Local grad’s book a guide to college process

Oakwood High School alum and writer Jill Shulman’s book “College Admissions Cracked” aims to ease the stress of college applications for parents and their students.

Shulman, who has been published in the New York Times and Good Housekeeping, has spent nearly a decade assisting families through the college admissions process and reading and evaluating applications at elite colleges.

“College Admissions Cracked” will be available on Aug. 6 to guide parents month-by-month from junior year to college drop-off and how to handle the strong emotions that are often present throughout the college admissions process.

“I’ve seen the stress ramp up for the whole family when a teenager is going through the college admissions process and had consulted families through it,” Shulman said. “I think a lot of the college admissions frenzy stems from parents believing that helping their child get into ‘the best’ college is the pinnacle of their parenting career, but that’s not it at all. The great parenting achievement is preparing our children to handle life independently, without us, which means letting them go and live it.”

Shulman says that her warm feelings for and connections to Dayton run deep and influenced her career.

“So many experiences in Oakwood shaped my outlook and career. My most influential OHS teachers were my English teachers. Jane Leigh, Barbara Calarese, Ron Price, and Neil Zimmerman, who taught chorus. Their passion for the humanities, support, and belief in me seeped in. I have about 100 Facebook friends from my childhood in Oakwood and my old Temple Israel Jewish community.”

In addition to writing “College Admissions Cracked,” Shulman also helps families and students navigate college admissions through her college essay review program.

“Most families cannot afford to hire a full-service private consultant, so I’ve gathered college admissions pros who have evaluated thousands of applications for the nation’s most highly selective colleges, as well as consulted students applying to a wide range of colleges, to provide access to private consulting-level services for this final leg of the (often harrowing) college application process with the goal of offering game-changing expert advice and stress relief,” said Shulman.

Like her time as a cheerleader for Oakwood, Shulman says she hopes she can be a leader in the “revolution” against the stress of college admissions.

“My parents joked about how silly it was staying up late making locker tags for the basketball team, but I see it differently. It took nerve to get up on stage, something I did a lot in the OHS theater and choral programs, but it took just as much nerve to stand up in front of my peers in that short skirt, project my voice through a cavernous gymnasium, and lead. That’s what I’m doing now, leading parents in a sort of attitude revolt against college admissions madness with a Chill Parents’ Revolution, and this book is my manifesto.”

“College Admissions Cracked” is available for pre-order at Barnes and Noble, Amazon, iBooks, and Indiebound. For more information on Jill Shulman, visit www.jillshulman.com.