Admissions from the High School perspective:

This branch really deals with student's individual success rates in different application approaches and is probably the most directly beneficial to us as juniors as we begin our application process leading into senior year. This is the basic level information to get comfortable with if you are stressed about the process in general, as it essentially tells you where you need to be and what you should be doing, sort of like a big brother figure functioning in your head to keep you on track. Because I have this information down, the process is not stressful to me, and I find it fun (if that is even possible).

Related books:

A Is for Admission: The Insider's Guide to Getting into the Ivy League and Other Top Collegesby Michele Hernandez or (less recommended) Acing the College Application: How to Maximize Your Chances for Admission to the College of Your Choice by Michele A. Hernández. This is the first book I read on the process and it was overall very fulfilling. I say that it is from a high school perspective because it is really more focused on the process from a viewpoint of how to get into college. It does discuss how the applications are read from an admissions office perspective (Hernandez worked in the admissions office at Dartmouth for a number of years), but it doesn't go into the depth that The Gatekeepers does.

The Early Admissions Game: Joining the Elite by Christopher Avery. This is is a really great book for the advanced intermediate. It is really the perfect book for people like Dark Mavis who think statistically and logically about everything. Essentially, early admissions practices (Early Decision and Early Action) benefit; one, the university and two, elite and informed students (like us) at the expense of less privileged students. The book is from a high school perspective because the researchers who wrote the book shadowed two high schools for an admissions period and followed the students through their impressions (including all of the rumors and misunderstandings that teens have about early admissions) and their process, adding clarity and understanding to the process along the way.

Basically, students don't know it all, and I walked away from the book dead set on applying early somewhere.This book is really an eye opener in terms of admissions strategy and how something so seemingly shallow and unimportant ultimately impacts the social shape of our entire country.