We wish to thank all the students we have worked with over the years. They are the ones who were the inspiration for this book, as well as being responsible for its creation. We especially want to thank the students who gave us permission to use their college essays. Their well-crafted essays not only made the book possible, they made it better as well. (We tried to avoid the overused “not only x but also y” construction by omitting the “but.” Some grammarians may not agree.) We have no doubt some of these students will go on to be splendid writers.
For his longtime (not “long time”) support and counsel over the years, we are grateful to Mr. Jim Conroy. Mr. Conroy, which is how he is known to his students (in the manner of Mr. Chips), was a college counselor at New Trier High School in Winnetka, Illinois, for forty years and was generally acknowledged to be the best in the business. We thought so highly of his advice that we included an interview with him in this book. We urge you to read that interview and give regard to his wise words.
Sid Tepps and Betsy Collins each played a vital role in the preparation of this book. Sid was always available when we had a computer problem—and we had many of them. There was no problem he couldn’t solve. Betsy introduced us to the wonderful people at Rowman & Little-field, who believed in us when we approached them with our proposal.
Finally, thanks to the people at Rowman & Littlefield—Carlie Wall, Tom Koerner, and Jed Lyons. Their help at every step of the way was invaluable, especially because the book was written at the height of the COVID-19 crisis. We hope that we have repaid their faith in us with this book.