If you have no idea how colleges choose students for admission A is for Admission is an eye opener. While the book exclusively talks about Ivy League and highly selective colleges, so much can be taken out of it regardless of the higher institution you or your children have their sights on. Certainly not "light" reading, but hugely insightful.

It is written by Michele A. Hernandez, EdD, a former Assistant Director of Admissions at Dartmouth College.

Who knew that much of what the Ivies use the student has no control over(ranking systems, weighted grades, class size etc.). With the information in this book though, a student who has the ambition to attend an Ivy League or highly selective college, can be better prepared with their application and the information they do have control over.



We seriously had some hopes of Amber attending a prestigious school, her grades are certainly good enough. This book firmly put us in our place. I have learned through A is for Admission and knowing my daughter's personality that not only is she not suited for one of these institutions she also wouldn't make the short list at most of them either.

Throughout the book, Hernandez shares openly and honestly about the goings on behind the closed doors of the admissions office from an insider perspective. She does not gloss over the faults of the system, and points out the things worthy of praise.

The one disappointment I had, especially since this book has been revised and reprinted since its first edition in 1997, is that she does not touch on how homeschooled students fit in the picture at all. Knowing that many highly selective colleges recruit and find them desirable students and that this choice of education is growing very fast, I felt she could have at the least devoted a short chapter to that group of students and parents.


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