College Admission Essentials: A Step-By-Step Guide to Showing Colleges Who You Are and What Matters to You

by Ethan Sawyer

You can get into the perfect school! Discover the key to standing out from the crowd and capturing the attention of top-tier colleges with strategic insights, insider tips, and proven techniques. With expert guidance, you'll navigate the intricate college admissions landscape, ensuring you masterfully craft an application that vividly reflects who you are and what truly matters to you. You can take control of your college admission process, and you can do it in a way that's as effective as it is empowering. From describing your extracurriculars to interviews with admission officers, it comes down to two What matters most to you? How does it manifest in your life? The answers will give direction to every part of the admission process. Ethan Sawyer (the College Essay Guy), along with dozens of top admission experts, will help you stand out by showing colleges and universities how your values and your drive will change you, your alma mater, and the world. Inside you'll find... Whether you're a high school junior just beginning your college admission journey or a senior seeking that extra edge, College Admission Essentials equips you with the tools, knowledge, and confidence to showcase your true self and achieve unparalleled success.

Genres: College, Education

350 pages, Paperback

Published July 21, 2020

Reviews

[James]

You can get into the perfect school! You may think that getting an acceptance letter from selective colleges and universities is a mad dash to the top that only the very best students survive, and those who make it are just the lucky ones. Stress levels soar as it feels like the bar is rising higher and everything is out of your control. But that's not true! You can take control, and you can do it in a way that's as effective as it is empowering. From describing your extracurriculars to interviews with admission officers, it comes down to two questions: What matters most to you? How does it manifest in your life? The answers will give direction to every part of the admission process. Ethan Sawyer (the College Essay Guy), along with dozens of top admission experts, will help you stand out by showing colleges and universities how your values and your drive will change you, your alma mater, and the world. Inside you'll find... Advice and insight from a team of counselors, advisors, and deans of admission Interactive exercises that quickly and easily provide the best content for your application Access to a massive database of online resources, including organizational tools and in-depth guides Guidance for veterans, students with learning differences, LGBTQ+ students, students interested in women's colleges or HBCUs, and more www.collegeessayguy.com

[Sheila Melo · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is an interesting mix of way too detailed information and way too general information. It is good information, but potential buyers should consider what purpose they are using the book. There is much to like here. Discussions regarding the information actually put on the application are really good. There are seriously in depth discussions regarding activities and essays that are particularly useful. Besides those sections, however, there are a lot of pages regarding special circumstances (low income students, women, first gen, home schooled students, etc.) that take up a lot of pages but which are pretty general. Forty percent of the book is really specialized. If you don't fall into one of these categories, that is a lot pages you are paying for that don't apply to you. Even the information for these groups is pretty generalized and will require followup to get more specific.

I recommend this book for the application completion, but be prepared to supplement the other sections.

[Kristi Schmitz · Rating 5 out of 5]

As the mom of a high school student, I find the process of College applications, admissions, to be COMPLETELY stressful and overwhelming. I want to make sure we don't miss anything, but at the same time, how do I know what I'm missing or not? I found this book to be incredibly reader-friendly and helpful without making this process seem more stressful overall. I felt like I came away with a better understanding of the process from the viewpoint of a student and parent, but also from the side of the colleges as well. I feel like this book should be a MUST READ for any parent and student who is getting ready to start the college admissions process.

5 out of 5 stars for College Admission Essentials by Ethan Sawyer. A huge thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley to read and provide my review for this incredibly useful book. All opinions are completely my own.

[Jennifer Rumack · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a FANTASTIC look at the college admissions process. As an educator and a mother to high school juniors, I was intrigued with all the tips and tricks.

This author also has a fantastic website with a plethora of resources - A one stop shop for so many things. He has even created google tracker documents, templates for letters, resumes, etc. This book is worth its weight in gold. I have his book on college essays that I will read (along with my girls) a little later this Spring.

Although this book does not specially address the new college admission landscape (during the covid era), the author provides up to date information on his website as well as regular podcasts and facebook live events.

#NetGalley
#CollegeAdmissionEssentials

[Suey Nordberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a high school college advisor, Ethan Sawyer has been a lifeline for me in finding practical ways to help my students as they go through the college admissions cycle. His brainstorming exercises are practical and fun, and I've been amazed at the essays that pour forth from my students as they utilize these techniques.

[Zody · Rating 4 out of 5]

Need to get a handle of what to do to get into college? This book can help. It breaks down an overwhelming system and helps the reader process the admission maze. This book offers a great insight and help for any high schooler looking at colleges.

[Kristin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best books about college applications that I have ever read. Ethan Saywer (AKA "The College Essay Guy") is witty, bright and super supportive. His guidance is clear, helpful and insightful, and his resources are top notch. Highly recommend this and his podcasts!

[Grace · Rating 4 out of 5]

had to stop reading bc I was stressed out but the book itself (and the exercises in it, most of which I had previously completed online) have the potential to be incredibly helpful to navigating the college admissions process.

[Tisha · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the first half of the book better than the second, but that is mostly because it's not that interesting to read a bunch of examples of people's admission essays. I think those examples will be useful to my kids though.

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good overview of the college admission process. Includes helpful info for special groups of students such as those with learning differences and LGBTQ+ folks.

[Grace · Rating 4 out of 5]

super easy to read and understand and is making the process a little less stressful!

[Margot Stott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Generally common college-admissions information provided. It gives some unique advice to consider. Best resource I found:
www.collegeessayguy.com/treasuretrove