College Advice Books: How to Survive Getting Into College

These collections of college admissions survival tips hail from Hundreds of Heads, which gathers advice from teens, college kids and parents who have been through the stressful process and lived to tell the tale. Not every tip pertains to everyone, but there isn't a teen or parent around who won't take something away. Accessible, easy to read and attractively laid out in bite-sized chunks, these are perfect volumes for procrastinators, the gung-ho crowd and anxious or stressed-out teens alike.

There are so many college advice books on the market these days, that a number of subgenres have sprung up. There's the "inside scoop on getting into the Ivy League" subgenre, the "Ivy League schools are way overblown" category, and the "whole bunch of college apps tips crammed into a book" division. Hundreds of Heads' "How to Survive Getting Into College" (2006) and "How to Survive Getting Your Kid Into College" (2007) fall into the latter category, offering hundreds of application survival tips from students and parents who have been through the process.

These books are wise, funny, entertaining and eminently practical. Not every tip will apply to your family, but every family will find something useful to take away. The books offer up advice on everything from exams to college tours, decision-making and the art of coping with rejection. Each section has a "Headlines" list of top tips, but there's great material on every page.

Examples:

• "Never visit (a campus) on a weekend morning... No one was on campus and there didn't seem to be any atmosphere. Then it hit me. Everyone was still asleep... The most important time to visit is later in the afternoon on a spring day. There are more people on campus and I could get a feel for what the school was really like." - Lafayette College student.
• "Parents, you need to get your tax information together much sooner than you're used to. Every school has a different date for financial aid forms, and if you miss it, tough. We had to have our taxes done at the beginning of February." - University of Michigan parent.

These books are part of the Hundreds of Heads series, which draws on input from, well, hundreds of heads - teens, college kids and parents who have been through the process. It's edited by former admissions officer Rachel Korn. Both teens and their parents will get something out of these accessible, easy-to-read books. If your child seems disinclined to pop the cover on any college advice book, try leaving one on the breakfast table or in the family room - or in the bathroom - where it can be picked up and paged through, a tidbit at a time.