The Truth About College Admission

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

The Truth about College Admission is the practical and inspiring guidebook your family needs, an essential companion along the path to college acceptance.

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.

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.

Updated and completely revised, the ultimate family guide to managing a college search in a positive way. Is your family just starting to think about visiting colleges? Maybe you are in the throes of the college search, feeling stressed out and overwhelmed. Miss a deadline? Should you be looking in-state or out-of-state, big school or small? How do you pay for it, and what is a "FAFSA" anyway? The Truth about College Admission is the easy-to-follow, comprehensive, go-to guide for families. Brennan Barnard and Rick Clark—with combined decades of experience and insight from both the high school and university sides of the process—provide critical advice, thoughtful strategies, helpful direction, and invaluable reassurance during the long and often bewildering college admission journey. This book covers every important step: searching for colleges, creating a list of prospective schools, weighing financial considerations, crafting an application, learning what schools are looking for academically and outside the classroom, and understanding how colleges decide whom to accept. Helpful sections like "Try This," "Talk About This," and "Check In," and "Extra Credit" show your family how to have open and balanced conversations to keep everyone on the same page, feeling less stressed, and actually enjoying the adventure together. This completely revised second edition includes new information on affordability and aid that addresses important financial considerations. It also explores changes in standardized testing and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Truth about College Admission is the practical and inspiring guidebook your family needs, an essential companion on the path toward acceptance to college.

Read award-winning journalist Frank Bruni's New York Times bestseller: an inspiring manifesto about everything wrong with today's frenzied college admissions process and how to make the most of your college years. Over the last few decades, Americans have turned college admissions into a terrifying and occasionally devastating process, preceded by test prep, tutors, all sorts of stratagems, all kinds of rankings, and a conviction among too many young people that their futures will be determined and their worth established by which schools say yes and which say no. In Where You Go is Not Who You'll Be, Frank Bruni explains why this mindset is wrong, giving students and their parents a new perspective on this brutal, deeply flawed competition and a path out of the anxiety that it provokes. Bruni, a bestselling author and a columnist for the New York Times, shows that the Ivy League has no monopoly on corner offices, governors' mansions, or the most prestigious academic and scientific grants. Through statistics, surveys, and the stories of hugely successful people, he demonstrates that many kinds of colleges serve as ideal springboards. And he illuminates how to make the most of them. What matters in the end are students' efforts in and out of the classroom, not the name on their diploma. Where you go isn't who you'll be. Americans need to hear that--and this indispensable manifesto says it with eloquence and respect for the real promise of higher education.

From the college admissions experts—where to go, how to get in, and how to pay for it Zinch.com is the largest online social network connecting students with colleges and scholarship opportunities. With 2.5 million student profiles and more than 800 universities—from Yale to Stanford, and American University to community colleges—Zinch offers students an efficient, relevant, and effective way to find the "right- fit" school, how to get in, and how to pay for it. Getting In: The Zinch Guide to College Admissions & Financial Aid in the Digital Age is your college admissions how-to guide, written by experts with insider guidance to the entire college admission process. Leveraging the power of Zinch.com, it covers every aspect of the college application process, from choosing the right (vs.best) schools, visiting campuses, improving your odds with a dynamic application strategy, meeting with a college advisor, working with athletic recruiting, applying for financial aid, knowing what to do if you are on a wait list, and much more. Incredibly well-connected authors Leverages the power of Zinch.com, the largest online social network of its kind Application do's and don'ts If you are one of the 2.2 million high school seniors ready to embark on the next step in your education, Getting In: The Zinch Guide to College Admissions & Financial Aid in the Digital Age is your go-to guide for getting into the college of your dreams—without ever breaking a sweat.

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