Includes index

Introduction -- The culling -- Chasing ghosts -- The rise of rankings -- The academic arms race -- You will fail without us -- The myth of the perfect fit -- The high price of advantage -- Admissions hooks and scholarship scams -- Buyer beware -- What they don't tell you on the college tour -- Biden and beyond

"In Game On, Susan F. Paterno--Director of the Chapman University journalism program and mother of four recent college grads--leads you through the admissions process to help you and your family make the best decision possible. Is the college admissions game really stacked against you? Is it getting tougher to get into top schools-into any school-or not? How will COVID-19 change all of these things? Susan F. Paterno, a lifelong academic who knows what it takes to get the best candidates enrolled in her institution, answers these pressing issues and many more in Game On. Paterno is also a mother who has had to help navigate four very different kids' applications to a wide swath of colleges and to pay for those four-year schools on a finite budget. In her book, she smartly assesses the two poles of the college admissions process: the big picture and the nitty gritty forms-and-scores-and-disclosures. Readers will learn how to use a sorting hat of their own devising-narrowing your focus, knowing how the sausage gets made, and how to find a good financial fit before considering anything else, including geography and reputation (and, certainly, ranking). Among the tools and insights Paterno offers: - How to read beyond the rack rate for tuition, room, and board - How to negotiate your financial package once it's offered - The difference between family debt and student debt and how to split it - How to make the fact that schools select their admits with a blend of 90% logic and 10% emotion work for you An insightful and practical book, Game On not only provides an insider look at the complicated admissions process, but simplifies it and guides families on how to beat the system"--