Hey everyone, I just found out of the book “How to be a high school superstar.” I read a few pages and was wondering what people at College Confidential think about it. So what do you think about it? Do you think it helped you be a better student and fly through the college admissions process?
Thanks
Please wait until February or March when you are actually signing up for high school classes to post on this forum. You are only going into eighth grade. I don’t know who’s pushing you to be this hard on yourself because things won’t end well. You’ll only become depressed. I don’t think one book is going to be your golden ticket for success in high school. Trust me you’re already overdoing it. High school isn’t a time period where all you think about every waking second is your grade on that last quiz. You’ll have a pretty miserable time if you do this. Enjoy your last year of not having homework every night and have fun. It won’t kill you. I promise. Just find out what you ACTUALLY like to do and don’t become a robot.
I agree with Hamlon. This will do nothing but make you miserable. Even in high school if you do nothing but study, compete and load up on ECs for 4 years when you graduate you will realize you have done nothing you liked- only crafted a profile for colleges (they know what you are doing) that you will have to work even harder to succeed in. Alternatively, you will end up crashing and burning, and possibly depressed. You will have no friends, no happiness. When you graduate high school, will you reach an epiphany? “I’ve spent years working my @ss off for a diapolma that almost everyone else got?” That’s not how life should be lived. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
When I was in high school, I visited this website and read books about college admissions because I thought it was fun to think about my future. These activities will only make you feel bad if you let them.
Looking back, it seems like the process was more straightforward than I imagined it to be. If you take challenging classes and get good grades, do well on the SAT or ACT, and do something productive outside of school, you will get into reasonably prestigious colleges without a lot of strategizing. Everything else is just icing; there’s no reason to worry about HYPSM admissions unless it makes you happy more than it makes you sad. 
I read it, but I agree with Hamlon and the others that you shouldn’t spend too much time strategizing over college admissions. In fact, the book itself tells you to get as much free time as possible and do what you love.
I’m still only a rising junior so I haven’t gone through the admissions process, but I think that articles/books on how to study and stay organized helps you be a better student more so than figuring out how you can persuade adcoms. When it comes to it, get good grades, write good essays, and do something you like as a EC.
So should you read the book? If you really want to, but it’s not going to get you to college. Don’t live your life for college admissions.
Read what you want and post what you want. Nowhere in the terms of service for this site did I see a minimum age requirement.
But I do suggest that you give yourself a break. If you like the book, then read it. Learn to decipher for yourself what makes sense and what doesn’t.
As to “flying” through the admissions process, the only way to really do that is to set your sights LOW-- too low. Beyond that, there’s no flying.
You know what it takes to be successful in high school academics-- the same things that worked in elementary school.
But if the book has a chapter or two on the other successes-- emotional, social, moral-- then pay particular heed. It’s those areas where far too many bright kids get caught up. They become so busy looking forward, trying to find the right activities and the right internships and the right prep classes and the right hooks into the right schools that they forget to live life in the present.
Over the years, I’ve been to any number of funerals for teens-- it’s an unfortunate occupational hazard when you teach. And not once did I hear anyone rejoice in a straight A transcript or an impressive hook for college. What I’ve heard celebrated was the quality of the person.
So that’s where I suggest you start. Try to decide on your interests, and follow them. Be kind, to your classmates, to your family, to anyone who seems to be struggling a bit. Be versatile, simply because you’re too young not to be. Sure, pay attention to your academics, but I sense that you already do that. Just don’t ignore all the other stuff, OK?
I am in the process of reading it now… so far I think it’s good. I’ve only gotten to the first part after he explains like interestingness and stuff.
I agree with the others in some ways… while it is good to be prepared, don’t spend your whole HS career (and MS) worrying about grades and ECs that colleges want to see, do what you WANT to do. Don’t take 7 APs in one year just for the “AP” tag and don’t take AP Biology if you can’t stand bio! Last year I did XC, this year I’m not, because it wasn’t my thing. I do concert band, jazz band, wind ensemble, a community service group, a leader of the cs group. and a school positive climate group, so I do not think a sport is necessary.
Good luck! If you have any questions, you can just DM me! =)
I think middle school is the perfect time to be thinking of what to do in high school! The book you asked about is fabulous and I’ve seen many parents in CC recommend it as well. Also check out What High Schools Don’t Tell You (And Other Parents Don’t Want You to Know): Create a Long-Term Plan for Your 7th to 10th Grader for Getting into the Top Colleges by Elizabeth Wissner-Gross. It will give you lots of ideas and concrete examples of how to proceed. Even though the wording is directed at parents and how they can help their kids, it would be awesome if you read it yourself.