College Admissions Trade Secrets: A Top Private College Counselor Reveals the Secrets, Lies, and Tricks of the College Admissions Process

Allen knows more about the admissions game than most. As a college advisor at a top New England prep school, I can attest that his advice is at least as good as the advice we give, and in many cases is more detailed and insightful. This is the book I recommend to parents when they have hard questions. Many people inside the college admissions world do not like this book--largely because Allen reveals the bare details of the game and exposes the many flaws and frauds within. If you have a very good college counselor, then you probably do not need this book. Otherwise, do not start the admissions process without first consulting this book--it will enlighten you and certainly give you an advantage.

Two observations have been consistently made about this book: (1) it has a few typos and (2) it has a few opinions. Both are true. If you can't handle typos and opinions, then don't buy this book. There are several other college admissions books that are perfectly proofread and vanilla. (Caveat: I don't think that there are many error-free college books. I recall a Princeton Review book from a few years ago that listed U. Hawaii as a black college. And most admissions books say that "SAT" stands for "Scholastic Aptitude Test" or "Scholastic Assessment Test" when in fact, it stands for neither one-Allen at least knows that.)However, if you can take a few typos and opinions, then you'd be foolish to ignore this book. I haven't read every admissions book (only read three), but this book has tons of information that I didn't see anywhere else (even my college counselor didn't know a lot of this stuff). I bought and used this book last year, and I can say that you'd be doing yourself a huge disservice by not knowing the advice contained in Trade Secrets. The typos are annoying, but I wouldn't risk your college application because of them. (As for the opinions, I actually appreciated them--they kept the book entertaining and readable.)

I've read several college admissions books, and this one is the most impressive. I've heard Andrew Allen claim, "You bring me any ninth grader, and I'll get him into any college his senior year." And this is exactly what parents pay him lots of $$ to do: get an average student into a top college. And it's not that hard if you really know how college admissions works.Trade Secrets reveals exactly how students can get admitted to a top college. It's full of tips, tricks, insider information, strange facts and other details that colleges probably wish you didn't have. Trade Secrets also helps students and parents compare and choose colleges.This book doesn't hold back--Allen lists the "Top 7 Lies Colleges Tell You" and other worthless information that colleges sell to students. According to this book, colleges lie all the time to students and parents and they do it blatantly. Penn's view book, NYU's website, Harvard's course listings--you don't need to look far to catch a college lying. You just need to know what you're looking for. The real purpose of this book is to make students and parents smart consumers. Trade Secrets includes checklists for students and parents, Allen's well-known "You in 12th Grade" exercise, a review of crazy admissions strategies (some work and some don't), the real scoop behind acceptance rates, things that really matter when comparing colleges, how to write a great essay and prep for interviews, common mistakes that result in rejection, last minute tips for seniors, and how to be a financial aid expert.No college admissions book I've read covers more topics than Trade Secrets does, and no other book reveals as many of the secrets and insights of top college counselors as this book does. Though Trade Secrets has a few mistakes (mostly spelling, as noted by another reviewer), this book is, by far, the most insightful and thorough book on this topic. Highly recommended.

I have two children at Ivy League colleges and one in high school just starting the admissions process, and I've read many admissions books. Trade Secrets is the best of the bunch. While it has a few mistakes (mostly speeling errors), it's got a good combination of advice, lists, tips and honesty that makes it more useful than the others. Most college admissions books are very informative in 1 or 2 areas while totally neglecting other areas... Allen's book touches thoroughly on everything (which is probably why it's about twice as long as most of the other books--and more expensive). If you only want two books on the admissions process, I suggest this one and a college directory (I suggest Princeton Review's "Best Colleges" or Fiske's guide).