College Match: A Blueprint for Choosing the Best School for You

Book Synopsis: Celebrating almost 40 years in print, College Match is the leading guide for finding a “good fit” college. From Stress to Success! Used as a college counseling textbook in public and private high schools! By combining easy-to-use worksheets with loads of practical advice, College Match gives students control of the entire college admission process. With College Match, you will find the best school for you! Four assumptions guide the writing of College Match:

1. All students, regardless of grades or test scores, have colleges from which to choose. Now more than ever, great colleges are out there waiting to be found. Students merely need to seize the opportunity by taking the time to search. Through the use of College Match, along with proper guidance and support, students will find colleges where they can be successful.
2. There is a sequence of steps that, if followed, will lead to solid, suitable college choices. College Match is organized around those steps. Systematically moving from one step to the next will lead to self-knowledge and college awareness.
3. The college choice process neither has to be, nor is, inherently stressful. Over the last several years, anxiety about selecting a college has increased. Some of that stress comes from false assumptions about the nature of college admission. Once students and their families replace the quest for the best college with one focusing on the best-fit college, the level of tension is significantly reduced. Fitting in is the largest contributor to creating a good college experience.
4. Finding a college builds important, lifelong skills in taking initiative, making decisions, and assuming responsibility. For many students, choosing a college is their first real-life choice. By making difficult decisions during the college choice process and accepting the consequences of their decisions, students gain not only self-understanding but also an understanding of how life works.

Get advice on college planning from a full-time college counselor and student of colleges, not from a journalist or education writer! Read more