Editorial Reviews Review "In her role as one of the nation’s premier college admissions advisors, Dr. B told her students in early 2020 that the biggest disruption facing high schoolers in the college admissions process will come when standardized tests are minimized in importance or deleted from all required applications. At that time, students will have to pull themselves up through their wits, subject mastery, and imagination, emerging from the in-school rut where classmates follow each other down the same course and activity paths instead of defining what is unique and remarkable about themselves. Dr. B admits that this won’t be easy. It takes far less critical thinking and creativity to follow what your high school has framed as the “right” way to spend grades nine through twelve. But the way you adapt to such a charge will begin to shape a more thoughtful and innovative generation (not to mention, more successful college applications). Here we are, post pandemic, when in fact, the standardized test is being reconsidered as a necessity for college admission and the reliability of acceptance to a top-tier school is becoming less and less easy to predict. So, Dr. B has addressed the new college admissions environment by writing the most skillful, comprehensive, inspired, strategic, no-baloney guide to college acceptance. The Exceptional Applicant is a game changer―different from any guide for high school students you’ve ever read. Dr. B unpacks volumes of action steps, an array of creative projects, sample college essays, and a mindset for creating remarkable possibilities and adventures during high school. Included are tips and wisdom from some of the nation’s leading educators in research, technology, mathematics, music, business, debate, and athletic leadership―fields that, if pursued at a high level during high school, can create the EXCEPTIONAL APPLICANT who pops off the pages of the college application and makes Admissions say, ACCEPTED. ―RICHARD ROSSI Founder, the National Leadership Academies" Review "In her role as one of the nation’s premier college admissions advisors, Dr. B told her students in early 2020 that the biggest disruption facing high schoolers in the college admissions process will come when standardized tests are minimized in importance or deleted from all required applications. At that time, students will have to pull themselves up through their wits, subject mastery, and imagination, emerging from the in-school rut where classmates follow each other down the same course and activity paths instead of defining what is unique and remarkable about themselves. Dr. B admits that this won’t be easy. It takes far less critical thinking and creativity to follow what your high school has framed as the “right” way to spend grades nine through twelve. But the way you adapt to such a charge will begin to shape a more thoughtful and innovative generation (not to mention, more successful college applications). Here we are, post pandemic, when in fact, the standardized test is being reconsidered as a necessity for college admission and the reliability of acceptance to a top-tier school is becoming less and less easy to predict. So, Dr. B has addressed the new college admissions environment by writing the most skillful, comprehensive, inspired, strategic, no-baloney guide to college acceptance. The Exceptional Applicant is a game changer―different from any guide for high school students you’ve ever read. Dr. B unpacks volumes of action steps, an array of creative projects, sample college essays, and a mindset for creating remarkable possibilities and adventures during high school. Included are tips and wisdom from some of the nation’s leading educators in research, technology, mathematics, music, business, debate, and athletic leadership―fields that, if pursued at a high level during high school, can create the EXCEPTIONAL APPLICANT who pops off the pages of the college application and makes Admissions say, ACCEPTED. ―RICHARD ROSSIFounder, the National Leadership Academies About the Author DR. DEBORAH BEDOR CEO, College Admission Central. As one of the nation’s most beloved and respected college admissions experts and best-selling author of Getting IN by Standing OUT, Dr. Bedor has had the pleasure of coaching and advising top-tier and Ivy League-bound precollege students for the past thirty years, with remarkable acceptance rates. Dr. Bedor works granularly and creatively with each student, from ninth through twelve grade, as a mentor, innovative résumé builder, college application essay consultant, and high school life coach―structuring and elevating every part of the student’s college application journey, creating standout candidates for acceptance. Dr. B graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, Phi Beta Kappa, Summa Cum Laude, and has lectured on student entrepreneurship in workshops at both Harvard and Columbia Universities. Read more