Tom Joyner Presents How to Prepare for College by Thomas LaVeist and William LaVeist, with foreword by Tom Joyner
c.2009, Amber Books
$15/$16.95 Canada
129 pages

For most of your life, someone’s been asking you what you wanted to be when you grow up. You’ve had ideas all along, but nothing real. After all, you once wanted to be a ballerina-dancing, hoops-playing construction worker, or something like that.

So when somebody asked you what you wanted to “be” someday, you didn’t really know then – and you might not know now. But you’re going to college, that’s for sure.

Be ready, no matter how much high school you have left. Read Tom Joyner Presents How to Prepare for College by Thomas LaVeist and William LaVeist, with a foreword by Tom Joyner, and get the knowledge you need to get the college you want.

Though you might just be in middle school or early high school, the authors of this book say you should have started preparing for college when you were in diapers! If your parents read to you and helped with your studies, you’ve got a good foundation for success in higher education.

If you weren’t so fortunate, it’s never too late to get the skills you need. Your school’s guidance counselor can help ensure you’re taking the right classes and are ready for standardized tests, which are essential for most college admissions.

But grades, SATs and fundamental knowledge aren’t the only important things you’ll need when applying for college. LaVeist and LaVeist say that admissions officers also look for community service and extracurricular activities. (Nobody said this was going to be easy).

During this time, you should have been thinking about the college you want to attend. If you’re African-American, you might choose an HBCU. Maybe an Ivy League is more in your league. As the authors stress, it all depends on you, the student.

But somewhere along the line, somebody is going to mention money. No, it won’t be cheap, but it won’t cost as much as you think, either. There are several ways to pay for your education, and this book walks you through some of them.

And now – look way ahead. Preparing for college doesn’t stop when you step on campus. You’ll need to learn how to stay there and make your mama proud.

 Tom Joyner Presents How to Prepare for College is a thorough book that may seem daunting at first. Forget about being smarter than a fifth-grader; if you follow the recommendations of authors Thomas LaVeist and William LaVeist, your first-grader may know more than you do.

Still, the fundamentals they recommend having will undoubtedly point any child toward higher education, and the help they give to the Class of 2014 and beyond is solid. Be aware that, while this book predominantly features historically black colleges and universities, the information applies to anyone planning to attend any college.

While it’s best utilized for middle-schoolers or freshmen-juniors in high school, what’s inside this book is also useful for older adults heading back to school to finish a degree or change careers.
If college is in your family’s future, Tom Joyner Presents How to Prepare for College gets an A+.

Terri Schlichenmeyer has been reading since she was three years old and never goes anywhere without a book. She lives on a hill in Wisconsin with two dogs and 11,000 books.
Readers with questions or comments may write to her in care of this publication.