Achieving Admission: How to Help Students Get into Selective Colleges and Keep Everyone Sane in the Process

Achieving Admission is an indispensable guide that is not only entertaining and informative but also clearly explains what the college process is and is not. We have "worked both sides of the desk": college admissions officer (at Vanderbilt and the University of Pennsylvania), high school college counselor at elite private schools, English teacher, college essay expert, and parent—we've done it all! We know the joys and frustrations—and the information and misinformation—that can both illuminate and obscure the entire college application process. Achieving Admission gives college applicants and their families the information they need to understand how admissions decisions are made and explains what students can (and can’t) do to improve their chances for admission. We help everyone wrap their heads around the often complex world of applying to college, but we also find opportunities to make everyone laugh along the way. The college admissions process can be fun, but you need an open mind. The college application process can engender shockingly raw emotions. We demystify the college search and application process by providing insight, comfort, and plenty of humor. The college process reveals the seedy underbelly of strategic gamesmanship and an entire industry based on just thinking about where to apply. And there’s the startling realization that college can cost families upwards of $70,000 per year. Throughout the book, we have numerous PRO TIPS, SUBURBAN LEGENDS, FUN FACTS, and GET REAL features. These quick hits should dispel some of the corrosive misconceptions making the rounds, like the story of friend of a friend who heard that her niece’s neighbor got a perfect SAT score and was still rejected by her safety school. It’s not surprising that in this highly competitive, sometimes toxic atmosphere, people are looking for shortcuts and gimmicks without really knowing what they’re doing—or why. Achieving Admission helps you dial back the crazy while providing helpful tips and strategies to improve your chances of getting into the school that is right for you. If Game of Thrones offers any lesson in long-range planning, it’s that despite all the political maneuvering in the name of the college admissions, it’s important at the end of the day to keep one’s head.