college choice

Blair, Serena, Nate, and their classmates at an elite prep school learn that their entrance into the college of their choice depends a lot on both old and new relationships.

Eighteen-year-old David Ellison, a senior at Oak Fields Preparatory School which is only a few miles away from the Stanford University campus, tries to reconcile his desire to attend Juillard instead of an Ivy League university as is expected of him, while also wondering why he seems dissatisfied with his long-term girlfriend after being cast opposite an interesting new student in the school play.

Explains how high school students can be admitted to top colleges without stressing over grades, AP classes, and excessive extracurricular activities.

Provides practical guidance for students on options after high school, including college--covering college entrance exams, choosing a school, applying, and financial aid--the military, and working; discusses skills such as managing time and stress and dealing with conflict; and presents mailing addresses, phone numbers, and Web addresses for two- and four-year colleges and universities and vocational and technical colleges.

Presents information on over 2,500 two-year colleges in the U S., alphabetized by state, providing contact information and covering student-faculty ratio, degrees and majors, libraries, computers on campus, student life, athletics, costs, financial aid, and application requirements, and includes close-up profiles of more than eight hundred schools.

Provides information and guidance on selecting, applying to, and paying for college and includes supplemental materials.

A step-by-step guide through the college admissions process, offering advice on how to choose a school, write a successful application, prepare for and take standardized tests, ace the essay, score financial aid, and other topics.

Offers advice on college admission, discussing what colleges are looking for, getting started, extracurricular activities, preparing for tests, finding a school, interviewing, writing an effective essay, comparing financial aid awards, and more.

Provides tips for writing an effective college admission essay, interviews admissions officers and students on writing strategies, discusses twenty-five common mistakes to avoid, and examines fifty-seven successful admission essays, explaining exactly why each one succeeded.

Profiles more than 310 colleges and universities in the United States, Canada, and Great Britain, featuring information on the academic climate, social and extracurricular scenes, admissions requirements, and financial aid deadlines of each institution, and lists forty-five schools the author believes provide the best educational value.