Soundbite by Sara Harberson

SOUNDBITE by Sara Harberson promises to share “The Admissions Secret that Gets You into College and Beyond.” Harberson has more than twenty years of experience in the field, having served in admissions offices at private colleges (University of Pennsylvania, plus Franklin & Marshall) as well being a Director of College Counseling at an elite high school. She now takes private clients and also shares information online through various sites, including AdmissionsRevolution.com and Application Nation.  In her new book, Harberson titles the first chapter “Four Years Reduced to Four Minutes” and stresses that “colleges can spend years cultivating a student to apply, only to spend minutes reading their application and seconds deciding their fate.” The next several chapters in Part 1 deal with “Understanding the Soundbite” and being honest about strengths, telling your story, etc. Part 2 is about “Crafting your Soundbite,” complete with a long list of rules like writing in first person, being bold and concise, and using nouns and verbs. Finally, in Part 3, she reviews “Living your Soundbite” and concludes with some helpful exercises and examples. Harberson’s conversational tone and active encouragement to pursue “self-awareness, intentionality, and story-telling,” finding what is essentially a unique selling proposition, make this text worth a look. Granted, there is a bit of a “self-promotional” aspect, but the concrete nature of specific examples and short exercises will be helpful to students and families, especially those new to the admissions process.