New Book Shows Best Small Colleges for Transferring to an Ivy League or Top-Ranked College

NEW YORK, Aug. 7, 2013 /PRNewswire-iReach/ -- A new book for rich kids, poor kids, and international students, Open the Gates to the Ivy League, is a guide to a Plan B for getting into the top colleges.  According to the book, students should apply to colleges with back doors for college admissions in addition to first choices and safety schools.

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The author, C. W. Henderson, surveyed the many public and private four-year colleges and universities that have partnership programs with Ivy League and top colleges. While some of the colleges cited are themselves elite institution, most are small schools that enjoy local rather than national or even regional reputations.

This makes them that much more accessible to more students and therefore positions them as great back gateways to enrollment in their more exclusive partners. Here are the top five:

• Bard College (http://www.bard.edu/)
• Bowdoin College (http://www.bowdoin.edu/)
• Reed College (http://www.reed.edu/)
• Whitman College (http://www.whitman.edu)
• Xavier University (www.xavier.edu)

 "Back doors" is just the phrase commonly used to describe "other alternative" ways, other than traditional ones, to get into a top college. Remember that each back gateway opens opportunities to study many majors, and these alternatives are great for future enrollment in their more elite partners.

Author C. W. Henderson also researched the top fifty ranked U.S. national universities looking for back gateways, and reported the findings in the book. He was named by USA Today as one of Six Who Made a Difference, and he is an author at Penguin Group and Prentice Hall Press. He is a blogger at openthegates.com/blog, and his author page is amazon.com/author/cwhenderson. Colleges with back gateways included in this book are:

•   Harvard
•   Penn
•   Columbia
•   Cornell
•   Yale
•   Brown
•   Dartmouth
•   Oxford
•   Cambridge
•   MIT
•   Emory
•   Washington University in St. Louis
•   Duke
•   Caltech
•   Northwestern
•   University of Virginia
•   Georgetown
•   University of Wisconsin-Madison
•   New York University
•   University of Southern California
•   Boston College
•   College of William & Mary
•   Georgia Institute of Technology
•   University of California-Berkeley
•   University of Notre Dame.

Throughout this book, there is a wealth of information about some of the best universities in the world, ranging from detailed descriptions of academic programs to faculty-to-student ratios to historical facts and fun things to do on campus.

"I have also included an informative 'keybox' at the beginning of each chapter, which will give you an at-a-glance snapshot of each school, what it has to offer, and what is expected of those applying for admissions," Henderson said.

Since the book's focus is on back gateways, the author assessed the degree of openness of each back gateway.  Some are wide open, others half-open, and some just barely cracked ajar. These assessments are based on a variety of factors, the most important of which are annual admissions rates, program expectations, and the depth and breadth of application criteria and requirements.

Also within the Keybox is a rating of the cost of each back gateway as compared to the front gateway.  Often--but not always--the back gateway costs significantly less than the conventional front-gate admission. "Since an education has a price tag, it makes sense to get an idea of your likely return on investment, so you will also find the median starting salary for graduates," Henderson said.

"My blog at openthegates.com/blog  will keep you current with the latest research and info on all the topics covered in this book, and there you can sign up for free updates about college admissions and back gateways into top colleges," the author said.

Open the Gates to the Ivy League: A Plan B for Getting into the Top Colleges is an original paperback from Penguin Group's Prentice Hall Press.

Media Contact:Caitlin Valenziano, Penguin Group USA, 212.366.2525, caitlin.valenziano@us.penguingroup.com

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SOURCE Penguin Group USA