Make College Your Superpower - by Anna Esaki-Smith (Hardcover)

About the Book

This book provides a new, innovative way for students to navigate the college application landscape. It shows students how selecting a college can be a strategic tool to direct one's future, rather than a frenzied exercise in applying to what others have deemed the "best" univ...

Book Synopsis

Find the college that's best for you and your future.

Much attention has been paid to helping students get into elite schools. Advice on how to ace those SATs and write a killer college application essay all aim to get students into the most prestigious university possible. It's time to look beyond brand and focus on finding the school that is right for each individual instead.

In Make College Your Superpower: It's Not Where You Go, It's What You Know, Anna Esaki-Smith advocates on behalf of students and offers them a guide to getting the most value out of their education. Using the latest data, personal anecdotes, and inspiration, Esaki-Smith shows students how to make informed decisions about where to apply to college, taking into consideration areas of job growth, personal finances, skill sets, potential salaries, geography, and more. In addition, Esaki-Smith explores the connection between majors and jobs and how, rather than relying on a university's ranking, selecting the right program can more directly result in employability for graduates.

With the mental health of students declining, the time is right for a book that encourages students to be resourceful, independent, and energized. Stories of those who found different paths to success provide students from a wider range of backgrounds and abilities incentive to feel optimistic about their futures, as well. With helpful insight and practical advice, Make College Your Superpower aims to get readers excited--rather than stressed--about the college admissions process.

Review Quotes

Anna Esaki-Smith lays out a new way for students to choose universities that goes well beyond rankings and reputation. A must-read for high school students and their families.

Esaki-Smith offers students valuable guidance on maximizing their college experiences. By examining majors, programs and salary outcomes, this book provides students the opportunity to optimize the benefits of higher education.

If you want to make an impact on the world, this book will show you how to use a university education as a tool to achieve your goal.

It's really not all about Harvard, and this book explains why. Give it a read to start feeling good about your future.

Make College Your Superpower upends conventional beliefs about the entire college decision process. For students, parents and anyone who feels daunted by what can be a complicated and costly process, Anna Esaki-Smith provides inspiring insights, hope and a roadmap.

Many college guides are doorstop sized and nearly impenetrable. Not this one. Esaki-Smith underplays the fame and status of the school and concentrates on the overall experience of the time spent in college. With facts and figures, she demonstrates that earnings don't necessarily match the rate of tuition paid but are more likely to correspond to finding a fit between what the market wants and what the student is good at, all the while stressing the dangers of student debt. Rather than following one's passion, she suggests following one's abilities. She touts the benefits of STEM while also showing the continuing relevance of the humanities and shows that perhaps college isn't for everyone. This book isn't the final answer to anything but a starting point for thinking more clearly about the whole college-application process. The clear and upbeat writing will engage students and parents alike. It ends with a "decision navigator" that lays out the topics that should matter. This is a good addition to the shelf full of college books in a school or public library. College-bound high-school students will find this lively guide a unique and useful resource.

This book urges all to see beyond the present and into a world of endless possibilities.

About the Author

Anna Esaki-Smith is a journalist, author, and international education consultant. She conducts research for national education organizations, universities, and edtech companies, and is a contributor to Forbes, covering education. Previously, she was responsible for international student recruitment for non-degree programs at UC Berkeley, and has lived and worked in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Paris, and Tokyo. Esaki-Smith currently lives in Chappaqua, New York.