College Admission 101

This friendly, helpful Q&A book from the editor-in-chief of The Princeton Review presents simple answers to your toughest questions about the college admissions process, figuring out financial aid, and getting into the university of your choice! As The Princeton Review’s chief expert on education, Robert Franek frequently appears on ABC, CBS, NBC, and FOX to share his insider expertise on the college admissions process. Each year, he travels to high schools across the country, advising thousands of anxious students and parents on how to turn their college hopes into reality. Now, with College Admission 101, the best of Rob’s wisdom has finally been collected in one place! From standardized tests to financial aid, Rob provides straightforward answers to 60+ of the questions he hears most often, including: · Should I take the ACT or SAT? · When should I start my college research? · How many schools should I apply to? · Will applying Early Decision or Early Action give me a leg up? · Which extracurricular activities do colleges want to see? · How does the financial aid process work? · What’s more important: GPA or test scores?

This friendly, helpful Q&A book from the editor-in-chief of The Princeton Review presents simple answers to your toughest questions about navigating the college admissions process, figuring out financial aid, and getting into the university of your choice! As The Princeton Review’s Editor-in- Chief and nationally renowned expert on education, Robert Franek speaks with tens of thousands of anxious students and parents each year, advising them on how to turn their college hopes into reality. College Admission 101 is an accessible, timely collection of the 60+ most-asked questions Rob hears. Uncomplicate your search with straightforward answers to questions like: • How has college admissions changed since 2020? • What changes are coming to the PSAT and SAT? • Should I take the ACT, SAT, or both? • What’s more important: GPA or test scores? • How do I write a game-changing college essay? • What extracurricular activities do colleges want to see? • How does the financial aid process work?

Make sure you’re studying with the most up-to-date prep materials! Look for the newest edition of this title, College Admission 101, 3rd Edition (ISBN: 9780593450574, on-sale May 2022). Publisher's Note: Products purchased from third-party sellers are not guaranteed by the publisher for quality or authenticity, and may not include access to online tests or materials included with the original product.

How do you document your students academic record? How do you search for a college? How do you present your students accomplishments in the best possible way for acceptance or scholarship consideration? Does your student need help preparing for interviews? What kind of questions should you ask on a college visit? What is a PSAT, ACT or CLEP? Th is book, from one home educator to another, will help you answer those questions and more.

Director of the Chapman journalism program—and mother of four recent college grads—Susan F. Paterno leads you through the admissions process to help you and your family make the best decision possible. How is it possible that Harvard is more affordable for most American families than their local state university? Or that up to half of eligible students receive no financial aid? Or that public universities are rejecting homegrown middle- and working-class applicants and instead enrolling wealthy out-of- state students? College admission has escalated into a high-stakes game of emotional and financial survival. How is the deck stacked against you? And what can you do about it? Susan F. Paterno, a veteran academic and journalist, answers these questions and more in Game On. Paterno helped her four very different kids navigate the application process to a wide range of colleges, paying for their four-year educations on a finite budget. She incisively decodes the college admission industry—the consultants, the tutors, the rankers, the branding companies hawking “advantage”—and arms you with the knowledge you need to make the system work for you. You’ll learn how to narrow your focus, analyze who gets in and why, and look for the right financial fit before considering anything else, including geography, reputation, and, especially, ranking. Among the tools and insights in Game On: · Why forty years of failed free-market policies have led to skyrocketing tuition and historic levels of student debt · Why applying to college has become a bewildering maze and how to find your way to a successful result · Why college costs are more terrifying than you think · How to read beyond the rack rate to negotiate the best financial package with the least debt · Why merit is a myth, but merit aid is essential · The difference between family debt and student debt and how to split it A playbook for the Hunger Games of higher education, Game On explains the anxiety, uncertainty, and chaos in college admission, explodes the myth of meritocracy, exposes the academy’s connection to America’s widening gap between rich and poor, and provides strategies to beat—and reform—a broken system.

How Do You Become the Perfect College Applicant?You Can Count the Ways... No matter where you are in your high school career,101 Ways to Become the Perfect College Applicantwill provide you with tips and activities to make you a solid college applicant -- with a stellar transcript, a winning essay, and great recommendations, not to mention great test scores and a strong overall application package!Learn the answers to questions such as: What kinds of extracurricular activities look good on my application? Which colleges should I apply to? How do I ask for recommendations? Application Anxiety?Not a chance. Kaplan's got you covered.Kaplan's College Admissions Experts are NACAC members and former college admissions officers or college counselors from top-ranked schools that know what admissions committees seek in an applicant. They guide students and their parents through every step of the application process and help students create on-time applications that stand out in the college applicant pool.

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.

Unconventional. Irreverent. Brutal. Entertaining. Unlike any book written about higher education, Surviving the College Admissions Madness is a complete takedown of a deeply flawed and thoroughly broken system. Kevin Robert Martin argues that elite universities do not care about their applicants. He observes that college admissions is highly undemocratic and dehumanizing. University bureaucracies alienate applicants from their humanity and sense of self. Reading essay advice books might help you get in, but they won't help you stay sane. Surviving and even thriving depend on digging deep into your beliefs and understanding your behaviors within the broader context of society. This isn't another Admissions 101 "how-to to write a killer essay" book or a promise of "six easy steps" for Ivy League acceptance. Martin provides helpful advice for avoiding application mistakes, building a reasonable college list, minimizing debt, identifying cognitive errors and distortions, and helping applicants reframe their college applications. This book equips readers with the vocabulary, frameworks, and tools to make sense of America's broken higher education system, starting with the admissions gatekeepers. Admissions Madness is the first of its kind to integrate applicant psychology with the sociology and economics of higher education. Martin observes that a system of bad incentives in education and society wastes hundreds of millions of hours each admissions cycle. It produces profound suffering for tens of thousands of students each year. He writes for families and high school educators who want a deeper understanding of the truth. Elite college admissions undermines students whether they're privileged or marginalized, rich or poor, black or white, rural or urban, first-time freshman or transfer, and domestic or international. Almost everyone loses, even those who get into their dream schools. Elite universities are neither accountable to nor transparent with the public. Early Decision policies and aggressive recruitment and questionable enrollment management practices monopolize universities' leverage over families' well-being. Power disparities between universities and families explain why the admissions process is so stressful and exasperating. Waitlists, appeals, and deferrals keep students in limbo. Endless essay requirements, recommendations, and interviews benefit the university while wasting applicants' time and making them lose sleep and their sanity. Holistic review corrupts students' interests and high school learning environments. Students and families rarely realize that the system doesn't have to be this way. Application numbers skyrocket while first-year student class sizes remain the same despite COVID-19 virtual learning disruptions. Elite universities claim to care about diversity and college access, yet they are hypocrites. Admission by holistic review has noble origins in the civil rights movement, but nowadays, it serves as a tool for oppression. Holistic review is arbitrary, capricious, and prone to error and bias. Martin proposes admission by partial lottery as one reform among many. American meritocracy is a myth. Rather than vehicles for upward mobility, elite universities squeeze out the middle class and contribute to wealth inequality. Universities prioritize generating revenue over a genuine commitment to diversity and access. Understanding these and other inconvenient truths will help students and families survive the college admissions madness.