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Accepted!: Secrets to Gaining Admission to the World's Top Universities
Now a USA Today and Publishers Weekly bestseller! How do you REALLY get accepted to Harvard, Yale, and the Ivy League? Told from the fresh and personal perspective of 26-year-old Crimson Education CEO and Harvard, Stanford, and Oxford graduate Jamie Beaton, Accepted! is an honest and practical guide on beating the odds and getting into Ivy League and other elite schools – the smart way. Beaton takes you behind the doors of the world's top college admissions offices, revealing the highly strategic selection processes applied by institutions whose reputations depend on the number of students they admit, or more pointedly, the tens of thousands that they don't. In Accepted! , Beaton delivers the ultimate insider "how to" and disrupts cliched admissions advice with savvy strategies
Packed with real-life examples from the thousands of students Beaton has helped land a spot at Harvard, Stanford, and other esteemed universities, Accepted! is a never-before assembled culmination of secrets, insights, and application strategies guaranteed to maximize your chances of "getting in" to the school of your choice. From ambitious students and their supportive parents to academic advisors and admissions professionals, Accepted! is the must-read guide to demystifying the often-convoluted and increasingly competitive world of elite college admissions.
Packed with real-life examples from the thousands of students Beaton has helped land a spot at Harvard, Stanford, and other esteemed universities, Accepted! is a never-before assembled culmination of secrets, insights, and application strategies guaranteed to maximize your chances of "getting in" to the school of your choice. From ambitious students and their supportive parents to academic advisors and admissions professionals, Accepted! is the must-read guide to demystifying the often-convoluted and increasingly competitive world of elite college admissions.
- GenresCollege
288 pages, Paperback
Published February 23, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
March 1, 2022
I expected to hate this book, and was surprised that did not happen (though the author and I would clearly dislike each other). I get to an average rating because I concede that the book does do what it purports to do. Beaton's advice for how to get into schools with minuscule admissions rates is accurate (and I worked in college admissions for many years). What is missing is how hard this is to do and how rarely it happens for students aiming for this achievement. At the end of the book, Beaton reports that Crimson Consulting has sent 400 students to the Ivies -- but also mentions that more than 2,000 other student clients have ended up at schools with Top 50 USNews rankings.
That's a normal result for many experienced educational consultants.
What is distressing is that this book is about only one human value: ambition. Perhaps even blind ambition. I wonder what the purpose is in making more money than one can spend, and also wonder what it's like to spend four years with people like this. I have a friend whose daughter graduated from Stanford, and actively disliked this quality in her classmates. Sure, Beaton's plan will get some students into the most selective schools, and yes, those diplomas are critically important for careers in investment banking and management consulting. But is that all one might aspire to? No other outcomes are discussed. Beaton also claims it is impossible to get into those fields without a high prestige university degree, but I am familiar with a liberal arts college which has alumni I know of who headed three of the most prestigious investment banks in the world (and there may well be others of whom I am unaware). I worked in admissions at a number of institutions, including one Ivy, and at percentages of admission from well below 20 to over 80, and I know very successful alumni at all of them, even many from classes with admissions rate over 80%.
A value which is not clearly supported is honesty. For instance, Beaton correctly points out that even at schools which do not admit student by major, there is a disadvantage to applying in fields like computer science and business (and he could have mentioned pre-medicine) which are enormously popular and thus more competitive. He also is accurate that applying in a more obscure major can only be effective if the student has developed a strong resume to support this interest. Upon entry to college, the student can then switch to the desired major. That's fine if honesty is not a core value for the student. But a student strong enough to get into a highly selective school in a less popular major could also consider heading to a school where acceptance in the actually desired major is possible. A kid that smart will be just as successful as if they had attended the more competitive school.
Another perspective in the book which troubles me is that the quality of undergraduate education does not seem to matter to Beaton. How good is the teaching? Who does the teaching? What matters is how highly the other people regard the institution. So, to know if a school is any good, look at the admission percentage and the yield rate (the percentage of admitted students accepting the offer).
As someone who has worked with high school and college students for my entire career, I worry about mortgaging one's entire life to the college admission process. In fairness to Beaton, he urges students only to pursue things they enjoy, and I actually agree with the idea that students should push themselves academically and to make a difference in their school and the world around them. But there is a question of degree. I also was pleased that he advocates students getting "6-8 hours of sleep" most nights. However, six is way too few for a teenager, and I simply do not believe the level of achievement he advocates can come without sleep deprivation. Finally, (and I have no quibbles here), his advice on crafting college admissions essays is sound.
I actually do not hate elitism. People who work hard and achieve at a high level are worthy of respect. However, this respect also needs to include the values which accompany their success. All of the book's success examples are in technology, investment banking and such. Is that really the only success to strive for? I also do not hate legacy admission protocols, though I have seen no evidence that they actually increase alumni giving. (I see much more injustice in devoting a much larger number of places in an entering class to students playing sports few if any people actually watch).
So, yes, what Beaton advocates is how a student can get into the most competitive schools. But it needs to be tempered by the fact that it will not always work, and my guess is that a great many students who structure their life this way will not get the brass ring they are reaching for. I don't think that matters, of course, because students who have done what is advocated will be successful regardless of the school they attend. Where I disagree fundamentally with Beaton is that I just don't think this matters very much.
That's a normal result for many experienced educational consultants.
What is distressing is that this book is about only one human value: ambition. Perhaps even blind ambition. I wonder what the purpose is in making more money than one can spend, and also wonder what it's like to spend four years with people like this. I have a friend whose daughter graduated from Stanford, and actively disliked this quality in her classmates. Sure, Beaton's plan will get some students into the most selective schools, and yes, those diplomas are critically important for careers in investment banking and management consulting. But is that all one might aspire to? No other outcomes are discussed. Beaton also claims it is impossible to get into those fields without a high prestige university degree, but I am familiar with a liberal arts college which has alumni I know of who headed three of the most prestigious investment banks in the world (and there may well be others of whom I am unaware). I worked in admissions at a number of institutions, including one Ivy, and at percentages of admission from well below 20 to over 80, and I know very successful alumni at all of them, even many from classes with admissions rate over 80%.
A value which is not clearly supported is honesty. For instance, Beaton correctly points out that even at schools which do not admit student by major, there is a disadvantage to applying in fields like computer science and business (and he could have mentioned pre-medicine) which are enormously popular and thus more competitive. He also is accurate that applying in a more obscure major can only be effective if the student has developed a strong resume to support this interest. Upon entry to college, the student can then switch to the desired major. That's fine if honesty is not a core value for the student. But a student strong enough to get into a highly selective school in a less popular major could also consider heading to a school where acceptance in the actually desired major is possible. A kid that smart will be just as successful as if they had attended the more competitive school.
Another perspective in the book which troubles me is that the quality of undergraduate education does not seem to matter to Beaton. How good is the teaching? Who does the teaching? What matters is how highly the other people regard the institution. So, to know if a school is any good, look at the admission percentage and the yield rate (the percentage of admitted students accepting the offer).
As someone who has worked with high school and college students for my entire career, I worry about mortgaging one's entire life to the college admission process. In fairness to Beaton, he urges students only to pursue things they enjoy, and I actually agree with the idea that students should push themselves academically and to make a difference in their school and the world around them. But there is a question of degree. I also was pleased that he advocates students getting "6-8 hours of sleep" most nights. However, six is way too few for a teenager, and I simply do not believe the level of achievement he advocates can come without sleep deprivation. Finally, (and I have no quibbles here), his advice on crafting college admissions essays is sound.
I actually do not hate elitism. People who work hard and achieve at a high level are worthy of respect. However, this respect also needs to include the values which accompany their success. All of the book's success examples are in technology, investment banking and such. Is that really the only success to strive for? I also do not hate legacy admission protocols, though I have seen no evidence that they actually increase alumni giving. (I see much more injustice in devoting a much larger number of places in an entering class to students playing sports few if any people actually watch).
So, yes, what Beaton advocates is how a student can get into the most competitive schools. But it needs to be tempered by the fact that it will not always work, and my guess is that a great many students who structure their life this way will not get the brass ring they are reaching for. I don't think that matters, of course, because students who have done what is advocated will be successful regardless of the school they attend. Where I disagree fundamentally with Beaton is that I just don't think this matters very much.
April 2, 2022
What an utter piece of garbage. This book was so bad, I honestly don’t even know where to begin. The author is so incredibly full of himself and primarily uses this as a platform to advertise his international educational consulting business. I’ve been an independent college consultant for 10 years. I’ve worked with students who have gotten into every one of the Ivy League schools and they did not have to jump through all of the ridiculous hoops suggested here. And as a firm believer of “it’s not where you go, it’s what you do when you’re there,” the premise of this book is extra hard for me to swallow. “Certain industries such as management consulting, investment banking, venture capital, and technology are virtually impossible to get into from most standard academic backgrounds” is just 100% inaccurate. And for all his vainglory, you’d think the author would have hired an editor. He rarely capitalized “English” and seems to think “education” is an adjective. Don’t waste your time on this book. There are plenty of other books out there with helpful, realistic suggestions on how to attain admission at your dream school - Ivy or otherwise.
July 15, 2022
As someone familiar with the college search and application process, I thought this book had some interesting advice to offer. The author’s advice about writing college essays was spot-on, and I was interested to read a bit about how to beef up a student’s application. What made me sad about this book was how laser focused it was on doing more and achieving more and striving for more. I get that the goal is to get students into Ivy League schools, but if a student were to follow all of these suggestions, with very few exceptions, they would be a shell of a human. Life is about a whole lot more than going to an elite school, and success is defined in so many ways. Most people live average lives, and they are happy and successful in those lives. If a student wants to strive for the elite level of education, have at it…but this book seems to suggest that the only way to be truly successful is to hand over everything to the college admissions gods once you hit about 10 years old. That’s a tough philosophy for me to get behind.
April 21, 2022
There are really two frames of mind I had while reading this book:
The first is as a fellow college consultant who shamelessly reads college admissions books off Amazon with the goal of siphoning information to then use with my clients. It's much cheaper than buying video programs. And to that effect, I found this book better than most. I believe the mark of a good high-level how-to guide is that while reading it, I should alternate between "Yup. That's what I already figured out." and "Huh? Really? That sounds kind of insane but I don't have a concrete reason why it's wrong." The fact that so much of what Beaton writes matches my own understanding as I've come to learn this archaic process from the outside in makes it easier for me to believe and make plans to utilize his more out-there suggestions.
That being said, this book suffers from a common theme of college admissions literature I've read in that the magician is loath to give away all his secrets. I had the same thoughts while reading Rick Singers book: he too knew a lot more than he was willing to sell for $15 on Amazon. This book is every bit as much an advertisement for Crimson Consulting as it is an actual book.
I don't think Beaton is secretly running a fraudulent pay-to-play admissions scheme. But while I still found myself often enjoying the occasional diamond he delivers (the first chapter on the value of taking a comical number of APs was excellent), I couldn't help but feel frustrated by the numerous filler chapters, like the one in which he describes the top schools in America like this was a Fiske Guide. That chapter, in particular, frustrated me as my current emphasis is on understanding each top school's "institutional priorities" to better understand what essay content students should be focusing on to target each school individually. I know that info exists--and that guys like Beaton know more than I do about it-- so to get the diet-water version of it instead was a particularly frustrating experience.
But overall, I did learn from this book and for that reason do recommend it to those interested in the nitty-gritty details of how this process works and how to beat it.
But when not focusing on Beaton's grand strategy, I was most put off guard by how *cold* he comes across. This surprised me, as I've watched videos of him in the past and he comes like a very charming man from New Zealand. It's a style of writing/advice that seems depressingly familiar in this genre of work. If you go read the IvyCoach blog, it's a lot of the same "only strong survive" tough-love mentality.
And I dislike that because it's a really brutal mindset to inspire in a teenager and also not all that effective. I believe here in 2022 schools actively punish those they perceive as achieving for the sake of achievement. Instead, they value ***PASSION!!!!*** in a way that is itself a bit silly and still fairly easy to manipulate, but still favors a different mindset.
The students I have had best success with tend to be brilliant and dedicated, yes, but they also care about what they do. I truly believe that take a shot at Stanford out of the equation and those students would still be doing a lot of the same stuff because it matters to them inherently. I suppose the question then is: how does one coach a student who lacks that natural calling to the same Ivy destination? It's a problem I've struggled with, and one I believe leads many other consultants to pivot and adopt the "fit is king" mentality that solves a lot of these problems. But I'm into getting kids into Stanford and am closer to Beaton in mindset than most consultants are. I also believe that dedication and sacrifice are often necessary to achieve great things. But to just have the guy lay his "win at all cost" mindset as if that's the only logical path to success made me simultaneously insecure and queasy.
The four stars is really because the book delivers (mostly) on what it purports to do. The way in which Beacon describes his reasoning will likely turn many off, but that itself does not make it a worse book.
But my lasting memory of reading Accepted will be how many times Beacon reported on a "success story" from his history. Every single time the brilliant happy ending is that the kid is now a banker or consultant. And I guess if that's what you consider success--and you very may well--then this book is a great addition to your collection.
The first is as a fellow college consultant who shamelessly reads college admissions books off Amazon with the goal of siphoning information to then use with my clients. It's much cheaper than buying video programs. And to that effect, I found this book better than most. I believe the mark of a good high-level how-to guide is that while reading it, I should alternate between "Yup. That's what I already figured out." and "Huh? Really? That sounds kind of insane but I don't have a concrete reason why it's wrong." The fact that so much of what Beaton writes matches my own understanding as I've come to learn this archaic process from the outside in makes it easier for me to believe and make plans to utilize his more out-there suggestions.
That being said, this book suffers from a common theme of college admissions literature I've read in that the magician is loath to give away all his secrets. I had the same thoughts while reading Rick Singers book: he too knew a lot more than he was willing to sell for $15 on Amazon. This book is every bit as much an advertisement for Crimson Consulting as it is an actual book.
I don't think Beaton is secretly running a fraudulent pay-to-play admissions scheme. But while I still found myself often enjoying the occasional diamond he delivers (the first chapter on the value of taking a comical number of APs was excellent), I couldn't help but feel frustrated by the numerous filler chapters, like the one in which he describes the top schools in America like this was a Fiske Guide. That chapter, in particular, frustrated me as my current emphasis is on understanding each top school's "institutional priorities" to better understand what essay content students should be focusing on to target each school individually. I know that info exists--and that guys like Beaton know more than I do about it-- so to get the diet-water version of it instead was a particularly frustrating experience.
But overall, I did learn from this book and for that reason do recommend it to those interested in the nitty-gritty details of how this process works and how to beat it.
But when not focusing on Beaton's grand strategy, I was most put off guard by how *cold* he comes across. This surprised me, as I've watched videos of him in the past and he comes like a very charming man from New Zealand. It's a style of writing/advice that seems depressingly familiar in this genre of work. If you go read the IvyCoach blog, it's a lot of the same "only strong survive" tough-love mentality.
And I dislike that because it's a really brutal mindset to inspire in a teenager and also not all that effective. I believe here in 2022 schools actively punish those they perceive as achieving for the sake of achievement. Instead, they value ***PASSION!!!!*** in a way that is itself a bit silly and still fairly easy to manipulate, but still favors a different mindset.
The students I have had best success with tend to be brilliant and dedicated, yes, but they also care about what they do. I truly believe that take a shot at Stanford out of the equation and those students would still be doing a lot of the same stuff because it matters to them inherently. I suppose the question then is: how does one coach a student who lacks that natural calling to the same Ivy destination? It's a problem I've struggled with, and one I believe leads many other consultants to pivot and adopt the "fit is king" mentality that solves a lot of these problems. But I'm into getting kids into Stanford and am closer to Beaton in mindset than most consultants are. I also believe that dedication and sacrifice are often necessary to achieve great things. But to just have the guy lay his "win at all cost" mindset as if that's the only logical path to success made me simultaneously insecure and queasy.
The four stars is really because the book delivers (mostly) on what it purports to do. The way in which Beacon describes his reasoning will likely turn many off, but that itself does not make it a worse book.
But my lasting memory of reading Accepted will be how many times Beacon reported on a "success story" from his history. Every single time the brilliant happy ending is that the kid is now a banker or consultant. And I guess if that's what you consider success--and you very may well--then this book is a great addition to your collection.
October 25, 2024
There is some info in this book, but there are plenty of other places you can get the same, without having to sit through the cocky diatribes of an egomaniac. No need to torture yourself with this one.
If you are still undeterred, let me sum things up for you to save you some agony:
- The author is the GOAT. He went to Harvard.
- Ivy or bust
- it’s OK to be slightly unethical in this noble pursuit
- Take infinity AP classes and get perfect scores in all of them
- The author went to Harvard so he should know.
- Athletes are sub-par
- Spend summers being even more competitive than you are during the year
- Hide your arrogance with self-deprecating humor (that’s what the author did and he got into Harvard)
- And oh yeah, focus on your mental health. How? Who knows.
- The whole point of this is to get an even more exclusive job at the top hedge fund or consultancy when you graduate.
- The author went to Harvard. Hire him.
If you are still undeterred, let me sum things up for you to save you some agony:
- The author is the GOAT. He went to Harvard.
- Ivy or bust
- it’s OK to be slightly unethical in this noble pursuit
- Take infinity AP classes and get perfect scores in all of them
- The author went to Harvard so he should know.
- Athletes are sub-par
- Spend summers being even more competitive than you are during the year
- Hide your arrogance with self-deprecating humor (that’s what the author did and he got into Harvard)
- And oh yeah, focus on your mental health. How? Who knows.
- The whole point of this is to get an even more exclusive job at the top hedge fund or consultancy when you graduate.
- The author went to Harvard. Hire him.
August 17, 2024
My dream school is Columbia University. This book really motivated me further than i imagined. I started stressing about topics i didn’t even know i should worry about. Really great book if you need insight on the Ivy Leagues.
May 15, 2022
nice analysis
A book with nice analysis on what the admission office is evaluating and presented from the perspective of them. Useful!
A book with nice analysis on what the admission office is evaluating and presented from the perspective of them. Useful!
August 16, 2022
So much toxic advice in this.
Read
August 5, 2024Had to read one of these for good measure
August 27, 2024
insightful, easy to read. at this point in life I thought I didn’t want to go to an american uni, but now I’ve changed my mind (august 2024). let’s see
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews