Hooking Up with Admissions Officers: Selling Yourself Through College Application Essays

Hooking Up with Admissions Officers concisely provides clear guidance for creating a compelling college application essay. The first part of the book, emphasizing the importance of introspection as a means to stand out, highlights crucial differences between academic and application essays. The second portion serves as a resource for avoiding the mistakes college applicants commonly make in grammar, style and content. While this section is by far the heaviest, it's valuable for any writer. The final section of the book discusses finishing touches, including how to know when the essay is ready to submit. Although a book on essay writing easily could put someone to sleep, the author maintains reader interest by using a friendly voice and by peppering the pages with anecdotes about essays she has seen as a writing coach for college and post-graduate applicants. Furthermore, in the first and third parts of the book, she alternates her chapters with related posts from her award-winning blog for college-bound students. The book is not only informative, it's motivational. Here is what others have said: "I kept wondering if (this book) had been written by an admissions officer. ... The insights you provide should prove helpful to anyone using your book. ... I thought your comments were spot-on." --Paul T. White, Assistant Dean of Admissions, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore. "You included almost all of the advice I've heard into one place while still keeping it concise. ... The tone is the perfect balance between friendly, personal advice and an organized, informative guidebook. It will serve its purpose for students, families and consultants alike." --Erin Gross, student, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY; and college admissions adviser with Students4Students.