★★★★★ 3
Good place to start
Format: Paperback
I am an independent college adviser based in California and I recommend this book to my clients but only at the very beginning of the process (mostly to the parents of rising high school freshmen and sophomores).
This book is a good place to start especially for many of the foreign educated or immigrant families, who are new to the US College Admission process. The parents do tell us that the book loses its effectiveness once they gain knowledge of the process and/or they begin working one-on-one with an independent and/or become more conscious about meeting the high school counselors early in the process.
I personally like the fact that once this book is overviewed by the families, we can spend more time addressing specific concerns and giving more customized advice. As a result we only need quarterly meetings and these meetings are extremely targeted.
The problem with this book though is it reads like a huge information session by colleges. Those of you who have attended some of the information sessions will know what I mean. The insights provided by the deans and admission officers of various colleges sound somewhat like a "sales pitch" at times and at other times are misleading. I also recommend my students to keep their knowledge up to date by referring to various free resources such as Nancy Griesemer's educational articles in Washington Examiner Online, or the Choice Blog. I spend considerable time volunteering my services at a high school in a mixed/low income neighborhoods; I wish the price had been more reasonable considering that this is a basic book.
Lastly as members of NACAC (National Association of College Admission Counseling), all of us in the admissions field (College Admission Officers, High School Counselors, and Independent Counselors) subscribe to certain codes of ethics and one of the Statements of Good Practice says this about Fairness and Equity: We believe our members have a responsibility to treat one another and students in a fundamentally fair and equitable manner. Unfortunately, Ms. Mamlet and Ms. VanDeVelde do a great disservice by being disrespectful to a large community of Independent College Advisers, many of whom are needed when the high school counselors are juggling with case loads of 200-300 students each and are unable to keep up with the changing scene of college admissions (either due to the lack of funding or time). Gone are the days when people went to some "quack-independents" who promised admissions to Ivy Leagues--sure there are some of those but if families are careful in their research, they will soon find out that these Independents do not belong to any authentic professional organizations such as the NACAC, HECA or IECA. Most students who come to the authentic professionals are motivated to find their right fit college, explore their own strengths and weaknesses and find the best match for their talents, interests and financial situation. Most independents offer services that are reasonably priced. If Ms. Mamlet and VanDeVelde show more commitment to researching folks on the other side of the spectrum, I am sure that their book will be more enlightening.
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Reviewed in the United States on August 18, 2013
