Book Description
Following a clear and helpful general format, this updated volume is designed to help college students who are medical school applicants, and required to write a medical school admissions essay. Students will find extensive advice on the do's and don'ts for writing a successful essay plus instruction on the process of organizing ideas, writing a rough draft, then re-writing a final finished essay for presentation. Detailed advice is followed by 75 model essays, many of them new in this edition, all of them submitted by medical school students whose applications were accepted.
Customer Reviews:
good to start with.........2006-11-09
Good book to get you started on your essay, but the sample essays are not by the avg med school applicants
Useful but not completely.......2006-06-29
This book has a lot of good advice but all the sample essays are from people who got accepted to Harvard Medical School. I know most of us haven't volunteered in a 3rd world country or published research papers or saved someone's life, so it would have been nice to read some essays from a non-superhero applicant. Also a little variety as to what schools they were accepted to would have been nice. They were all Harvard and other Ivy League schools. It also sounds like the authors consider those to be the "top schools" but they may or may not be depending on whether you're talking about research or primary care. Bottom line: needs more variety of example essays. But overall it was a pretty useful guide.
A good place to start........2006-03-22
Basically, this book tells you to write about yourself. It shows some good ways to transition into the varying aspects of the essay. But, the best thing about it is that it features a background summary of each applicant. It's easy to find the ones that are most similar to you. But again, it only helps for ideas.
Just write a thoughtful and sincere essay!.......2004-01-01
The best lesson from this book is actually the step-by-step process described in the beginning. The essays are just there for you to get an idea of how unique you can get. By following their process and getting the most of what I have learned from my own life experiences, I ended up with a great essay - something that I am proud of submitting. How did I do it? Just read and completed all of their practical exercises. Otherwise, some of the essays are inspiring and they give you some ideas that may be relevant to your application. Don't listen to the post about this book being all for Ivies. I came from a state school and I still ended up interviewing at the very top schools. What gets past the admissions is your true character and sincere expression of why you want to be a doctor.
Interesting essays with some useful pointers.......2001-05-26
I found this book not as useful as it claims to be. The essays feature here are usually too unique to be used as "model essays". Most of these candiates are best of the best students with tons of great experiences or personal accounts. I still enjoy reading through many of these essays and the pointers the book provides. However DO NOT expect to use these essays as model for your personal statements. This is not what this book is for.
Book Description
Planet Law School is unlike any law school guide you will ever read. Written by an iconoclast with aims to improve all of law school education, this is an encyclopedic law school guidebook that has become shorthand . . . "PLS" . . . among law students. In its 858 pages, PLS offers in-depth advice on hundreds of legal resources, with chapters and sections on courses, materials, study guides, professors, law review, internships, clinics, bar review, research, writing, mastering exams (and the bar exam), and excelling in law practice. PLS simply has material and advice you won't find anywhere else.
Customer Reviews:
Are You Prepared to Prepare?.......2007-08-23
INTRO
The PLANET LAW SCHOOL II, authored by Atticus Falcon, Esq., is a challenging book for me to review for two reasons: 1) I have not started law school yet and 2) I cannot determine whether or not the suggestions provided in the book will prove valuable.
ABOUT ME (very brief!)
I have purchased and read nearly all of the preparation materials mentioned in the book. I also purchased and read other books for an edge such as "Getting to Maybe" to "The Young Lawyer's Jungle Book: A Survival Guide" to "Law School Confidential" to "Briding the Gap Between College and Law School" to "Acing Your First Year of Law School" to even taking a course in argumentation. I have consumed it all with a serious and focused diligence. I even purchased "The Resume Workbook" that the author mentions in PLANT LAW SCHOOL II (a total waste of money). [The above is *not* a suggested reading list.]
PURPOSE FOR THIS REVIEW
My orientation for law school is tomorrow, and I am a bit restless for some reason and hope that writing this review will help induce drowsiness so I can obtain some sleep! I actually never intended to write a review for this book because it is 1) convoluted, 2) more than a law school preparation book (a full review might require me to address other parts of the book), and 3) I have not started law school and therefore 4) cannot determine how useful this book actually is.
ADVICE FOR THOSE CONSIDERING LAW SCHOOL (this *is* a warning!)
I seriously suggest taking a year (or two) off prior to entering law school. Whether you sit at the beach and do nothing; start a company you always wanted to; or provide humanitarian aide for the needy, you should give yourself some time to 1) prepare for law school and most importantly 2) determine if you *really* want to go to law school. Relax, take a break, work, or do whatever - but I suggest you give yourself some time to 1) prepare and 2) determine if you *really* want to do it.
AUTHOR'S "MUST GET" MATERIALS
CALI
The only "must get" I did not purchase was the "CALI 'Library of Lessons.'" Apparently, my law school provides it for free and after purchasing everything else (see the paragraph on ABOUT ME, supra), I did not want to make this additional purchase. The author "urges" readers to obtain it. I hope it does not significantly hurt me.
ABA BOOKS (UCC)
I purchased (and read) both "The ABCs of the UCC" Article 1 and Article 2. I found them to be the least useful of the "must get" materials, but I am nonetheless happy I purchased them. [I just deleted a lot of text and realized that I was reviewing these books.] To be brief, I do not consider them a "must get."
ASPEN BOOKS
I have read Blum on "Contracts," Glannon on "The Law of Torts," and Glannon on "Civil Procedure." [NOTE: My professor for my K course recommends the use of Blum.] I read them, cover to cover and line by line. I think I might have burnt myself out a little bit. Let me be clear and direct: I do not agree with the author's schedule [I will provide a suggested schedule, infra]. I should have read these *after* (not before) completing LEEWS and Delaney. I am very happy I read them prior to entering law school, and I have heard from other students they are excellent study guides as well. Listen carefully: do not make my mistake. One, follow my schedule, infra. Two, outline. Begin to outline immediately when reading these materials.
LEEWS
I have listened to the LEEWS CDs three times and finished the manual. However, I have not practiced as extensively as I would have liked to. The author loves LEEWS. I consider LEEWS, in conjuction with Delaney's "How to Do Your Best on Law Exams," the most important preparation materials for law school. I was previously reading entire exams and trying to answer entire exams! The human mind cannot possibly make sense of all the facts and circumstances in a hypothetical law school exam. LEEWS trains you how to think of an exam in parts.
DELANEY BOOKS
I read "Learning Legal Reasoning" some time ago. I cannot consider it a "must get" but rather a strongly recommended. [I am flipping through the book right now.] I cannot consider it a "must get" but I theorize that some one without any prior knowledge of briefing would find it useful.
However, "How to Do Your Best on Law School Exams" by Delaney is an indispensable guide on succeeding on law school exams. I am not going to provide an adequate review of it here; I intend to (possibly tonight)review it some time in the future.
MY (SUGGESTED) OUTLINE
After reading nearly all of the "must get" materials (in addition to materials referenced in the book) I would like to provide the reader a suggested outline that I think improves on the author's. The "must get" materials in the book should be limited to and read in this order:
1) Delaney's "How to Do Your Best on Law Exams"
2) LEEWS
3) Aspen E&E books
a) be sure to apply what you learned in 1) and 2) to the examples in the E&E books.
SUMMARY & CONCLUSION
As I said in previous paragraphs, supra, I purchased most of the "must get" materials and other resources including but not limited to "O'Connor's Federal Rules." I do not necessarily believe that reading all of the "must get" materials in the book is critical. However, adequate preparation is. After writing this review, I am considering creating my first "Listmania" on law school preparation materials. Nevertheless, if you are seriously considering law school, the best preparation is giving yourself one or two years to relax, travel, work, and/or pursue your hobbies after finishing your undergraduate (or graduate program) prior to enrolling in law school. I cannot overly emphasis the importance of making a serious determination for yourself whether or not you want to enter law school.
I hope the above was useful for you.
Can do more harm than good.......2007-07-27
Well, I just finished my first year of law school. Fortunately, I passed. But I passed despite the advice of this author who doesn't use his real name and keeps his identity hidden.
I do concede that there is a time and a place for a more skeptical or cynical evaluation of law school. If that type of evaluation should happen on a scale of 1 to 10, I'd say you should do about 4 to 7 of it. This author does about 100 worth of that kind of evaluation, which turns into drivel because it loses its usefulness and turns you anti-lawschool before you even get there. Not good if you've actually decided to go to law school. Don't be fooled by the "I'm giving you the real deal" ploy. He gives you that and his excess baggage of contempt for life itself.
Yes there will be some professors who aren't as interested in your education as they are for their own success. Yes, it sometimes is better if you can create your own curriculum instead of going along with what the professors are teaching. But guess what? That didn't work.
My advice? Skip this book, read Law School Confidential, but take even that book with a grain of salt because whatever he's telling you is common knowledge among most people going to law school now. There's nothing Confidential about Law School Confidential.
Besides that, the biggest advice I can offer is that you should go along with the professors' curriculum as much as possible, but play it by ear. Some professors make it very difficult for you if you don't play by their rules. Some are more lenient. You'll likely get a mix. I tried to do my own thing because it made more sense to do that, but that failed because my professor decided that he didn't like the way I was trying to teach myself law. Believe me, the professors have reputations to keep, and they'll go pretty far to maintain them. I credit the author of this book for breeding that kind of anti-professor paranoia. Listening to anything he had to say was the reason I almost failed law school the first semester.
Third advice? Work hard. This is the only SECRET to law school. The material's easy. The self-discipline's hard.
Again, I'll concede he makes some interesting points. Even a monkey is bound to say something interesting if given 800 pages to play around with. But I'll just end by saying that the "advice" in the book is more of a minefield than nuggets of gold or pearls of wisdom. About his advice not to get the assigned casebook? Try your first year without a casebook. Just try it and see what happens, but only for fun, not if you're serious about law school.
A great resource, an inspiring book.......2007-07-18
I disagree with some of the recent reviews here:
* I don't find this book negative at all! Yes, the book tells you about many of the traps and challenges one faces in law school. BUT, the message is positive - that you CAN do well, by simply being aware and understanding what's going on. You don't need to be some kind of natural-born law genius.
* Furthermore, I found the book to be one of the FEW that tries to provoke the reader a bit with the challenges of legal thinking, and then asking, "Are you having fun yet? If so, then a life as a lawyer may be perfect for you." In my case, I was able to give an unequivocal, "Yes!". It was a very validating experience.
It's an excellent book. I don't give it 5 stars because I found it somewhat disorganized. It's a decent book to read, with lots of good content, although it does meander a bit from topic to topic.
Just get E&E and do tons of hypos.......2007-07-01
I just finished my first year in top 10 percent and after reading this book, I can say that you'll be broke and surrounded by a lot of useless reading material plus scared out of your mind if you read this. The chapter outlining a study plan is useful, but read it quickly at a library. E&E's are definitely helpful (particularly Torts, Contracts and Constitutional Law) and I recommend some hornbooks, in particular Friedenthal's Civil Procedure and Farnsworth's Contracts, which are by far the best. Model Penal Code by Markus Drubber and some of the E&E is all I read for crim and I aced the exam.
Skip the Delaney garbage. They're antiquated and you'll learn how to brief in legal writing. Also, the Restatements are overkill (except in contracts where the comments are very useful). LEEWs is also just wasted added work. IRAC works just fine (though I am a journalist by trade so I probably didn't need the writing help). Crunchtime and most commercial outlines are also a waste. My civ pro professor admonished some students who copied wrong information out of them on the final (I'm sure they were graded down for that).
My advice, enjoy your last free summer before law school and just budget your time well once you're there. Join a productive study group and focus on hypos and old exams well ahead of time (probably the only good piece of advice in this book). Siegel's makes books of hypos or just look up exams on the internet. A lot of schools post them. Seeing what different professors ask on their exams really helps you cover every possible scenario (and look really intelligent asking questions in class). And yes, make sure you know all the black letter law, not just the policy bs your professor stresses in class. Otherwise exams will bite you in the *ss. And one crazy bit of advice Falcon gave that I followed and helped me immensely: don't buy the textbook. I'm not an advocate of just not reading the cases like PLS is, but when I didn't own the book, I had to make sure I went to the library or the bookstore to read the case and take really good notes of everything (not just cases) BEFORE THE PLACE CLOSED. So I stayed on top of my work and the note-taking really helped my mastery of the concepts. Also made outlining a breeze. I aced every class I didn't buy the book for. So if you're crazy like me, give it a try for a week and maybe you'll save some money.
It's really not so bad folks. I worked, went out plenty and still did very well. Just know thyself. If you're a genius, maybe cramming will work for you, but if not, stay on top of your work.
Essential Reading.......2007-06-26
If you're going to Law School, buy this book now. Ideally you want to buy this book a year before you go to Law School. I bought it 8 months before I went, and was able to finish the book and all the recommended readings, but I wish I had purchased the book earlier.
Once again, if you are going to law school, and you are lucky enough to be prospecting this book to buy among all the other books out there, BUY THIS BOOK FIRST. Law School is hard. This book will give you the needed edge if you're smart, or it will be your lifesaver if you're not that smart. Either way you need it.
Book Description
This strategic guide will give applicants the insider advice on everything from:
* Planning for graduate school during college--what courses to take and extracurricular activities to get involved in
* Researching the best graduate program for each applicant
* Preparing an outstanding application and excelling in the interview
* Personalized information for all applicants, including minorities, students with disabilities, older students, and international applicants
* Detailed advice on how applicants can finance their graduate degree without going too far into debt after graduation
Book Description
This guide will give applicants the insider advice on everything from:
* Planning for medical school during college--what courses to take and extracurricular activities to get involved in
* Researching the best medical school for each applicant
* Preparing an outstanding application and excelling in the interview
* Personalized information for all applicants, including minorities, women, the disabled, and international applicants
* Detailed advice on how applicants can finance their M.D.s without going too far into debt after graduation
* Interviews with successful medical students and admissions advisers
Customer Reviews:
Reasonable book but you can probably get this info with less expense.......2007-04-09
I am a professional admissions counselor [...] and have used this book to keep myself abreast of the latest in medical school admissions. The information is accurate and organized, and it is a good basic summary. If you are willing to do a little work on your own, however, you can acquire this broad-based information less expensively using the internet, the AMCAS web site and other free sources. Also, portions of the book are interesting but may be inconsequential to most applicants.
M. Finkel, Insider Medical Admissions
A Great Resource, Similar to the MSAR.......2006-07-05
I just completed my first year of my undergraduate degree at a UC school and have been considering a career in medicine for nearly eight months. This book was a great resource for discovering all the detail that goes into successfully matriculate into a medical school. This book recommended I also purchase the Medical School Admission Requirements (MSAR) which is a great resource for researching potential medical schools. However, I realized that the content of this book was to be found in the first chapters of the MSAR. So, if you're considering buying this book forget it, you'll get everything you want/need out of the MSAR and then some. But hey, you don't have to take my word for it.
Waste of money.......2006-02-21
Worthless book. The only thing I probably learned from it is the fact that a vast portion of medical students get married during medical school (which by the way is an irrelevant fact to the topic "Get Into Medical School")
The rest of the information you can scour from the internet.
The book probably will just reassure you of what you already know, like get good grades, do volunteer work, study what you like for undergraduate school, etc.
Book Description
The Official Guide to the Undergraduate and Graduate Nursing Schools offers you the most complete up-to-date information available on two-year, three-year, four-year and graduate nursing schools.
Customer Reviews:
It's not actually searchable--don't waste your money.......2001-09-03
I bought this book/CD set thinking it would save me time in searching for nursing programs. In fact, the "searchable" database on the CD only allows you to search two or three of the over 100 data fields: just state, degree sought (e.g. Baccalaureate vs. Masters), and Master's specialty if applicable. The whole reason I bought the set was to narrow my search to schools with specific types of programs, regardless of the state. Indeed, that would seem to be the point of buying the set. However, that is simply not possible with this set. To start with, the pull-down menus for the two or three fields that are searchable are so poorly programmed that they don't work half of the time. Then, users will need to scroll through each school's program individually, with no option to print the information for later review. It's a crying shame that an executive decision was not made to forego the cutsie multimedia presentation that greets users at the start of the CD for something of substance and usefulness in the search tools.
Book Description
Get Into Law School: A Strategic Approach
Choosing and getting into the right school is crucial to getting the most out of your law school years -- and your career as a lawyer. Kaplan and Newsweek have brought together some of the nation's top admissions experts to create this exclusive guide to getting into law school.
This excellent resource includes:
• Advice from top admissions of?cers on writing persuasive personal statements, obtaining the best recommendations, preparing your application, and more.
• Expert guidance on choosing the best options for ?nancing law school, including tips on ?nancial aid, borrowing, and managing expenses.
• Specialized information for every student, including minorities, women, gays and lesbians, the disabled, and others.
Customer Reviews:
General but Helpful Overview!.......2003-04-16
I was pleasantly surprised by this book, written by Kaplan. Although some of their LSAT books were not helpful to me, this "strategic approach" to applying to law schools was quite effective in offering solid information.
The strongest sections of this book deal with how to write the personal statement, and how to create a special theme for your application. These sections give practical and insightful advice, allowing readers to hone in on their strengths and weaknesses.
The main drawback of this book is that most chapters are brief and pretty general. If I could suggest to Kaplan how to improve this book, I'd tell them to expand their shorter sections with more indepth material.
Overall, I'd recommend that readers check this book at their local bookstores first. It's possible that you can obtain all the secrets and tips on a brief skim of the book. For others who have not done much reading on applying to law schools, this book should be useful to them.
Customer Reviews:
A Clear and Concise Guide on How to Write a Successful Statement for your Application Package.......2006-07-26
Of all the tasks we usually face when applying to graduate and professional schools, from choosing universities to preparing for and taking admission and standardized tests, from soliciting recommendations to having transcripts send out, writing a good personal essay is among the most important and difficult to accomplish. The strong competition for admissions to grad schools, the personal statement often becomes a crucial element of your application package. It is the one element that can set you apart from the competition and open the door to your successful application.
This book describes the mistakes that applicants commonly make, and offer advice on how to make your statements as effective as possible. The book dedicates 60 pages to display 40 winning personal statements, as practical examples of what should be included and what not in order to write the essay that could give you the unconditional acceptance to the grad school or program of your choice.
Absolutely a must have for anyone applying to graduate and professional school.
a MUST for all students applying to graduate school........2005-02-22
This book was EXCELLENT. I had read two other books before this one, and was disappointed. Though they claimed to be good for grad apps, they were clearly geared toward undergraduate application essays. This book asks thought-provoking questions that help to bring to light relevant experiences and skills that you may have left out. It is great as far as taking you through the process of brainstorming, writing, and revising, but also explains how to write a good essay even if the deadline is looming. It was very good at helping me to organize my thoughts and feel like a good essay was just around the corner - which did wonders for calming my anxiety about the process. The examples in the book were also very helpful, and this is the first book I have seen that had sections dedicated to specific programs (medical, law, business, etc.) THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!
Personal Statement 101.......2003-09-23
In "How to Write a Winning Personal Statement for Graduate and Professional School", Mr. Stelzer concisely elucidates how one must bring out an original yet refreshing personal statement. 90% of the sample essays are geared towards the Big 3- Law, Medical, and Business. For students interested in other programs like myself, there are several takeaways one could get from this book. I would strongly suggest using the questionnaires in the Appendix. I learned several things from the pages on advice from admissions representatives. I would also suggest reading all the sample essays first and then the introductory chapter which would help one lay out the groundwork for an original personal statement. Real Essays for College and Grad School by Anne McKinney is another helpful book. Good Luck!
A great essay writing guide.......2003-08-14
I found this book to be the absolute best of its kind
Simple book that helped me write my statement........2003-06-19
Simply written book that lays out from the admissions perspective what a good essay contains.
Helped get me into Berkeley.
Book Description
The Official Guide to Graduate Nursing Programs contains fact-filled profiles on all 400 graduate-nursing programs throughout the country and includes information on tuition, programs offered and financial aid.
Book Description
This updated Second Edition of
The Best Graduate Programs: Physical and Biological Sciences simplifies the process of finding and getting into the right program. Only The Princeton Review combines the hard facts about more than 600 of the top science programs with the revealing results of a survey of more than 1,700 currently enrolled students. Included here are profiles of master's and doctoral programs in:
Anatomy
Astronomy
Atmospheric Studies
Biochemistry
Biology
Botany
Cellular Biology
Chemistry
Computer Science
Developmental Biology
Ecology
Forestry
Genetics
Geology
Horticulture
Information Sciences
Mathematics
Meteorology
Molecular Biology
Nutrition
Neuroscience
Oceanography
Physics
Physiology
Statistics
Zoology
and many more--
MORE THAN JUST FACTS AND FIGURES
Not only do we tell you all about the top programs, we explain everything you need to know about the grad school experience before you make the commitment: how to choose a school and get admitted, which professional societies to join, how to get the maximum amount of financial aid, and, most important, how to survive graduate school.
Customer Reviews:
DON"T BUY THIS BOOK!.......2001-06-18
I got this book as a first step towards understanding graduate school. I briefly flipped through it, and have yet to open it again. If you are interested in a "hard" science graduate program, this book is 100% worthless. Combining biased school reviews, (a large number of top schools including Rockefeller, Scripps, Baylor,Tufts, and Einstein are wholly left out), school/locationĀ@descriptions that read more like gossip and heresay than objective observation, a paucity of program listings and desriptions (many program listings are merely the schools all encompassing website address), and straight out poor editing make this book better for starting a fire than trying to get an idea of graduate school. All the information contained in this book, plus far more, is available on the internet, and it's free.
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- First Aid for the USMLE Step 2 CS (First Aid for the USMLE Step 2)
- Fish! A Remarkable Way to Boost Morale and Improve Results
- Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity
- Global Brain: The Evolution of Mass Mind from the Big Bang to the 21st Century
- Guiding Readers and Writers: Teaching Comprehension, Genre, and Content Literacy
- High Impact Hiring: How to Interview and Select Outstanding Employees
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
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College Guides
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| Reference
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Essays That Worked for Medical Schools: 40 Essays from Successful Applications to the Nation's Top Medical Schools
Medical School Admission Requirements (MSAR) 2008-2009: The Most Authoritative Guide to U.S. and Canadian Medical Schools (Medical School Admission Requirements, ... (Medical School Admission Requirements)
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Guide to Medical and Dental Schools (Barrons Guide To Medical & Dental Schools)
Barron's New MCAT, 2007 (Barron's How to Prepare for the New Medical College Admission Test Mcat)
Getting Into Medical School (Barron's Getting Into Medical School)
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