Book Shelf
As the countdown begins for preparing for college, The College Prep Network offers you a few resources to help you to prepare for the SAT and ACT, the college application process, your future STEM career, and others that may be of interest to you.
College Countdown: The Parent’s and Student’s Survival Kit for the College Admissions Process
by Jill Von Gruben
Some experts believe that you can never start planning for college too early – and guess what, they may be right? The college matriculation process can be overwhelming for both parents and students unless you start a few years early and utilize available tools to start mapping out what your last year of high school and first year of college will look like? In College Countdown: The Parent’s and Student’s Survival Kit for the College Admissions Process,” the author says start planning now. She doesn’t stop there, but provides you with a workbook that includes timelines, tear outs, checklists, resources, advice and more.
What You Don’t Know Can Keep You Out of College: A Top Consultant Explains the 13 Fatal Application Mistakes and Why Character Is the Key to College Admissions by Don Dunbar, G.F. Lichtenberg
After years of preparing elite prep school students for college, Don Dunbar’s wisdom provides the type of insight gained during a time when he and colleagues had amazing access to admissions discussions at elite colleges and universities while serving as a college counselor at Phillips Academy, Andover during the 1980’s. This is a good read for those seeking access to select eastern schools or the Ivy League. Dunbar doesn’t highlight the flash or tricks of the trade, more so he stresses ways to highlight your honesty, integrity, and character in ways that will appeal to admission officers. Dunbar highlights 13 key mistakes that students can make and how to avoid them. He argues for students to be themselves and decide to work hard at becoming the person they want to be instead of presenting themselves to be what or who they are not.
Engineering Student Survival Guide (BEST Series) by Krista Donaldson and Krista Donaldson (Paperback)
The third edition of this wildly successful text provides information and strategies for engineering students to get the most out of their college education. From freshman orientation to senior year and beyond, this book covers topics pertinent and unique to all engineering students.
Acing the College Application: How to Maximize Your Chances for Admission to the College of Your Choice
(Paperback)
by Michele Hernandez
When the former assistant director of admissions at Ivy League schools gives you advice about filling out your application to college, the most logical assumption is that you take it. Acing the College Application: How to: How to Maximize Your Chances for Admission to the College of Your Choice, remains an excellent choice for that competitive student seeking to gain even the narrowest of edges on competition. The author gives advice designed to give your application wings. She shows how to improve your essays and make them come alive as a real description of who you are and what motivates you. She provides insight on the meaningful things to list and those to skip over on your application. It also offers help to make sure that you’ve covered all the things necessary to try to get into the college of your choice.
Cracking the ACT, 2009 Edition (College Test Preparation) by Princeton Review (Paperback)
The Princeton Review is noted as one of the best testing prep experts around and while providing you with ways to learn to think like the test writers, they provide you with one complete practice tests and another online practice test.
They provide crackerjack techniques for spotting errors in sentence structure and grammar or punctuation. How to write great essays is covered as well. Also available is help on the writing test and a thorough overview of the math section that covers algebra, geometry, and trigonometry.
Careers in Engineering by Geraldine Garner (Paperback)
Thinking about majoring in engineering, or a career in engineering? If so, Garner gives you an excellent overview of the various engineering careers available as well as what activities, jobs, and educational requirements go along with specific engineers. For instance, if you want to design cars, look into mechanical engineering. But if you want to build bridges consider structural engineering. The author provides information on what each career pays and a good idea of what to expect on the job and how to reach many of the numerous organizations and associations that support and provide information on careers in engineering.
Women in Science: Then and Now by Vivian Gornick (Paperback)
Today women are in all science and technical fields, distinguishing themselves as among best and brightest in the world. While gone are many barriers once existing against women in technical careers including incredibly stupid ideas that they weren’t as smart as men, women are still not as prevalent in science as they could be. Twenty five years ago, Vivian Gornick interviewed many famous and brilliant scientists about their struggle to break down doors in their fields. In 2009 she highlights the old interviews and goes back to re-interview individuals to discuss the challenges they faced and how things have changed since then. The author provides a great read for anyone looking to learn more about women in science and their struggles and successes.
College Money Handbook 2009 (How to Get Money for College)by Peterson’s and Fern Oram (Paperback)
This is a very good resource for expanding your awareness of federal financial aid packages and how to supplement them with money from colleges. They provide a comprehensive directory on the entire universe of money available. From need-based aid to non-need based aid, loans, athletic scholarships, work study and more.
How to Go to College on a Shoe String: The Insider’s Guide to Grants, Scholarships, Cheap Books, Fellowships, and Other Financial Aid Secrets by Atlantic Publishing Company (Paperback)
In regards to paying for college, there’s some good news and bad news. The bad news is that the average debt for graduating students who borrowed to pay for their undergraduate degrees was around $20,000, the good news is that there is over $134 billion available in financial aid and scholarships. You may have never heard of many of these programs and aid such as “The Millennium Scholarship” which offers $10,000 to students who have lived in Nevada for at least two years before they graduate from high school – funded by Nevada’s portion of the lawsuit settlement against national tobacco companies. There are tons of ways to defray your college expenses and this book will expose you to a wide range of them.
Admission Matters: What Students and Parents Need to Know About Getting Into College (Jossey Bass Education Series) by Sally P. Springer and Marion R. Franck
A wealth of information in a clear and easy to read format that will appeal to both parents and students is exactly what Admission Matters: What Students and Parents Need to Know About Getting Into College, brings to the table for those attempting to avoid brain-freeze or cognitive dysfunction while finding, applying and getting accepted to a college. The author covers various admission related topics such as early admissions, financial aid, and letters of recommendation as well as insight on how to look beyond the name recognition and into what schools are a match for your talent, skills, aspirations and personality. They discuss how to think about where and when to apply as well as the how’s and why colleges have become so super competitive? The Admissions process can be an entire universe unto it self. Get help to navigate the process and make sure that you do not overlook anything.
The New Rules of College Admissions: Ten Former Admissions Officers Reveal What it Takes to Get Into College Today (Fireside Books) (Paperback)
by Michael London, Stephen Kramer
Comparing when your parents applied to college to your college application process may be like comparing the current speed of Wi-Fi to the old dial up Internet – well maybe that’s a little exaggeration but you get the idea that things have changed a tremendous amount over the past two decades. The premise is still the same, fill out an application and hope that yours stands out from the others. Today however, the process of standing out can become a little tougher and more complicated and tips for addressing these changes are what the New Rules of College Admissions seeks to address. The great thing about this book is that all the writers have experience as admissions officers at top colleges and give you the enticing background on the new SAT’s, how to create a list of colleges that fit best, testing, how to sparkle in the interview and financial aid options. In a way it’s like being a fly on a wall in college admissions office while they talk about you after you have gone. Its best to know what to expect and the authors can help you put your best foot forward and get into the best school possible.