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The Bottom Line

A different and useful tool in the college apps arsenal, this journal and planner from the Princeton Review folks offers college admission tips, as well as a series of quizzes, checklists and guided evaluation forms to keep your child on track through the application process.



Pros

• Strong, practical advice on the college apps process.
• Easy-to-use blank forms encourage students to research and record data about prospective schools.

• The book hails from The Princeton Review, experts in the college admissions field.
• Great way to corral all those dates, scores, data and impressions in one place.

Cons

• The advice comes from another Princeton Review book - you don't need both.
• Some teens will find the 19-page "About You" quiz annoying.

Description

• "The College App Map" (Clarkson Potter/Random House 2009, $16.95)
• A journal-style workbook for navigating the admissions process, from SATs to campus interviews.
• Provides a timeline, checklist and quiz-like forms to plan and track progress from eighth grade through senior year.

Guide Review - College Advice Books: The Princeton Review's College App Map

This journal and planner from the Princeton Review folks offers a different and useful tool in the college application process. This start-to-finish workbook offers a series of quizzes, checklists and evaluation forms to keep your child on track as he navigates the paperwork- and data-heavy world of college admissions.

The bulk of the book is a "college info" section, which urges teens to track the stats of universities that interest them, including the average SAT/ACT scores and GPA of admitted students - critical information when you're trying to find a school that's a good match, and avoid colleges that are sadly out of reach - and jot questions to ask the admissions rep.

There are also sections for recording easily forgotten campus tour impressions, and track deadlines and requirements. Sure, it's information you can track on an Excel spread sheet or a piece of binder paper, but the workbook and its many prompts keeps it all nicely organized.

A large chunk of this workbook will only appeal to teens who like doing those magazine quizzes that ask, "what's your dress style, sporty, flirty or romantic?" or "what's your perfect date?" Three of my four kids would have thrown it across the room. The fourth would have thought the App Map's 19-page "Personal Development: About You" quiz was fun and might have filled out half.

Helpful, down-to-earth advice is interwoven with the blank forms. It comes from another Princeton Review-published book, "The Road to College: The High School Student's Guide to Discovering Your Passion, Getting Involved and Getting Admitted," by Joyce E. Suber, and it's well presented here. But if you already own Suber's book, this workbook may not offer much beyond the convenience factor of corralling all your info in one volume.