Joie Jager-Hyman - B+ Grades, A+ College Application: How to Present Your Strongest Self, Write a Standout Admissions Essay, and Get Into the Perfect School for You

Copyright 2013 by Joie Jager-Hyman

All rights reserved.

Published in the United States by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of the Crown

Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Jager-Hyman, Joie.

B+ grades, A+ college application : how to present your strongest self, write a standout admissions essay, and get into the perfect school for you / Joie Jager-Hyman, EdD.

pages cm

1. College applicationsUnited States. 2. Exposition (Rhetoric) 3. Universities and collegesUnited StatesAdmission. I. Title.

LB2351.52.U6J34 2013

378.1616dc23

2013004970

eISBN: 978-1-60774-342-2

Design by Katy Brown

v3.1

To my A+ family:
Henry, Josh, Mom, Dad, Shari, Joe, Jonathan, Linda, Eddie, Arlene, Jay, and Andrew

CHAPTER 1:
Choose Your Own (College) Adventure

CHAPTER 2:
Building a College List

CHAPTER 3:
Getting a Good Gut Feeling

CHAPTER 4:
Selectivity and Standardized Testing

CHAPTER 5:
Painless Ways to Beef Up Your Application

CHAPTER 6:
Making the Most of Early Admissions Policies

CHAPTER 7:
Making Each Piece of Your Application Count

CHAPTER 8:
Writing Your College Essay

CHAPTER 9:
Getting the Red-Carpet Treatment: Students with Special Circumstances

CHAPTER 10:
Communicating Your Experience: Students with Learning Disabilities

CHAPTER 11:
Paying for College

CHAPTER 12:
How Parents Can Help (and Hurt)

APPENDIX A:
Junior- and Senior-Year College Admissions Timeline

APPENDIX B:
Getting Into a Top College Through the Side Door

APPENDIX C:
A List of Colleges Worth Considering

This book would not have been possible if it werent for all the magnificent students and parents who have generously let me into their lives and who have trusted my counsel on the angst-ridden process of applying to college. I have been fortunate to work with truly wonderful families over the years and to see my students transition from intimidated high schoolers to confident college students to graduates who take the world by storm. I am filled with gratitude for all the amazing thank-you notes, holiday presents, flower deliveries, and generous referrals to friends. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

I am also indebted to my writing mentors and friends. Laurie best agent in the world Abkemeier, there are no words to express how grateful I am for everything you doyour incredible editing, fresh ideas, and staunch support of my career as a writer. I wish I could write one hundred more books just so I could have you as my agent on these projects! Thank you also to the famous writersKate Torgovnick, Alex Morris, Ethan Todras-Whitehill, Felice Belle, Scott Lamb, Courtney Martin, Kimberlee Auerbach Berlin, Jennifer Murphy, Florian Duijsens, and Cristina Pippafor being in my literary life all of these years, for encouraging me to write and sell, and for reading so many boring drafts about financial aid. Of course, this book would not exist without my smart and lovely editor, Lisa Westmoreland, who believed in the project and gave me all the support I needed to make it a reality.

I have been fortunate to have many mentors, but I must give a very special thanks to Sally Rubenstone, who said yes! when I officially asked her to be my mentor a couple of years ago. Sally, you are always, always there to guide me with your clever ideas, swap war stories, bounce things off of, and warn me when I am heading in the wrong direction. Just having you in my life gives me the courage to take a risk as big as writing this book. I also want to thank my mentors from HarvardBridget Terry Long, Ellie Dargo-Severson, Mandy Savitz-Romer, Gary Orfield, and Ann Coleswho taught me that there is nothing more important than giving students access to college, and the people at the CollegeBound Foundation, who are on the front lines every day and are generous enough to give me a glimpse of their amazing work. Finally, thank you to the Dartmouth Admissions Office, both for admitting me all those years ago and for allowing me to help select students that came after me.

Finally, as is obvious from the dedication page, I am so grateful for my wonderful family. I never could have done thisor anythingwithout your support. Words cannot express how much I love you.

Congratulations! If you are picking up this book, then you (or someone close to you) must be a high school student getting ready for college. Perhaps you have been anticipating and looking forward to this moment for years. Or maybe you find the thought of college visits, applications, essays, and interviews about as appealing as taking a math test just for fun. Wherever you fall on the spectrum of college-planning excitement, rest assured that this book will arm you with the tools you need (including the occasional pep talk!) to land at the school that is right for you.

I have been helping high school students apply to college for over a decade. I first became interested in the application process after I graduated from college and took a position in the admissions office at Dartmouth, where I had been a student. When I left to attend graduate school a few years later, families began to approach me with questions about navigating the confusing maze of college admissions and financial aid. Since that time, I have shepherded many students and parents through the application process and have seen firsthand how stressful it can be. Some people think I am crazy for picking a career path that requires me to go through the college application process every year! However, I wouldnt trade one minute of it for the profound satisfaction I experience when my students are accepted to schools that will truly allow them to thrive. Every time I get updates from students about college experiences that opened doors for them, I know that all the application stress was worth it.

With competition for admissions to college at an all-time high, the media consistently publishes gloomy articles about how students need a perfect GPA or a perfect jump shot to get into a decent college these days. In turn, guidance counselors and college-prep books often focus on the academic superstars, the straight-A students who have their sights set only on the Ivy League. But what about the