Rating: 
Summary: High grades do not necessarily indicate intellectual curious
Review: Michele Hernandez makes certain assertions that are important:
Some admissions officers are not representative or equal to the candidates they are admitting and do not reflect the values of the faculty at their Ivy institutions.Some admissions officers are biased against children of well-educated, upper class parents. Key lessons include the reality of how the regular admissions process works backwards from how many spots there are available after early decisions, legacies and athletes. She uses real results and real numbers to show how pools of applicants from certain high schools fare. One assertion that I find troublesome is that the Ivies are looking for intellectually curious people. Observing the graduates suggest that most do not emerge as intellectually curious. Most Ivy graduates do not become Ph.D.s and many do not seem to work hard during college. So have the admittees fooled the admissions officers? Or have the Ivies turned the intellectually curious into burned out students who are not intellectually curious? Some other schools such as Chicago and Reed are easier to get into but the average graduate of those institutions is generally more intellectually curious than the average Ivy Leaguer. Do Chicago-Reed undergraduates self-select? Do Chicago-Reed undergraduates become more intellectually curious during their college years? While she spends a fair amount of space on Ivy athletes and clearly communicates how athletes must be able to do the work, she does not differentiate among athletic gradations. She asserts that some Ivy individual athletic teams are comparable to or superior to those at other schools. She suggests that athletes are now unable to get in who would have been admitted in the past. Most Ivy athletic performance levels are below those of other Division I schools. To the aspiring Ivy athlete who is a legitimate Division I athlete elsewhere in most sports in most Ivy League schools this individual could make the team and play, assuming they could handle the academics. Compared to other schools few Ivy Leaguers play beyond college.
Rating: 
Summary: A Book Truly Giving Insight
Review: If you are looking into the elite schools, this is the perfect book to have. Granted, some of the ideas in it are now outdated because colleges have become so much more selective over the past few years, but this book gives you the tools to get into the college that you want to go to. It gives a TRUE insiders prospective on what makes the difference in an application, specifically those things you haven't thought about in the past.
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Summary: Everything you could ever want to know!
Review: This book answers every trying question in a young college bound person's mind. Every small thing that is looked for and other things that are not liked are let known to the public. Simply brilliant!
Rating:
Summary: INFORMATIVE BUT UNHELPFUL
Review: Demystifies the admissions process but can't help you at all with admission. Anyone considering applying to a selective college should read this book to understand the admissions process, but the book lacks examples to help you judge your chances. And reading this book can't help you at all with admission.
Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Guide to the Process
Review: Michelle Hernandez wrote an excellent guide to the college application process. It is by no means the only book that one should buy, but it does provide a worthwhile glimpse into the mind of an admissions officer. Seeing what admissions officers value (not simply tennis or football, but questions of attitude and the like) will enable applicants to think about their applications and make changes to them before sending them in. Additionally, having just completed the process (successfully, I might add), I cannot agree enough with the idea that much of the desperation that surrounds the college application proces must die down. Nevertheless, a well written and informative work that will not get you in on its own, but will help you understand how to help yourself.
Rating:
Summary: Good guidance but a little discouraging
Review: This book provides expert guidance and useful tips, but as a 15 year old sophomore looking to go to Stanford (or likes of), it's a little discouraging. I'm a straight A student and I am involved in lacrosse and volunteering, but some of the featured examples were of students that were nearly perfect that got rejected. But like I said, the guidance she gives is useful and very goal oriented. I hope that by using this book I can get into a great college.
Rating:
Summary: College, Here I Come!!
Review: I found this book extremely helpful in my quest to get into an Ivy League college. It explains what the colleges are looking for in your class ranking (The higher to the top the better), the truth about minority students (They have to meet a certian quota of them), The truth about AI (Used to figure out if you will be accepted into an Ivy league), and many more helpful hints. This book also gives you sugestions on what to do on those high school years leading up to college that look good on your application. A is for Admission tells you the dos and don'ts of essays and interviews. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointed.
Review: I've heard many good things about this book, but I was disappointed. First, it focuses mostly on Dartmouth (90%), somewhat on the other Ivies (9%), and very little on other colleges (1%). If you're interested in Dartmouth, this book is all good. If you're interested in any other college, then this book isn't very helpful. Second, this book focuses on admissions numbers-statistics, indices, and so forth. Not a lot of advice is given for the non-number areas of the admissions process. If you have great numbers (class rank, test scores), then you'll read this book and be happy. Everyone else will say "but what about me?" and "what should I do?" Hernandez doesn't really answer those questions. Third, the book isn't incredibly well-written-it can be VERY BORING and gets bogged down in obtuse explanations. Some of the facts are off and some of the stuff just seems irrelevant. Hernandez has some very specific experience and very specific advice-this book is best used to see if your class rank and test scores match up to Dartmouth's numbers from the mid-90s-or you can just buy a college guide (Fiske, Princeton) from this year and get better info. I read two other books, both of which were BETTER. Bill Paul's book (Getting In) gives a better overview, but it lacks details-it's a nice book to skim through quickly. Andrew Allen's book (College Admissions Trade Secrets) also gives a better overview and provides TONS of details and it applies to lots of schools. Of course, Allen shreds some schools, so he might annoy you. Either way, those books were more helpful to me than A is for Admission.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent book
Review: This book is excellent and really provides an inside look at getting into the top schools. I am the author of The ABC's of College Life, which is a hip, street-smart guide for college bound students and I highly recommend A is for Admission!
Rating:
Summary: A Valuable Resource
Review: As a high school sophomore, I dream of attending a top-notch east coast school. I've read many books regarding admission to college, but none as insightful as Michele Hernandez's. A is for Admission really puts everything from test scores, to grades, to community service into perspective. Hernandez tells it like it is, and exposes all of the Ivy League admission rumors. If you are looking to attend a Ivy League level school, you are cheating yourself if you do not read this book.
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