<p>I've decided to write a book explaining the college admission process. I'm writing it on the process itself and hoping to target it at students who don't have access to the wealth of information we do. I have it about a quarter done so far. </p>
<p>My question to you is this: What are some ideas about the process you wish you had thought of when you were applying? Did you think of a better way to keep organized after you'd applied? Are there things you shouldn't say on your application? What do you wish you'd done then?</p>
<p>Ideas about the process: Try to understand, in advance, the things you cannot control:</p>
<p>1) demographic needs of schools you are applying to: geographic, gender and diversity.</p>
<p>2) Whether your high school is/is not a "feeder" school to the colleges you are applying to</p>
<p>3) if you have answered #1 and #2 and the answers are negative for your particular application, stats mean absolutely nothing in the process for highly competitive schools.</p>
<p>4) all schools which have an acceptance rate below 30% are reaches given #1-3</p>
<p>bookwriter: asking HS applicants if they know what they should have omitted from their apps is the wrong audience, dontcha think? how do they know? You'd want admissions professionals. </p>
<p>In your research, what other books have you consulted? Is this book geared toward college admissions in general or the hyper-CC universe of top 30 ranked schools? Tens of thousands of HS students wouldn't be helped one bit by the info slung across CC threads. Maybe sit down with your Guidance counselor? Just a bunch of anecdotes will make your book rather thin, I would believe.</p>
<p>T26E4: I know that I looked over my apps about a year later and couldn't believe some of the things I wrote. One of my essays ended with the line "...I want to try to add to such a vibrant community", which just reeks of low self-esteem. I could have phrased that so much better, such as "I want to add to this vibrant community". I'm looking for information from students who have already applied. I know a lot of them still lurk around these parts. :P</p>
<p>I'm writing a general information book geared toward first-gen college students, students unfamiliar with the process and confused parents. Applying for college has gotten a lot more complicated from when my parents applied to schools in the late '70s and I know my mom was lost for a while; my dad is still clueless. I was not thinking of getting anecdotes. I was hoping to get random tips. For example, one organizational idea I thought of is this: </p>
<p>For anyone applying to more than five schools, keeping straight what has been sent where can get complicated. Make two copies of everything you send in and file it by school. On the front of the folders, make a list of pieces of the application for that school and cross each one off as its finished and sent in. </p>
<p>It seems simple but I know a lot of kids at my high school who applied at the same time as me were freaking out because they couldn't remember if they'd sent a specific thing in.</p>
<p>Rodney: Thanks! I hadn't talked about acceptance rates and reach/match/safety schools yet.</p>
<p>Weasel8488: I've read a lot of stuff on CC (I made a new account for this post). It seems I phrased my post badly; I should learn to not post when I'm tired. I'm looking for little tips, things that applicants wish they'd thought of when they were applying--the kind of things you'd kick yourself about later. I'll poke around more and see if there are any threads like that. Thanks for you comment.</p>
<p>T26E4: Oh, and I'm sorry, I forgot to address your book question! The two I have with me at work right now are "The Truth about Getting In" by Katherine Cohen and "Acing the College Application" by Michele Hernandez. I have a gigantic pile at home from the library plus a few more I'd purchased back when I was applying. My local library has like six shelves (as in the three foot horizontal shelf part of a bookshelf) of these kind of books. I've read an insane amount of them! One I read for the first time recently was Admission Confidential, by Rachel Torr (I think that was her name). That one was interesting.</p>
<p>I'm curious as to why you feel drawn to write such a book. If your local library has six shelves' worth of books on this topic, it would seem there is no dearth of wisdom in this area. Is there something that you feel you can contribute that is not already apparent in the market place?</p>
<p>I always had 2 things: my own Excel monitoring chart to track my application to each college, as well as a to-do list with deadlines for each college. Plan and anticipate well ahead so that you don't unnecessarily jeopardise your application.</p>
<p>Find out all the application and FA deadlines beforehand and take note of them daily. Bookmark the application login pages. And when decisions come in, bookmark the decision pages and note down all the logins and passwords to make accessing them just a little easier amidst the panic.</p>
<p>and also, how long ago did the OP apply for college?</p>
<p>laxtaxi: My library has a lot of books on applying for top colleges. I haven't seen many books aimed at the majority of students going through the process who aren't aiming at those top schools and don't have a lot of previous information about the application process. When (hopefully!) I get it published I want to see if I can get copies donated to schools that don't send as many kids to college. I want it to be an informative guide to applying almost anywhere.</p>
<p>screwitlah: Thanks! I just finished my freshman year.</p>
<p>The book you're describing has already been written: The Complete Idiot's Guide to College Planning, by O'Neal Turner. Another good book is Looking Beyond the Ivy League, by Loren Pope.</p>
<p>I've read so many admissions books when I was a senior applying to colleges, and I can say that my application would have looked pretty much exactly the same if I hadn't read a single one of those books. So many books about college admissions have been written that I find it unnecessary to write another. I have read The Truth About Getting In, Rock Hard Apps, A is for Admission, Acing the College Application, Get Into Any College, The Complete Idiot's Guide to College, Looking Beyond the Ivy League, Colleges that Change Lives, Winning the Heart of the College Admissions Dean, The New Rules of College Admissions, What You Don't Know Can Keep You Out of College, Admission Matters, and a bunch of other college admissions books. I can tell you that they provided comfort but not much good advice that was new or profound.</p>
<p>um start early, if your school tells you only grade 11 and 12 matter don't believe them
do lots of ecs but show passion by doing little ecs, the more president positions you have the smarter you are, and discover the cure to cancer to get into HYPS
win international awards, </p>
<ol>
<li><p>Start your applications really soon. I didn't understand why people were writing their applications in summer until it hit me that there was arduous work to complete. Doing your applications early gives you maximum flexibility in the number of schools you want to apply to and enough time to give your teachers your college essay to proofread. Though, if you're like me, there's no way you can't procrastinate so don't even try to start.</p></li>
<li><p>Apply to as many schools as possible, especially if you're aiming for the tippy-top schools. I know I may get flamed for this, but, I'd rather choose after being admitted where I'll go rather than before. Don't limit yourself, you'll always have what ifs? There were several schools I didn't apply to because one, I didn't have enough time to write the applications, and two, I let other people color my perceptions of them. BAD IDEA. Seriously, there are so many great colleges out there, so don't give yourself a strict limit unless finances are a concern. And even if they are, the more schools you apply to the higher the chance that you'll receive a favorable FA award. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>I personally think this kind of thread is a great idea.</p>
<p>juliushark: The first bit's true, the second isn't. It's better to do a few ECs, be really involved in them and take them to the next level than to be a serial joiner.</p>
<p>Cervantes: Thank you!</p>
<p>(Also, sorry it's taken me so long to reply and for bumping, but I've had some family things to deal with and it's just now calmed down.)</p>