Although I like “How to be a High School Superstar”, it’s mostly about EC differentiation rather than a collection of all the basic tricks and pitfalls a student should know.
From reading the reviews it seems “A is for Admission” might be what you’re looking for
Right? I could just direct him here but its not his style. While I think there is so much great information in aggregate, IMO CC can be really anxiety inducing. You need context as well as some degree of big picture understanding the system and it’s current challenges to navigate and benefit from the posts.
I have heard of it but have not read it myself. I will take a look.
A is for Admission is quite dated (1997). College admission overall is completely different since then, as is highly rejective admission (I know you know this!) The author wrote the book after she worked in Dartmouth admissions for 5 years.
Thanks. Now that you mention it, I think that is why I passed in the first place.
That book was the first time anyone had published how the ivy league schools calculate AI for athletes. AFAIK, that formula was correct until the pandemic. Not sure that formula is still correct now, but I haven’t heard directly that it has changed.
Ive gotten a ton of information from CC but it takes an enormous amount of effort reading through random posts to get the “nuggets” that you cant get from just doing research on the internet.
I’m currently reading Harry Bauld’s On Writing the College Application Essay, which has a heap of good advice on writing as a whole.
Jamie Beaton’s Accepted! is excellent.
Selingo’s work is 1st class.
The Golden Ticket is different but a great read (it’s an autobiography told through college essays).
Who wrote The Golden Ticket? 
I found The Golden Ticket by Irena Smith that matches @CFP description. Looks intriguing!