Elizabeth Wissner-Gross

Here the author of two excellent works on the college application process addresses how to write the critical essay.

Introduction: Why you need this course
p. xii, Six essay prompts
Directions: This Section Helps You Know How to Approach This Course
Chapter 1 Start with the Guidelines
Don’t Worry About the topic Yet—First You Need to Know the Rules
Chapter 2 Criteria and Scoring Points
Your Turn to be the Admissions Officer
Chapter 3 Your Message
What Your Essay Must Say
Chapter Four Now It’s Time to Pick a Topic
Chapter 5 The Structure of Your Essay
Chapter 6 Grade Your Own Essay
Chapter 7 The Diversity Essay
Chapter 8 The Why Do You Want to Come Here Essay
Chapter 9 Describe Your Most Meaningful Activity Essay
Chapter 10 Describe an Issue and It’s Importance to You
Chapter 11 Describe a Person, Character, or Artwork with Significant Influence on You
Conclusion… (más)

One of the best books out there about the college application process.

Table of Contents

What High Schools Don't Tell You, But This Book Will xi
The Secret to College Admissions Success? You Have to Have a Game Plan
You Can't Exceed Your Goals If You Don't Have Any: Helping Your Child to Identify His or Her Passions 3
Secret one: Interacting with your kids, helping them set goals, helping them scout out the best opportunities to develop their talents and passions—and helping them develop a solid strategy for success in the subjects and intrigue them most—will almost guarantee college admission success.
Secret two: One of the biggest secrets that high school guidance counselor’s, teachers, and administrators don’t tell you is that the “game” begins in eighth or ninth grade.
Secret three: To enter the game, you need a game plan.
Secret four: The most important secret to motivating a teenager (or anyone, for that matter) is to establish a set of goals and dreams—and a game plan to make those goals reachable.
Secret five: At 13 or 14 years old, your child’s personal goals should include but not consist entirely a college admission.
Secret six: Make the initial college trip fun. Be a tourist.
Secret seven: Checking out colleges early makes the college visit experience more enjoyable and less anxiety producing.
Secret eight: Colleges most desire students with demonstrated talent in mathematics, science, engineering, humanities, the arts, journalism, community service, leadership, and business.
Secret nine: identifying an apathetic teen‘s interest may take a little creative thinking—but the challenge is worth your energy.
Secret 10: younger students often are happier when they are pursuing multiple interests or activities.
Secret 11: long-term goal should always be dazzling and very ambitious.
Secret 12: and helping a child to select goals, do not choose a noun label; instead, encourage her or him to use verbs in a full sentence to describe what she would like to accomplish.
Secret 13: by always being aware of your child’s goals, the two of you can work together, as a team, to reach these goals.
Secret 14: in order to help further your child’s goals, you will need to demonstrate that you will one, take your child’s stated goal seriously, and two, dedicate yourself to bringing the selected goals within your child’s reach.

What are your goals?

Directions: if you could choose any of these goals to accomplish before you complete high school, select your top three choices in priority order.

1. I would like to start on Broadway or in Hollywood.
2. I would like to write a novel
3. I would like to win the Intel or another national science recognition.
4. I would like to earn my first patent on something I invent.
5. I would like to create my own designer clothing label.
6. I would like to speak at an important political rally.
7. I would like to design an exhibit at a museum or theme park.
8. I would like to have my own comic strip or political cartoon published.
9. I would like to publish an article in a Major daily newspaper.
10. I would like to have a musical debut at Carnegie Hall.
11. I would like to choreograph a ballet or compose a symphony.
12. I would like to make a movie and have a public screening.
13. I would like to leave an environmental campaign.
14. I would like to train animals and enter them in a show.
15. I would like to win an Olympic medal in my favorite sport.
16. I would like to see all the countries on another continent.
17. I would like to message him make a major medical discovery.
18. I would like to rewrite the curriculum for a high school class.
19. I would like to take a gourmet cooking classes and write a cookbook.
20. I would like to paint a great work of art and have it exhibited.
21. I would like to run for office in an actual real world election.
22. I would like to get my pilots license and fly a plane.
23. I would like to create a puppet theater and book my own tours.
24. I would like to become known as the nations top math student.
25. I would like to learn farming and become completely self-sufficient.
26. I would like to climb Mount Everest or Mount McKinley.
27. I would like to build a boat and learn how to sell it.
28. I would like to volunteer to help build trails in a national park.
29. I would like to conduct research for NASA.
30. I would like to become a self-made millionaire by the time I’m 20.
31. I would like to immerse myself in a new language and culture.
32. I would like to sing in an opera dance in a ballet.
33. I would like to landscape a great estate of Park.
34. I would like to make a new astronomical discovery.
35. I would like to create a new method to teach younger children to read.
36. I would like to do an internship in a restoration reenactment.
37. I would like to work with the scientist investigating time travel.
38. I would like to get EMT certification to help in emergencies.
39. I would like to swim with dolphins and go snorkeling or diving.
40. I would like to learn to ski or surf.
41. I would like to photograph people and have my photos exhibited.
42. I would like to write an opera or musical and have it perform.
43. I would like to design a new toy and try to market it nationally.
44. I would like to go on an archaeological dig.
45. I would like to start my own band in performing competitions.
46. I would like to write poetry and give readings at a coffee house.
47. I would like to host a fundraiser ball for cancer research.
48. I would like to arrange an ethnic music and arts celebration.
49. I would like to become a Cheshire Bridge champion.
50. I would like to host a news show about high school for local TV.
Others: ?

Secret 15: there is no wrong answer to the question of what a child could aspire to do, with the exception of criminal acts, ask that violate family believes, or acts that aim to hurt oneself or others.

Who would you like to be?

Directions: if you could be any of the following people—past or present—who would you be?

1. Madonna
2. President of the United States
3. Atticus in To Kill a Mockinbird
4. John Stewart
5. Robert Redford
6. Oprah Winfrey
7. Agent Jack Bauer
8. Editor of the New York Times
9. Bill Gates
10. Donald Trump (before his presidency)
11. Martin Luther King or Mother Teresa
12. I. M. Pei (architect) or Picasso
13. Olympic athlete
14. Thomas Edison or Albert Einstein
15. Hillary Clinton
16. John Williams
17. Jane Goodall
18. Steven Spielberg
19. Walt Disney
20. Jonas Salk

Secret 16: create a time capsule with your eighth or ninth grader to get a sense of his newly articulated ambitions, and to help him plan his high school strategy.
Secret 17: Each different field of interest has its own “culture”—familiarize yourself with the culture in your child’s field of interest.
Secret 18: once your child fully embraces an interest, do not just dump materials and resources on him—share the interest.
Secret 19: summers are the best kept secret of superstars—the time for your child to stand out from the pack and gain an edge both for college admission and her future career.
Secret 20: contrary to pop psychology, downtime need not be unstructured to be relaxing in to help a student decompress.
Secret 21: regardless of how appealing unstructured summers may sound, summers without an overall plan or goal tend to be frustrating for both the child and the parents.
Secret 22: cram your child summer with multiple in reaching activities and opportunities, as long as the child is eager to pursue them, the programs have something to offer, and the combination of programs is affordable.
Strategic Summers: The Time to Gain the Advantage for College 21
Designing the Four-Year Academic Plan: What Colleges Mean When They Say They Prefer Kids Who Challenge Themselves to the Fullest 47
Coordinating the Game Plan with Your Child's School: Inviting the Faculty to Join Your Team 76
The Amazing Array: Finding the Best Opportunities for Your Kid
Note to the Reader 85
Mathematics: The Triad-Three Pedigrees for Math Students 87
Science and Engineering, Part I: Raising a Science Olympian 111
Science and Engineering, Part II: Launching Inventors and Explorers on the Research Track 125
The Arts: Spotlighting the Creative Applicant 163
The Humanities: The Scholar Every College Wants 197
Journalism, Media, and Advocacy: Headlining the Front-Page Kid 215
Government: Building a Political Leader from the Ground Up 233
Business: Marketing the Future Mogul 246
A Final Note 257
Four-Year Summer Plans for Forty Different Interests 259
Index 291… (más)

If I could give this book a negative rating, I would.

If you, as a parent, want to make your kid resent learning, and if you want to introduce unnecessary drama into daily activities, this would be an excellent book for you.

The author claims her expertise in the area of college admissions based on the success of her children, whom she claims have won countless honors and were admitted to highly selective universities. But she evades discussing whether her children are happy.

It was painful for me, a current college student, to read parenting advice that encouraged parents to force "passions" upon their children and more or less encourages them to live vicariously through their children. And it was painful for me to read about college admissions as an all-or-nothing deal: either your kid gets into Harvard, this book's logic goes, or he's a worthless bum.

Please don't read it.… (más)