ABOUT THE AUTHOR

FROM THE AUTHOR

BONUS MATERIAL

CONTACT PUBLICIST

GET REAL AND GET IN

How to Get Into the College of Your Dreams by Being Your Authentic Self

BUY THE BOOK

Trade paperback/e-book

Amazon $15.99/$11.99

Barnes & Noble $15.99/$11.99

Books-a-Million $17.99

Powells $17.99

IndieBound $17.99

St. Martin’s Griffin
St. Martin’s Publishing Group
On Sale: 08/03/2021

ISBN: 9781250773968

288 Pages

To be published on August 3, 2021

How real are you getting?

This assessment provides you with a clearer picture of your self awareness regarding your college goals. Answer each question with what comes naturally to you. Your results will only be authentic if you answer truthfully.

Take the Quiz

Praise for Get Real and Get In

Kalyn M, Educator (5 stars)
I wish I could make this required reading for all my anxious, college-obsessed juniors and seniors. They get so caught up in the insanity of the college admissions process and thinking they have to fit themselves into the same cookie-cutter mold as everyone else just to get into the “right” school–all without anyone ever asking or caring if a particular school is the right one for them specifically. I appreciate Dr. Legatt’s emphasis on the college having to fit the student and that being true to yourself is the best way to view the admissions process.

Day(s)

Hour(s)

Minute(s)

Second(s)

To be published on August 3, 2021

An insider’s college admissions guide

that teaches students to identify and harness their unique passions, stand out from the crowd, and achieve their dreams.

Getting into the right college has never been tougher. Competitive programs are admitting fewer and fewer students each year, while the Common Application has made it easy to apply to 30-40 schools in a single admissions cycle. Gen Y and Z workers are having trouble finding rewarding careers after graduating, and in the wake of the college admissions scandal, many are questioning if an ethical pathway into top-tier schools even exists.

The struggle is real. Yet most college applicants still follow the traditional wisdom on getting in, like “have a perfect SAT score” or “become the president of ten clubs.” Dr. Aviva Legatt has spent her career in higher education as a professor, counselor, and admissions officer in the Ivy League, and she wants to let students in on a secret: admissions boards are sick of seeing the same cookie-cutter applications. What were once considered best practices for “doing high school right” are now so commonplace that they have become a liability.

Get Real and Get In rejects these obsolete methods, teaching readers to think outside of the box and focus on what admissions officers are really looking for—young people who dare to be their most authentic selves. Through engaging, accessible, and empathetic prose, this book forms an inspirational roadmap for readers to uncover their true passions and leverage them to create applications that truly stand out from the crowd. It also features a variety of useful exercises and candid stories from many influential figures from diverse backgrounds and careers, which teach students to look beyond just getting into a “good” college and focus more actively on identifying and attaining their long-range goals.

Get Real and Get In is designed to ignite an essential mindset shift in students: stop trying to just “get in” and start figuring out exactly what you want from life and how to get it. Stop managing the impressions you make on admissions officers and start defying impressions. This is an essential guide to cutting through the noise of the admissions process and gaining the confidence to forge one’s own path to success—in college and beyond.

Sign up for bonus material.

Full of practical advice from an admissions insider, this work will appeal to high school students, their parents, and their guidance counselors.

– Library Journal

Full of the kind of advice that college applicants crave—and every helicopter parent desperately needs.

—Adam Grant, bestselling author of Originals and Give and Take

The decisions we make around college profoundly shape our personal and professional trajectories. Aviva Legatt is a sage guide along the way, helping young people make smarter choices as they navigate their futures. Get Real and Get In is both grounding and inspiring.

—Dorie Clark, adjunct professor at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and author, Entrepreneurial You and Stand Out

If practical is your thing (and it's definitely mine), Dr. Legatt's book offers actionable advice to approaching college admissions with the holistic mindset that admissions officers use themselves when reviewing applications. Get Real and Get In is the gentle, yet firm reminder to you, the applicant, that success trumps name brand when selecting a school and that there's more than one way to get to where you're trying to go in life.

—Ethan Sawyer, College Essay Guy, and author, College Essay Essentials: A Step-by-Step Guide to Writing a Successful College Admissions Essay

I wish I could make this required reading for all my anxious, college-obsessed juniors and seniors. They get so caught up in the insanity of the college admissions process and thinking they have to fit themselves into the same cookie-cutter mold as everyone else just to get into the "right" school--all without anyone ever asking or caring if a particular school is the right one for them specifically. I appreciate Dr. Legatt's emphasis on the college having to fit the student and that being true to yourself is the best way to view the admissions process.

Kalyn M, Educator

Thank you St. Martin's Press & Netgalley for sending me an ARC of Get Real and Get In by Dr. Aviva Legatt. Get Real and Get In covers all things from the college process, applications and mental health during the season. Legatt offers an in depth and personal approach to such a crisis filled and worrying parts of teenager's lives. The book was educated and informative, but still interesting and heartwarming. Overall a great book for teens.

Darya H, Reviewer

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley. This book is a great resource for high school students who are thinking about college. Getting into the "best" college really means getting into the "best" college for a particular student. The book includes questions for introspection and activities to help students understand who they are and what direction they want to follow. There are a lot of good ideas in the book. It is also a valuable tool for parents, teachers, guidance counselors, or others involved with the college selection/admission process.

Jo Ann W, Educator

I received a complimentary copy of Get Real and Get In from NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own. This book contains very sound advice. I would be inclined to believe that the guidance found within its pages would be quite successful for college admission, as well as for leading a genuinely happy life.

Kathryn B, Educator

As a parent and an educator I have read many books about college admissions. This is perhaps the best. Dr. Legatt gives many tips for prospective students on how to present their “true selves” to college admissions officers. Her suggestions, are practical, doable, and generally cost free. She illustrates all of her pointswith anecdotes from students she has worked with in her college counseling as well as stories of successful, sometimes famous, adults. She provides an excellent contrast to the ‘be the best at everything” philosophy some students adhere to. The earlier chapters also provide a series of exercises for students that help remind them of their goals and talents. The latter chapters include more helpful tips using examples of adults past their academic experience. This should be required reading for high school students (as well as their parents) and part of every college counseling library. I thank St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to review this ARC.

Beth H, Educator

I have read several books on college admission over the past few years. Get Real and Get In is among, if not the, top book I've come across. Dr. Aviva Legatt has spent years in the academic world working as a professor, a counselor, and an admissions officer in Ivy League! You'd be hard pressed to find an author more suited to giving sound logical advice than Dr. Legatt. takes a practical approach to helping students shed the many mistakes students tend to make when it comes to applying for college, and instead teaches students to think outside the box, to be creative, authentic, and desired by the colleges they desire. If you know anyone looking to start the college admission process within the next few years this book is a must give gift that any student will thank you for upon reading. As a parent it is also helpful to read this book in order to help guide your children in the right direction. Highly recommended to anyone even thinking of reading this book. You won't regret it, and may even breathe a little easier as you move along within this guide. Thank you to netgalley, publishers, and Dr. Aviva Legatt for providing an advanced e-copy in exchange for my honest opinion. All thoughts and recommendations are unprompted and sincere.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dr. Aviva Legatt

Dr. Aviva Legatt is the Elite Admissions Expert and founder of Ivy Insight, the gold standard in college admissions consulting for undergraduate elite college applications. An in-demand leadership and college admissions speaker with a fresh perspective, Dr. Legatt has been hailed by the New York Times as a trustworthy expert on college admissions, and recognized as an expert in corporate culture and diversity as a faculty member for Coursera and the University of Pennsylvania.

For inquiries, please contact:

Angelle Barbazon, publicist

angelle@booksforward.com

CONTACT