT Wars, Joseph A. Soares
• I’m Going to College-Not You! Surviving the College Search with Your Child, Jennifer Delhuntly
• The College Solution: A Guide for Everyone Looking for the Right School at the Right Price, Lynn O’Shaughnessy
• Admission Matters: What Students and Parents Need to Know About Getting into College, Sally P. Springer, Jon Reider and Marion R. Franck
• The Gatekeepers, Jacques Steinberg
• The Naked Roommate: For Parents Only, Harlen Cohen
• College Admission: From Application to Acceptance, Step by Step, Robin Mamlet and Christine VanDeVelde
• I’ll Miss You Too: The Off-to-College Guide for Parents and Students, Margo E. Woodacre and Steffany Bane
• The iConnected Parent: Staying Close to your Kids in College (and beyond) While Letting them Grow Up, Barbara K. Hofer and Abigail Sullivan

– Christine Cahill, Director of College Counseling, The Harvey School

College Prep Do’s & Don’ts, Back to School, Fall Survival Checklist

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