I owe special thanks to:
Dr. Orlando Taylor, President, Washington, DC Campus of The Chicago School of Professional Psychology; Dr. Judith L. Kuipers, President, Fielding Graduate University; Dr. David Payne, Executive Director, GRE; Charles Johnson, Director, Master’s & Executive Programs, Krannert School of Management, Purdue University; Roger C. Stewart, Director, Graduate Career Services, Krannert School of Management, Purdue University; Geri Weilacher, Director, Penn State TRiO Training Institute; Dr. Thomas Rochon, President, Ithaca College; Mary L. Gonzalez, Assistant Vice President, Division of Special Programs, Texas A&M University–Kingsville; Cherryl Arnold, Director, Educational Opportunity & TRiO Programs, Georgia State University; Michael L. Jeffries, Associate Dean and Director of Minority Student Affairs, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and Founder, McNair Scholars National Conference; Dr. Priscilla J. Fortier, Assistant Dean of Students, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Colin Diver, President, Reed College; Dr. Ruby Ausbrooks, Educational Consultant, Gerlach, Nevada; Dr. Carolyn Herman, Pre-Med Advisor and Dean, College of Arts & Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis; Dr. Jennifer Vega La Serna, Dean of Arts and Letters, College of the Sequoias; Julie Kern Smith, Career Services–Experiential Learning, Reed College; Dr. George B. Robbins, Associate Director of Graduate Academic & Enrollment Services, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; Samuel T. Lindquist, Director of Admissions, The Amos Tuck School of Business Administration; Dr. Gerald Foster, Director of Admissions, Harvard Medical School; Richard Badger, Dean of Admissions, The Law School of the University of Chicago; Kathleen Plessas, Director of Admissions, School of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco; Louise Goldsmith, Graduate Assistant Admissions Coordinator, UCLA-Architecture; Judy Colwell, Assistant Director of Admissions, Stanford University School of Medicine; Russ Coughenour, Director, Career Services, University of Tennessee, Knoxville; Dr. Cathi L. Eagan, Assistant Dean, Research and the University Graduate School, Director, McNair Scholars Program, Associate Director, MEDIC-B Program, Indiana University; Dr. Barbara A. Herman Center, University of Wisconsin–Madison Medical School; Dr. Linda Arbuckle, Graduate Coordinator, University of Florida, Gainesville; Dr. Judy Jones, Executive Director, Pond Mountain Lodge & Retreat–Eureka Springs; Dr. Manuel Febres, Programa McNair, Universidad de Puerto Rico–San Juan; Dr. Michelle Sparacino, Director of Recruitment & Admissions, School of Public Health and Health Services, George Washington University; Dr. Kay Reed, The Graduate School of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville; Bertha Thomas, Director, McNair Scholars Program, Truman State University; Dr. Vicki M. Curby, Director, McNair Scholars Program, University of Missouri–Columbia; Dr. Steven M. Ehrlich, Assistant Dean, College of Arts & Sciences, Washington University; Jeffrey Johnson, NAGAP Membership Director and Director of Admissions, Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine; Dr. Janet Goebel, Rhodes Advisor and Director of the Robert E. Cook Honors College, Indiana University of Pennsylvania; Nick Ewold, Director, McNair Scholars Program, Beloit College; DeVon Wilson, Assistant Dean, University of Wisconsin–Madison; Linda Vivian, Coordinator of Special Projects for the Graduate School of the University of Florida; Dr. Larry Duffy, Chair, Pre-Medical Advising Committee, The University of Alaska, Fairbanks; John Garic, Esq., Pre-Law & Graduate School Advising, Franklin & Marshall College; Dr. Mary E. Kirtley, Office for Graduate and Professional Studies, Dickinson College; James A. Marino, Director, Career Center, Rutgers-Camden; Katherine K. Nobles, Director, Career Services, Oglethorpe University; Dr. Thomas Q. Reefe, Director, Career Development Center, University of California, Santa Cruz; Tom Francis, Director (Ret.) Career Services, Swarthmore College; Dr. Robert C. Pebworth Jr., Director, Career Planning & Placement, Wabash College; Saul Reyes, Director, Career Center, Jacksonville University; Dr. Edward Zovinka, Chemistry Department, St. Francis College–Loretto; John Adams, Director, Career Services, Davidson College; Tony Butchello, Associate Director, Career Services, Davidson College; Gar Cropser, Associate Director, Career Services, University of California, Irvine; Tom R. Cath, Director, Career Center, DePauw University; Carla Mollins Rinde, Director, Career Center, Ursinus College; Lisa B. Dickter, Associate Director, Career Services, Carnegie Mellon University; Judy L. Fisher, Director, Career Center, Harvey Mudd College; Pamela S. Backes, Associate Director, Career Services, Keene State College; Patricia M. Campbell, Director, Career Services, Keene State College; Dr. Rebecca A. Emery, Director, Career Services, Salisbury State University; Stephanie Paramore, Assistant Director, Priscilla A. Scotlan Career Services Center, University of San Francisco; Amy Wilms, Director, Career Services, University of Redlands; Dr. Tariq Shakoor, Director, Career Center, Emory University; Yolanda M. Manora, Associate Director, Pre-Professional Advising, Emory University; Katherine Harper, Director, Career Center, Western Oregon University; Patrick D. Mullane, Director, Career Development Services, Dickinson College; Rob Felton, Public Affairs Officer, George Fox University; Seth L. Smythe, Willamette University; Nancy Norton, Director, Career Center, Willamette University; Anne Hardin Ballard, Director, Career Development Services, Linfield College; Peter S. Van Houten and Mary Blakeslee, Pre-Professional/Pre-Graduate Advising, University of California, Berkeley; Dr. Dandré Desandies, Associate Director, Career Development, Stanford University; Toinette Menashe, Director, Master of Arts in Liberal Studies Program, Reed College; Dr. Walter Englert, Chair, Classics Department, Reed College; Lisa Garb, Director of Public Relations, Peterson’s Guides; Ricky L. Parham, Applicant Relations, American Association of Medical Colleges; Brian P. O’Driscoll, Director, Career Services, Pacific University; Dr. Jason Morris, Director, Master’s Program in Higher Education, Abilene Christian University; Jennifer Tucker, Associate Director, Field and Career Office, Beloit College; Nancy B. Karpinski, Director, Career Development Services, Wells College; Maureen Daly, Kilian Kerwin, Mohamed Yunus Rafiq, Michelle Levy, Fang-Yuan Chang, Rob Saldin, Gerrad Jones, Damian Madan, Brian T. Powers, Rachel Elizabeth Anderson, Erin E. Bonuso, Yung-Hsiang Hsu, Jonathan Doti, Manny Mora, Juana Gatson, Senetta Bancroft, Catherine Glew Hylands, Todd Hobler, Adam N. Green, Flay Rogers, Margie Lariviere, Andrea J. Morgan, Brad Wurtz, Meyer M. Speary, H. Glickman, Bob Muldoon, Victor F. Simonyi, Kevin Kelleher, Gennine Zinner, RD, Jennifer Ferenstein, Lisa Kemmerer, Linda C. Saremi, Gretchen Craft, Wendy Richardson, Tod Cochran, Molly Stenzel, Deborah E. Gallant, Brian Boyl, Sabrina Gee, Dr. Anastasia Pinoris, David Lawrence Conlin, David Coleman, Dr. Bruce Johnson, Kevan Shokat, Dr. John R. Vasquez, Debbie Redd, Shane Whittington, Rebecca Weller, Dr. Majid Tavakkolijou, Dr. Arturo F. Muñoz, Robert Fallon, Paul F. Laubscher, Ranessa L. Cooper, Jeffrey P. Henkle, Jennifer Drayton Sohn, Jennifer Nagy, Charles Kosan, and of course, anonymous.
I owe special thanks also to Aaron Wehner and the late Phil Wood of Ten Speed Press for their continued support of this book. Special thanks also to my in-house editors Veronica Randall and Kaitlin Ketchum, and to designer Chloe Rawlins for their work on the fourth edition. And continuing debt to George Young, Mariah Bear, and Becky Lemov for their guidance on the first edition. The errors are all mine, but many, many people have contributed to the success of this book. Thank you all.
Many of the names, dates, schools, firm names, and other specific details in these essays were changed at the request of the contributors, and others were changed at the discretion of the editors. No particular individual named in these essays should be presumed to be any particular actual individual, and any such assumption would be unwarranted.
Some of the colleges and universities sponsoring talks by Donald Asher:
East: Brown, Columbia, University of Pennsylvania, Penn State, NYU, Oberlin, Babson, Carnegie Mellon, Swarthmore, Case Western Reserve, Xavier, University of Maryland, Middlebury, Haverford, Bryn Mawr, University of Pittsburgh, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, University of Massachusetts–Boston, Hillsdale, Grove City College, Villanova, Ithaca, Keene State, New England College, Wells, Cedar Crest, Muhlenberg, Dickinson, Rutgers, Gettysburg, Franklin & Marshall, Washington & Jefferson, Westminster (Pennsylvania), Villa Julie/Stevenson, SUNY Institute of Technology, SUNY Geneseo, SUNY Fredonia, SUNY Stony Brook, SUNY Pottsdam, SUNY Purchase, Post, Providence College, Cayuga CC, Buffalo State, University at Buffalo, University of Rochester, CUNY–Hunter College, Mercy College (New York), Daemen, Niagara, Ursinus, Skidmore, Lafayette, Moravian, Baldwin-Wallace, Ohio University, University of Dayton, St. John’s (Annapolis), Michigan State, University of Tennessee–Knoxville, University of Dayton, St. John’s (Annapolis), Michigan State, University of Tennessee–Chattanooga, Davidson, University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill, Mary Baldwin, Marywood, Piedmont Virginia Community College, University of Puerto Rico–San Juan, and more.
West: Stanford, Reed, Caltech, Harvey Mudd, Scripps, UC Berkeley, UCLA, UC Irvine, UC San Diego, UC Santa Cruz, UC Merced, Cal State–Dominguez Hills, Cal State–San Bernardino, San Jose State, Lewis & Clark, Santa Clara University, Claremont Graduate University, Fielding Graduate University, Academy of Art University (San Francisco), College of the Sequoias, Azusa Pacific, University of Arizona, University of New Mexico, Portland State, University of Portland, University of Redlands, Occidental, George Fox, University of Colorado, University of Denver, University of Northern Colorado, Colorado School of Mines, Central Washington University, Westminster (Utah), University of Alaska–Fairbanks, University of Alaska–Anchorage, University of Texas–Austin, University of Texas–Arlington, University of Texas–Dallas, Texas A&M University–Kingsville, TAMIU, Texas Tech, Baylor, Abilene Christian University, Texas Christian University, Our Lady of the Lake, St. Edwards, University of San Francisco, San Francisco State, Mills, University of Oregon, Oregon State University, Willamette, Whitman, University of Nevada, Brigham Young University–Hawaii, and more.
Midwest/South: University of Chicago, Tulane, Purdue, Indiana University, Washington University in St. Louis, Virginia Tech, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Marquette, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Beloit, Creighton, IUPUI, Concordia (Minnesota), North Dakota State, University of Missouri, University of South Carolina, Babcock, Rhodes, Hendrix, University of Arkansas–Fayetteville, University of Arkansas–Little Rock, Henderson State, Oglethorpe, Earlham, DePauw, DePaul, Wabash, Truman State, Kansas State, Principia, Knox, Albion, Hanover, University of Oklahoma, Fairmont, Concord State, Harding, Emory, SMU, Centre, Transylvania, Murray State, Berea, University of Indianapolis, New College, Florida International University, University of Central Florida, Rockford, Franklin, East Central University (Oklahoma), Jacksonville University, University of Alabama, University of the South (Sewanee), and more.
International: Canada: University of Victoria (British Columbia); India: India Institute of Foreign Trade, Birla Institute of Management Technology (BIM-Tech), Rai Institute, Rayat-Bahra Technology Centre of Excellence–Chandigarh, IESC, IIMT; Mexico: Universidad Tecnológica de Nuevo Laredo Tamaulipas, Universidad Autonoma de Tamaulipas, Facultad de Comercio, Administración y Ciencias Sociales; China: Beijing Foreign Studies University, China Agricultural University, Global IELTS School, Shanghai University, Zhejiang University; Germany: Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel; South Korea: Hallym University, and more.
To arrange speaking engagements on graduate admissions or career development issues, at graduate or undergraduate levels, contact Asher Associates, San Francisco, 415-543-7130; email don@donaldasher.com .