How to help your kid navigate the college admissions process -- from scheduling standardized tests to writing essays -- month by month, girlfriend's-guide style. So, your child is a high school junior. You've heard other parents with kids older than yours whisper the word "college" like it was a terminal disease. You've seen their taut, maniacal grins as they try to hold it together. The process of weathering and conquering the college admissions process with a teenager is a daunting affair for many. Advice will pour in through friends, your child's guidance counselor, and your mother's neighbor's cousin. Thankfully, Jill Margaret Shulman, a college admissions coach, application evaluator, college writing instructor, essayist, author, and empathetic parent, is here to be your fiercest ally. She'll guide you through the entire crazy ritual that college admissions has become, month by month, breath by deep, cleansing breath, until you drop your kid off at college where she will ignore your phone calls and texts. Come as you are -- whether chill or roiling with anxiety -- and Shulman, along with a platoon of experts and fellow parents, will help you maintain your strength and sense of self-worth, so easily lost somewhere between your teenager's screaming, "I hate you! You're ruining my life!" and typing your credit card number into the College Board's website for the twentieth time. You've got college admissions cracked, and now, this book has got your back.

In the fall of 1999, New York Times education reporter Jacques Steinberg was given an unprecedented opportunity to observe the admissions process at prestigious Wesleyan University. Over the course of nearly a year, Steinberg accompanied admissions officer Ralph Figueroa on a tour to assess and recruit the most promising students in the country. The Gatekeepers follows a diverse group of prospective students as they compete for places in the nation's most elite colleges. The first book to reveal the college admission process in such behind-the-scenes detail, The Gatekeepers will be required reading for every parent of a high school-age child and for every student facing the arduous and anxious task of applying to college. "[The Gatekeepers] provides the deep insight that is missing from the myriad how-to books on admissions that try to identify the formula for getting into the best colleges...I really didn't want the book to end." —The New York Times

"A guide for students and families that demystifies the college process"--

The value of exceptional higher education can be powerful, tangible and transformational. With the admission stakes set so high at elite schools, some overzealous parents went as far as committing criminal acts to secure their kids a spot in prestigious institutions. In Growing Ivy, John M. Morganelli Jr., former Director of Admissions at Cornell University College of Arts & Sciences, helps bright high school students and their families navigate the admissions process for roughly 80 highly selective colleges and universities. Morganelli does that by providing meaningful insight into the difference between students who are qualified to attend Ivy League or Ivy-like universities and those who are actually admitted. He also predicts seismic changes in the way colleges operate and the prices they charge post-pandemic, and suggests ways to reform the U.S. educational system. Morganelli is one of the only independent admissions consultants in the United States who has been an undergraduate Ivy League Admissions Director. His decade of experience reviewing tens of thousands of college-admissions applications at some of the nation's most selective institutions makes him uniquely qualified to help families crack the code on elite college admissions. When promising young minds aim for the stars on higher education, he explains that they reap lifelong dividends.

From award-winning higher education journalist and New York Times bestselling author Jeffrey Selingo comes a revealing look from inside the admissions office—one that identifies surprising strategies that will aid in the college search. Getting into a top-ranked college has never seemed more impossible, with acceptance rates at some elite universities dipping into the single digits. In Who Gets In and Why, journalist and higher education expert Jeffrey Selingo dispels entrenched notions of how to compete and win at the admissions game, and reveals that teenagers and parents have much to gain by broadening their notion of what qualifies as a “good college.” Hint: it’s not all about the sticker on the car window. Selingo, who was embedded in three different admissions offices—a selective private university, a leading liberal arts college, and a flagship public campus—closely observed gatekeepers as they made their often agonizing and sometimes life-changing decisions. He also followed select students and their parents, and he traveled around the country meeting with high school counselors, marketers, behind-the-scenes consultants, and college rankers. While many have long believed that admissions is merit-based, rewarding the best students, Who Gets In and Why presents a more complicated truth, showing that “who gets in” is frequently more about the college’s agenda than the applicant. In a world where thousands of equally qualified students vie for a fixed number of spots at elite institutions, admissions officers often make split-second decisions based on a variety of factors—like diversity, money, and, ultimately, whether a student will enroll if accepted. One of the most insightful books ever about “getting in” and what higher education has become, Who Gets In and Why not only provides an unusually intimate look at how admissions decisions get made, but guides prospective students on how to honestly assess their strengths and match with the schools that will best serve their interests.

Crack the code to college admissions and help students craft the ultimate statement of self-identity and get into their school of choice with this groundbreaking guide from America's College Counselor. On average, an admissions committee takes seconds to decide whether to admit a student. They must sum up the student in one sentence that will tell them if a student is going to be a good fit for their program. What is the best way to transform this admissions process from a stressful, pressure-cooker arms race into an empowering journey that paves the way to the best individual outcome? Written by a college admissions insider turned consultant, Soundbite guides parents and students through the admissions process from start to finish. Armed with her knowledge of how the system works, Sara Harberson shares tried-and-tested exercises that have helped thousands of students gain admission to their school of choice. The soundbite, her signature tool, presents an opportunity for students to take the reins to craft their ultimate statement of self-identity and formulate their own personal definition of what is best. With this soundbite in place as their foundation, students achieve maximum impact when they present themselves to colleges. In doing so, the tables are turned: the student's fate no longer rests on a soundbite composed by an admissions officer. Instead, the student employs their own soundbite to define themselves on their own terms. Soundbite shifts the way we talk about the admissions process—from "Getting You In" to "Getting the Best You In."

The bestselling author of Pledged returns with a groundbreaking look at the pressure to achieve faced by America's teens In Pledged, Alexandra Robbins followed four college girls to produce a riveting narrative that read like fiction. Now, in The Overachievers, Robbins uses the same captivating style to explore how our high-stakes educational culture has spiraled out of control. During the year of her ten-year reunion, Robbins goes back to her high school, where she follows heart-tuggingly likeable students including "AP" Frank, who grapples with horrifying parental pressure to succeed; Audrey, whose panicked perfectionism overshadows her life; Sam, who worries his years of overachieving will be wasted if he doesn't attend a name-brand college; Taylor, whose ambition threatens her popular girl status; and The Stealth Overachiever, a mystery junior who flies under the radar. Robbins tackles teen issues such as intense stress, the student and teacher cheating epidemic, sports rage, parental guilt, the black market for study drugs, and a college admissions process so cutthroat that students are driven to suicide and depression because of a B. With a compelling mix of fast-paced narrative and fascinating investigative journalism, The Overachievers aims both to calm the admissions frenzy and to expose its escalating dangers.