The book is well organized and written on a level that will not challenge a high school student. However, there are tips for a wider audience including the very young, older returning students, graduate students, and students that fit into special groups.
Clearly, the competition for scholarships can be intense, but with a logical game plan engaged in consistently, an applicant's effectiveness can be increased. The one consistent theme in the book is that a steady approach will lead to success.
I will take issue with a combination of techniques mentioned in the book. Kaplan suggests that students get their recommendations in electronic format so that they can print them out as needed. He also suggests that you solicit "small" changes to recommendation letters to make them "great" letters. I feel this may present many an ethical challenge to some applicants. To be clear, he does not suggest manufacturing recommendation letters.
He also provides access to his companion web site to add extra punch to the process.
In the final analysis, it is hard to argue with his success, and Kaplan was very successful on his own behalf. He interviewed many of the people involved as applicant and administrators and their tips appear in the book.
However, a lot of the advice he gives is just common sense. Such as: be sure to apply for a large number of scholarships instead of just a few; construct one essay and adjust it slightly for several scholarship essays; don't pay for an online scholarship service, ask your teachers for help. There are a few innovative "Guerrilla Tactics" he points out, though, such as you can go to a high school/college other than your own and look on their scholarship database. I guess I'm just giving the whole book away here, aren't I? My point is, you don't necessarily need to read this book to help you find good scholarships. You can just go to a good online schol search engine, such as FastWeb or Mach 25, which are 100 percent free. FastWeb is especially good b/c it features articles that contain much of the same advice that is found in this book. Don't forget to fill out the FAFSA every year, which is also free.
So it would be best to save the 19.99 that you would have spent on this book (or 7.95 if you're buying it used, etc.) and just do scholarship research on your own and be sure to get crackin.
