GETTING INTO COLLEGE

A savvy, encouraging manual of tips for high school juniors and seniors embarking on the college admissions merry-go-round--strongest on areas to highlight and, correspondingly, ways to counterbalance academic weaknesses. Leana (Director of College Placement, Trinity School in N.Y.) focuses on the whole person: values, enthusiasm, inquisitiveness, and other personal traits that shine in counselor recommendations, the applicant's personal essay for admission, etc. But he adds to this underlying optimism a strong layer of specifics: strategies for the standard tests (SAT, ACT, achievements tests); the kinds of course concentrations and diversifications that impress admission committees; the value of visiting prospective campuses (even before applying!); the goals and attitudes that are appropriate for college interviews, etc. Whole chapters on different aspects of the application procedure--from teacher recommendations (samples supplied) to projecting something vitally interesting about oneself in the essay (samples also supplied)--should work wonders on student bewilderment. If there is a flaw, it's in the doggedness of the prose: there's little leavening here. Still, a valuable reference tool.