Hernandez College Consulting Books ????

Parents Forum
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<p>Hello -</p>

<p>I am not sure if this is the right place to ask this - but I am going ahead and trying.</p>

<p>My DD (8th grader) is a top of the line student, with excellent SATs (taken in 7th grade), great extracurricular activities, tons of volunteering, loves summer academic programs … we are very blessed. She is self motivated and does well. She would REALLY like to attend an Ivy (Brown is her favorite - as of now) or Swarthmore, Bryn Mawr, Amherst, Smith…</p>

<p>Together, we have been starting to talk about college - consultants - books to read…</p>

<p>We both are reading A is for Admission by Michele Hernandez. DD went to her website and pulled up a few books she would like to get… they are PRICEY !!!</p>

<p>Now - we pay for summer programs - THINK, Concordia etc… without thinking twice. She is part of JHU-CTY and does programs with them (well did - during Middle School)…and we don’t bat an eyelash… because they have helped DD grow into who she is.</p>

<p>But are these products really, REALLY worth it. I have a lot of books on college admissions, scholarships, summer programs that we are working our way through…</p>

<p>Does anyone have any thoughts / imput on the following books by Michele Hernandez…</p>

<p>The Ultimate Guide to Top HIgh School Contest & Awards
The Ultimate Guide to Top High School Summer Programs
The Middle School Years
Don’t worry, You’ll Get in </p>

<p>I just can’t see paying almost $350 plus s/h for these four books. </p>

<p>Has anyone read - looked at - heard any opinons…</p>

<p>Thanks in advanced.</p>

<p>Eva</p>

2

<p>I would think you could get a lot of the contest info via cogito.org or CTY. A book on contests seems a bit of a waste since it would need to be continuously updated to be accurate.</p>

<p>As far as high school programs, the same sort of thing applies. You can always ask here, if you have questions. </p>

<p>So, I’d eliminate at least those 2 books from your buying list.</p>

3

<p>“Don’t Worry, You’ll Get In” – is pretty much a light weight book. I think it is more suited to be something a parent might buy to help motivate a high school junior who is having difficulty getting into the college application process. It’s more of a “thumb through” book than a deep read. </p>

<p>Your d. can only attend a handful of summer programs and would only be competitive for a handful of awards-- there is no real point in owning a comprehensive guide book for them all. I’d think that those books would be more appropriate for a college counselor to have in their library. That’s why they are priced so high – they are professional references, not geared to a mass market.</p>

<p>Your daughter has her own unique talents and interests. She should pursue those and she (and you) can keep an eye out for opportunities as they arise. Your best source of information may be via publications geared to those interests, including many free resources on the internet. </p>

<p>Please don’t make the mistake of picking activities based on how you think they will look to colleges. It makes sense to check out the reputation of a program before wasting money on something based on a mistaken belief about its level of prestige or respect – but the best thing your d. can do is pursue her own interests and following whatever opportunities are appropriate (and available) for those interests. Sometimes that means going off the beaten path and thinking outside the box.</p>

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<p>I have never bought any books like this. If I check around local libraries I can find most of them. But I want to heartily second calmom’s comments. The right summer programs for your child are the ones that come from your child’s interests. My younger son wrote one of his essay’s about a volunteer opportunity that became available in his neighbor and didn’t cost us a cent. My oldest son got interested in computer programming. He mostly taught himself, but the summer after 10th grade we came across a course offered by Columbia U’s summer school. After that he was paid to do computer programming. He didn’t need prestigious summer programs because what he’d taught himself was just as impressive.</p>

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<p>Books on college admissions that I recommend (most can usually be found at your local library):
Daniel Golden, The Price of Admission
Jacques Steinberg, The Gatekeepers
Christopher Avery et al, The Early Admissions Game
Harry Bauld, On Writing the College Application Essay
Loren Pope, Colleges that Change Lives</p>

<p>And my favorite SAT prep book is the comparatively slim Hack the SAT by Eliot Schrefer. If, like me, you find yourself fascinated by the sociological implications of this particular subgenre, look up Jean Fetter’s Questions and Admissions: Reflections on 100,000 Admissions Decisions at Stanford in a local academic library and peruse the books next to it on the shelf.</p>

<p>Hernandez’s general-consumption book is dated but still useful for background and grounding. I wouldn’t bother with any of her other products unless you decide that you really want to pay for counseling three years from now.</p>

6

<p>Since your D is in the second semester of 8th grade, you’d only get one-sixth of any value out of the Middle School Years book :)</p>

<p>The CC summer programs forum has tons of information, probably far more than what’s in Hernandez’s book. I will go out and buy a hat for the purposes of eating it if someone can come up with a program that is mentioned in Hernandez’s materials, but isn’t mentioned on CC.</p>

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<p>Jacques Steinberg, The Gatekeepers
Harry Bauld, On Writing the College Application Essay</p>

<p>Both of those are excellent, and should be pretty cheap. You can also probably check them from the library. The rest from Keilexandra’s list is probably good too - she is pretty well informed ;).</p>

<p>For test prep, especially for kids who are good at it already, I think the best way to go is to get the “Real SAT” book, and just do the tests.</p>

8

<p>$350 sounds like an awful lot of money. I don’t think you need to make that kind of investment (although I think Hernandez’ A is for Admissions, though old, may still be worth reading.)</p>

<p>The best general admissions book I’ve read (and I read a bunch of them when my kids were applying) is Admission Matters, by Springer and Franck. Well-written, well-organized, with solid advice about how the process works, what applicants can and cannot control, how to build a college list, and how to prepare distinctive essays and applications. It was originally published in 2005, but I think a newly revised edition just came out.</p>

9

<p>For an 8th grader, I think that most of the books about essay writing, college admissions, etc. are premature reading – especially given the fact that this is a highly motivated 8th grader who doesn’t need to be told that her grades in high school are important. You don’t want to make the mistake of creating too much stress for a 13 or 14 year old kid who will also be facing the other emotional & coming-of-age challenges of adolescence in the coming years.</p>

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<p>I agree that Admission Matters is a great book, I even found it for free from our public library. No, you don’t always get what you pay for.</p>