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Named one of Grown & Flown's "Best Book on College Admissions and Paying for College"
"The most honest, most helpful book I've ever read on applying to college" (New York Times bestselling author Adam Grant), Valedictorians at the Gate offers empowering advice and humorous asides that demystifies the college application process and encourages students to select a school that best reflects their personal values, academic pursuits, and potential career goals.After spending years as a college admissions director at Dartmouth, Becky Munsterer Sabky had seen it all. The perfect grades, the perfect scores, and the perfect extracurriculars. Valedictorians were knocking at the gate, but Becky realized that in their quest for admission many of these students were missing something. Their transcripts were golden, their interviews polished, but they weren't applying for college, they were competing for it-and in the end they didn't know what prize they were really striving for.
In
Valedictorians at the Gate, Sabky looks beyond the smoke and mirrors of the intimidating admissions gauntlet and places the power firmly where it should be: in the hands of the students themselves. Offering prescriptive, actionable advice for students and their (hopefully not helicoptering) parents, Sabky illuminates the pathway to finding the school that is the ideal match.
Witty and warm, informative and inspiring,
Valedictorians at the Gate is the needed tonic for overstressed, overworked, and overwhelmed students on their way to the perfect college
for them.
List of contents
Preface
1. THE BIG PICTURE
THE COLLEGE SEARCH
2. FIRST STEPS
3. CREATING THE RIGHT COLLEGE LIST
4. THE CAMPUS VISIT
5. COMING TO A HIGH SCHOOL NEAR YOU
THE APPLICATION
6. THE SCHOOL REPORT
7. RECOMMENDATIONS
8. EXTRACURRICUL ARS
9. TESTING
10. THE PERSONAL STATEMENT
11. SUPPLEMENTAL ESSAYS
12. SUBMIT TING THE APPLICATION
13. ALUMNI INTERVIEWS
SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS
14. A WORD ON EARLY
15. INTERNATIONAL APPLICANTS
16. RECRUITED ATHLETES
POSTDECISION
17. DECISION DAY
18. ADMIT TED STUDENT EVENTS
19. WELCOME TO COLLEGE
20. BEST IN CLASS
Works Consulted
Acknowledgments
About the author
Becky Munsterer Sabky is a former director of international admissions at Dartmouth College. She's a graduate of Colby College and received her master of arts in liberal studies degree from Dartmouth. Based in Vermont, she is also an award-winning monthly newspaper columnist, a blogger, and the author of a children's books series entitled The Little Rippers.
