The People's Guide to College Applications

The People's Guide to College Applications is a fast, last-minute, it's-going-to-be-okay guide for college applicants and their families (biological, adoptive, and chosen). In a week-by-week format that can begin as late as September 1st of senior year, this book guides families through the application process. Weekly projects build skills, curiosity, courage, and connection before young adults step into independence and parents gain a new perspective on their family dynamic. Jill Constantino taught writing to thousands of students at the University of Michigan and at Harvard. She also taught Harvard instructors how to teach writing to their students. In this explicitly how-to book, Constantino deconstructs the personal essay and delivers small chunks of instruction through a clear and kind process. Readers harness the process of writing, thinking, and rewriting to produce self-awareness and constructive movement toward new ideas, which, in turn, creates confidence, hope, and a completed application. Through weekly exercises, Constantino guides students into independence without losing their vulnerability and thoughtfulness. Meanwhile, she teaches parents to become good accountability partners by walking them through their own writing exercises so that they may empathize with their students' processes of defining themselves and their next steps. By encouraging audaciousness and authenticity, Constantino offers invaluable insights on researching colleges, writing essays, having conversations about money and moving, and the application process as a whole. This indispensable guidebook offers a safety net that will catch families as they fall through the fabulous advice already on the market. The People's Guide to College Applications throws a bit of forgiveness, a manageable structure, and reassuring guidance at an occasionally debilitating process.