Chuck Hughes
1 Soporific!
Reads like a treatise on the axioms of algebra in the real number system. You'd think a Harvard man could write a more engaging book, but this one kept me reaching for NoDoz tablets.
2 A Midwest Mother's View
A really helpful book coming from a parent in the midwest that has not spent much time looking at many schools outside of Michigan and Illinois. The book gave me a better sense of how to look at my child's development from a wholistic perspective.
3 Great College Admisssions Planning Tool
I really enjoyed reading the book and getting a better understanding of what my daughter should be focusing on as she enters her senior year. The book gave me a great perspective on trying to build a stronger extracurricular resume in the super competititve college admissions world today. I also went to his company's website Road To College www.roadtocollege.com to register for their newsletter. I hope this gives me a fraction of what I learned from the book.
4 Great read and insight!!!
This was a great read. With so many students focused on staying in school in Arizona, it is hard to get any insight into the selective college admissions processes of colleges outside of the state. I'll be better prepared for selecting senior courses and planning this summer thanks to his honest and straightforward advice.
5 You Need to BUY This Book NOW if You Want to Get In!!!
With What It Really Takes to Get Into Ivy League and Other Highly Selective Colleges, Mr. Chuck Hughes has written THE book on college admissions. The bottom line is that you need this book if you want to be admitted to an Ivy League school or other competitive institution (Stanford, MIT, CalTech, Williams, Amherst, Duke, etc.). He knows college admissions. By presenting anecdotes from his days in the office as well as a series of case studies to show how you will compare to admitted applicants, Mr. Hughes sets out to achieve one simple goal:
helping his patrons submit the best possible application in order to give them the best possible chance of gaining admittance to the college of their dreams. He succeeds masterfully and with a straightforward approach that is quite refreshing to the reader.
While purchasing this book will not guarantee acceptance, it is the best step you can take toward getting into to the school of your dreams. If you read the entire book, you will learn the tricks of the trade and how to submit an application which will present you in the best possible light to the discerning eyes of the admissions committee. In fact, I would recommend purchasing two copies, one to read and mark-up and another to keep under your pillow in the hopes that an osmosis of information will occur overnight while you sleep. :) Good luck to all applicants and pick up this book today!
6 An invaluable resource
I just finished reading What It Really Takes..., and I found it incredibly enlightening and helpful. The college counseling in our area is not well informed in regards to the selective college admissions process, and this book does a great job of helping me think more about the things I should be doing to help provide my children with the support and resources that many parents in other parts of the country are able to provide.
I am glad that I found this book, and I will definitely recommend it to anyone interested in learning more about selective college admissions.
7 Sloppy writing...
After reading the reviews already posted, I was thrilled to buy the book and dig in. Since I successfully braved Harvard's admissions process and I currently help high school students do the same, I was more than a bit curious about getting a peek behind the curtain. Well, call me a stickler, but I quickly and easily found many grammatical and logical errors that left me questioning much of what I read. I can excuse confusion of "affect" with "effect," but I have a problem with an ACT/SAT I conversion chart that confuses total scores with subscores: a 36 on the ACT equates to a 1600 on the SAT I and not an 800, as Hughes' chart indicates. And I'd expect a Harvard man to know that Duke, Northwestern and Rice are not Ivy League schools. Also, did anyone else notice that the praise on the back cover came from people I can only assume Hughes works or has worked directly with? Pemberton not only works at Monster with Hughes, they share Boston College ties. Drummond is a fellow admissions officer at Harvard. The last review was from a guidance counselor at a high school...What did the real critics think??
My point is that I couldn't put full trust in what I read because of these kinds of flaws. I'm disappointed to hear that this is the leader of the pack for "how to" books on college admissions.
8 The Only Admissions Guide You'll Need
As a private admissions consultant, I've bought and read MANY admission advice books over the years.
"What It Really Takes to Get Into the Ivy League & Other Highly Selective Colleges" is my new all-round favorite!
Mr. Hughes has distilled his years of Harvard admissions experience into an invaluable "how to" book. With statistics, facts, anecdotes and wisdom - he covers the range of issues that will face a student aspiring to a highly selective college.
This highly readable, logically organized book gives college-bound teens and their parents the tools to guide their steps, make informed choices and optimize the likelihood of admission to the school of their choice.
I particularly liked his:
analysis and advice of what is required to be a competitive Ivy League candidate
explanation of how applications are read and evaluated by Admissions
case studies, applying those principles to 5 recent Harvard graduates.
You can't take the challenge out of applying to selective colleges - but Mr. Hughes takes the mystery out of it.
I will be recommending "What It Really Takes to Get Into the Ivy League & Other Highly Selective Colleges" liberally to ALL my clients - not just the Ivy league bound.
9 Terrific Insight!!!
This is good stuff! I found it to be an invaluable tool in helping to get my son through the labyrinthine Ivy League admissions process.
Kudos to Chuch Hughes for helping all of us beleaguered parents of Ivy League aspirants!!!
10 Valuable perspective
Everyone has an opinion as to how best to prepare your children for school. Mr. Hughes has presented a very well written account of his experiences (all the more basis for a legitimate opinion), and uses them to set the stage for students and their parents. Having his experiences and advice packaged in this wonderful book is worth far more than I can imagine.
11 The secrets revealed...
Everyone knows it takes more than a good "how-to" book to get into a great school, but the specifics often remain a mystery. "What It Really Takes..." goes a long way towards eliminating that mystery. My daughters' admissions process is still a few years away, but they will both be reading this one and hopefully taking this solid advice to heart.
12 A Gold Mine
A gold mine of information. But the reader must mine the gold.
The author is a Harvard graduate and a former admissions officer there. His writing and organization should have been better. Some of the sections are bloated and repetitious. He should have used more illustrations and less text. And his advocacy of racial ?diversity? was unnecessary and unpersuasive. His editor should have insisted that he condense the manuscript from 254 pages to 200 pages. Nevertheless, get out your shovels and start digging. Its worth the time and money.
13 best of its class
Of the numerous how-to books purporting to provide the key to gaining admission to a prestigious university, this one stands above the rest. It is insightful, enjoyable to read, and provides sound, straightforward advice. The author has the appropriate credentials, and his case studies are very instructive. Bottom line is that if you (or your kid) wants an Ivy education, this book is an excellent investment.
14 A confident ride down the rapids
This is an insider's guide to getting into the best schools. He doesn't give you any attitude, just a solid how-to program for giving your kid (or yourself) the best possible chance of admission. It's also the shortest guide to college admissions I know.
With three kids in school, I'm about to spend ten years navigating the whitewater of college applications (and don't even talk to me about the money!) Hughes is a confident and well-informed guide down the rapids. Good book!
15 My kid is not going to get into Harvard, but...
This book will be extremely helpful in my daughter's college search. I asked her to read it, and I haven't seen her in 2 days. Thanks for helping us.
16 A REALLY great resource!
With 2 kids in high school, I looked a several books on getting into college before I selected this one by Chuck Hughes. It is invaluable!
