the book Rock Hard Apps- opinions?

Applying to College
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<p>Over the summer I read the book Rock Hard Apps. You can look it up on amazon if you don't know what i'm talking about. Anyways, it was basically all about the admissions process and how to make your application look the best it can look. The book used 3 high school students and revamped all their applications. It was pretty interesting and was wondering what eveyrone else thought about the ideas given in this book.</p>

<p>The part that really confused me was when they do the "brag sheet." On the common app there is a place for you to put your ec's and THEN attach a sheet of extras. This book had you completely ignoring the space originally given to you and they had students just doing a resume basically. Is this ideal advice or what? Would colleges care if you didnt use the room on the common app and instead just made your own sheet</p>

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<p>the common app says "please fill this section out even if you plan to attach a resume"</p>

<p>so yes, they would care, because you wouldn't be following the rules if you didn't fill it out.</p>

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<p>has anyone read this book? i wonder why they completely disregard this rule in the book. idk the kids who did it got accepted to JHU, weselyn (sp) and i forget</p>

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<p>Brag sheets are common now...the book is decent, but the best advice is to look for fit first. Then, all the other stuff, besides recs, will click.</p>

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<p>so you are saying ppl completely disregard the space given by the common app</p>

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<p>Yes, some of my friends say to "see attached sheet". The problem is that more is not always better. </p>

<p>I would edit EC so that they fit in the form. Taylor what you edit out to how you will market yourself to the different schools. That is more effective.</p>

<p>It might be different at my private HS, but they are starting to recommend against using the EC resume. Too many doing it, and it's extra paperwork--especially for overworked adcoms.</p>

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<p>wow i checked out that book from the library the other day and i was wondering the same thing. </p>

<p>Would it be okay to fill out the common app form for EC's and then attaching another document kind of explaining each club (since some clubs are only specific to my school), my role, and like how I contributed to it?</p>

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<p>Youz:</p>

<p>Yes, if there are ECs that are unusual or different, then add the sheet with your contributions. Also, in the short essay, if you really are into one of your ECs, talk about it as well. Doesn't hurt to have the school rec mention it or have one of the two teachers recs touch on it.</p>

<p>That way, the adcoms can be sure that the ECs were more than superficial, since they have gotten a lot of those who puff up their actual involvement in ECs the past few cycles.</p>