Who Gets In and Why: A Year Inside College Admissions (Jeffrey Selingo)

I've always been fascinated by the whole world of college admissions. Why is it so difficult to get into Harvard? Stanford? Yale? In Who Gets In and Why: A Year Inside College Admissions, author Jeffrey Selingo explains exactly what goes on behind the scenes in secretive college admissions offices and explains what exactly students can do to better the odds of getting in to their chosen school.

The key word in the previous paragraph was "secretive." Rarely does someone get the chance to ingrain themselves inside three different admissons offices as decisions are made that will affect the rest of a student's life. Selingo writes that getting in doesn't have as much to do with a student's test scores and extracurricular activities (although they aren't unimportant) as it does with what a particular school's "needs" are that year. He also argues that students should try to understand that there are plenty of great schools out there that "aren't" Ivy League or top-ranked and that broadening their choices may result in a wonderful experience at a place they never thought of.

My favorite book about college admissions will always be Jacques Steinberg's The Gatekeepers. However, this is a close second. It's meticulously reported and offers assistance to students and parents as they go through what many consider a very stressful time.

MY RATING - 4

Available September 15, 2020

Early Decision (Lacy Crawford)

I seem to have very specific tastes in books.  Favorite topic?  Ghost stories set in English houses during the turn of the 20^th century.  Another favorite topic?  Books about the high-stakes drama of school admissions.  I remember being on vacation in Boston and not wanting to do anything except read Jacques Steinberg’s phenomenal The Gatekeepers.  Another great book on that note?  Karen Stabiner’s Getting In (which I've reviewed on this site).  For this reason, I was excited to read Lacy Crawford’s Early Decision, an account of one woman’s job as a “college consultant," and which Crawford says is "based on a true frenzy."

As is usually the case with these books, this is the story of a bunch of kids on their quest to gain entry into some of the most elite schools (mostly the Ivies and those adorable little schools in New England).  If Crawford stayed here and just highlighted the kids and the sometimes wacky lengths their parents would go to gain admittance for their children, Early Decision would be looking at a solid 4 rating.  However, the novel truly suffers and is bogged down from the unnecessary details of Anne’s (said consultant’s) personal life.  It seems like odd writing to go from stories about working with high school kids to the crudely represented minutiae of Anne’s bedroom.  This jolting back and forth really weighs Early Decision down.

I was excited to finally get this book but disappointed in the ultimate outcome.  Hopefully the next great school admissions novel will soon be on the horizon.

MY RATING - 2