Standing Out By Stepping Back The Zen of Getting Into Selective Colleges - Paperback

by Elizabeth Gardner (Author)

Updated for 2026

Getting admitted to selective colleges is about pleasing yourself, not about pleasing them. Once you understand that you can avoid painful mistakes, like tanking your college applications with essays, honors, and extracurriculars that blend in with thousands of other applicants. Using actual essays, honors, activities, and letters of continued interest from accepted applications to the University of Virginia, Duke, Yale, Princeton, and Cambridge University, Standing Out by Stepping Back The Zen of Getting Into Selective Colleges shows you how to make your application stand tall above thousands in one quick read.

• Create a compelling application theme that sets you apart
• Write standout essays that showcase personal growth
• Learn the 24 character traits colleges look for
• Take an admissions committee evaluation deep dive
• Learn the new "can't ask, do tell" racial diversity rules
• Make the most of each application section
• Inspire admissions officers to fight for you
• Use recommendations strategically
• No money, no problem financial aid
• Crush ACT, SAT, test optional, and test flexible
• Beat demonstrated interest, interviews, deferral, waitlist, and more.