Named one of Grown & Flown's “Best Book on College Admissions and Paying for College” “The most honest, most helpful book I’ve ever read on applying to college” —New York Times bestselling author Adam Grant A former Ivy League Admissions Officer offers an inspiring battle cry for sanity in the college application process that looks beyond the rankings to successfully determine what’s truly the best school for you or your child. After spending years as a college admissions director at Dartmouth, Becky Munsterer Sabky had seen it all. The perfect grades, the perfect scores, and the perfect extracurriculars. Valedictorians were knocking at the gate, but Becky realized that in their quest for admission many of these students were missing something. Their transcripts were golden, their interviews polished, but they weren’t applying for college, they were competing for it—and in the end they didn’t know what prize they were really striving for. In Valedictorians at the Gate, Sabky looks beyond the smoke and mirrors of the intimidating admissions gauntlet and places the power firmly where it should be: in the hands of the students themselves. Offering prescriptive, actionable advice for students and their (hopefully not helicoptering) parents, Sabky illuminates the pathway to finding the school that is the ideal match. Witty and warm, informative and inspiring, Valedictorians at the Gate is the needed tonic for overstressed, overworked, and overwhelmed students on their way to the perfect college for them.

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 I had been on the job for a few months when I was assigned the task of voting on early decision applications. The process seemed straightforward, but actually voting—that was another story. The thing is, when it comes to college admissions, there are no clear-cut answers. No easy answers. The decision-making process is a messy, complicated, and imprecise art. -> The application process is not transparent. Admissions officers fiercely protect the privacy of their decisions. College admissions is a messy, complicated, and imprecise art. #2 In college admissions, there are no easy answers. #3 In college admissions, there are no easy answers. The process is a messy, complicated, and imprecise art. #4 In college admissions, there are no easy answers.

In the tradition of The Gatekeepers, a veteran counselor provides the missing key to the college admissions door with insider wisdom about how admissions committees think, and the thirteen fatal mistakes that can ruin an application. When Don Dunbar was a college counselor for Phillips Academy, Andover, in the 1980s, he got to sit in on the meetings where the nation’s top colleges decided whether to admit his students. Prep school counselors no longer get this kind of astonishing access, but in those meetings, Don discovered a little-known key to college admissions that still holds true today. Many applicants look alike, based on their grades, test scores, and extracurriculars, so colleges want something more: They want applicants with character. Most of us know what character means, but not in the way that admissions officers define it. Admissions officers have tremendous integrity, and to them, character equals what a student will contribute to his or her community, good or bad, over the next four years. Don explains the concept of character in terms that high school students can understand, using examples from his thirty years of working with kids. He shows readers how to avoid the thirteen fatal character mistakes that even the brightest students make when applying to college and democratizes the admissions process, making his advice available to all students.

Furnishes a guide on how to negotiate the college admissions process, offering advice, tools, and procedures that cover everything from the college application timetable to writing an effective application essay.

From an Ivy League dean and a college admissions expert, a guide to help parents support their children as they navigate their way to college The College Conversation is a comprehensive resource for mapping the path through the college application process that provides practical advice and reassurance to keep both anxious parents and confused children sane and grounded. Rather than adding to the existing canon of "How to Get In" college guides or rankings, Eric Furda and Jacques Steinberg provide a step-by-step approach to having the tough conversations on this topic with less stress and more success. The book is organized around key discussions and themes that trace the chronological arc of admissions and financial aid--beginning before the assembly of a list of potential colleges and continuing through the receipt of decisions--with a final section that includes advice on the first year of college. The topics include preliminary conversations about the search, and specifically how parents can think about their children's interests and what kind of college would best suit them; choosing a college (based on its curriculum, culture, and community); writing the most effective essays; assessing acceptances, including considerations of finances and aid; and making the transition from high school to college life. The College Conversation will provide parents, students, and counselors with the credible, level-headed information often missing in this process, as well as a much-needed dash of perspective borne of experience.

An insider's college admissions guide that teaches students to identify and harness their unique passions, stand out from the crowd, and achieve their dreams. Dr. Aviva Legatt has spent her career in higher education as a professor, counselor, and admissions officer in the Ivy League, and she wants to let students in on a secret: admissions offices are sick of seeing the same cookie-cutter applications. What were once considered best practices for “doing high school right” are now so commonplace that they have become a liability. Get Real and Get In teaches readers to think outside of the box and focus on what admissions officers are really looking for—young people who dare to be their most authentic selves. Through engaging, accessible, and empathetic prose, this book forms an inspirational roadmap for readers to uncover their true passions and leverage them to create applications that truly stand out from the crowd. It also features a variety of useful exercises and candid stories from many influential figures, which teach students to look beyond just getting into a “good” college and focus more actively on identifying and attaining their long term goals. Get Real and Get In is designed to ignite an essential mindset shift in students: stop trying to just “get in” and start figuring out exactly what you want from life and how to get it. Stop managing the impressions you make on admissions officers and start defying impressions. This is an essential guide to cutting through the noise of the admissions process and gaining the confidence to forge one’s own path to success—in college and beyond.

Jeff Selingo, journalist and editor-in-chief of the Chronicle for Higher Education, argues that colleges can no longer sell a four-year degree as the ticket to success in life. College (Un)Bound exposes the dire pitfalls in the current state of higher education for anyone concerned with intellectual and financial future of America.