It’s rare that a book touches me from so many angles, evokes so many memories of the young person that I once was, the career paths that I have chosen, and the experiences that made me pause along the way to change course.
I’ve just finished Early Decision: Based on a True Frenzy
Early Decision: Based on a True Frenzy
The book also touched me as a scholar who has researched these issues relating to college access for several years. My dissertation is about the experiences of urban graduates of a nonprofit that prepares high-achieving low-income students for elite New England prep schools and — later on — for college. I spent a year visiting this full-time program, sitting in on classes, attending events, speaking to staff, and interviewing students. I thought that I would find that these students were primarily given academic and logistical assistance (transportation to visit colleges, application fees) in being admitted to prep schools and to college. But I was wrong: they were being taught how to live in this new, utterly foreign world. They were shown how to speak in front of groups, how to row crew, how to dine in fine restaurants, and how to be engaged and participate in a world very different from their own. They went to museums, Martha’s Vineyard, plays, fundraisers, and had a team of advisors — admissions coaches, tutors, teachers, mentors — to guide them through the admissions process and to show them how the world of the powerful functions.
Finally, the book touched me as a writer and as a parent. Anne’s coaching of her students shows that she understands what children should know about good writing and what the best personal essayists also get. Good essays are about understanding and reflecting upon your own memories, choices, and identity; they’re about revising your writing until it’s a mirror of something true about yourself and your own personal voice, not merely lists your accomplishments or actions.
And now as the parent of a toddler who has to make some big decisions about where her son will go — public school in a failing, urban system, charter school, magnet school, private school that we can’t afford — I’m further reminded about how deeply broken our country’s educational system is. It is, most of all, as this novel cleverly elucidates, a system that is simply not fair for those who are not born of privilege. It’s a system that reproduces inequality. The lucky few are not simply given a helpful push; the process privileges them from beginning to end, from cradle to thick envelope from an ivy-covered admissions building.
If our country wants to return to when upward mobility was a possibility for more than a lucky few — those exceptional cases of those who make it out of poverty through a fortunate combination of determination, luck, and sheer force of will — we need to recognize that success at admission to college, at entering the ranks of the successful and accomplished, is about more than hard work. Yes, hard work is necessary but it’s not enough. We needs thousands and thousands of Annes, who are dedicated only to assisting those kids as they enter a very different world. And the difficult, baffling, often soul-crushing experience of getting into college is a critical aspect of that help.
I recommend this book as pure entertainment and comedy, but I further recommend it as education if you’re not familiar with this frightening alternate reality of Common Applications and the present admissions “frenzy.” It’s also a vivid examination of today’s parenting practices that digs deeper than the cliches of “helicopter parent” and “Tiger Mother” and will cause you to look more closely at your own motivations and behavior surrounding your child’s future.
Most of all, I love how richly drawn the high school characters were written. They’re everything that all teenagers are: confused, petulant, hopeful, determined, lazy, and desperate to please their parents but also to figure out how to be true to themselves. These kids — no matter how much privilege or poverty has impacted their lives — are just kids. It’s the system that’s terribly, terribly broken.
This sounds fascinating! I have always been interested in college admissions {when I hit my “seven year itch” in teaching, I sought other jobs, and actually was offered a job as an admissions counselor at a selective liberal arts college…. but ultimately came to the decision that teaching was where I was meant to be.} But I still love reading about the admissions process. Have you read The Gatekeepers? It’s a journalist’s report from the year he spent shadowing the admissions officers at Wesleyan {your alma mater, no?} Thanks for yet another book recommendation!
Wow, Sarah, how fascinating that you actually were offered a job in admissions! I did a work study semester in admissions (yes, at Wesleyan) and found it — as a college student — fascinating but baffling. I did love Steinberg’s Gatekeepers book about Wesleyan. Such a great read!
Where in the Adirondacks did you grow up? My family has a cabin at Brant Lake 🙂
How funny! We almost bought a house in Brant Lake! We lived in Thurman, near Warrensburg and Chestertown.
Excellent review; I love how you relate parts of the book to so many eras of your own life. I’m intrigued to read the book and look more closely into The Brilliant Book Club, which is something I’ve been meaning to do anyway!
This is the second positive review I’ve read on this book—it’s going on my list! I love the reminder: “These kids — no matter how much privilege or poverty has impacted their lives — are just kids. It’s the system that’s terribly, terribly broken.” And I can’t wait to read the essays in the book…interesting premise.
Love how personal you make the review.
I am so excited to keep reading. I have read Hunter’s essay so far and love how the book is set up. I always wanted to be a prep school teacher– Dead Poet’s Society style, but I was too immature for that so I went to law school. Ahem. Anyway, great post and I love that you’ve studied this. Great review.
It is sort of like Dead Poets’ society. But also not… It sounds like you made a great career choice! Thank you!
Jessica– what a thorough convincing review! I’m about 17% into the book on my Kindle but would love to win a copy to share with a friend.
I love that you loved the book! As you know (from my review) Lacy is an old and dear friend and I adore her writing. It is marvelous to read all the ways that you related to it also. xox
Great review – I’m definitely going to read this book because my son is a high school sophomore and I do worry about projecting my own anxieties on to him as he conducts the college admission process, which will be here before we know it. I’ve seen many friends get so caught up in the process, spend thousands of dollars on college coaches, and generally suffer along with their kids through the process. I don’t want that to be my experience.. !
Wow, it sounds like this book made actually be written exactly for you! It’s really fascinating. If you do read it, please let me know what you think about it!
I think it’s fascinating and really really sad in so many ways how our education system is set up. We’re looking at what to do in a year from now with my son. He’s currently in a wonderful (public) program but he’s got some issues and we’ve heard some less-than-perfect things about the kindergarden that he’ll transition to. We’ve got some options (if they don’t offer the services he needs, we can go to a school that does but we’re not far enough along in the process to know what options we’ll have there yet). So then we have to decide whether to spend a ton of money on a private school. For kindergarden. And he’s delayed. Does that make sense? I mean, in some ways I’m like “of course!” but in others, I think “this doesn’t make sense at all.”
It’s sad that our system is so terribly broken. You did an excellent job on this review though – love how you were able to personalize it.
I would love to read this. I bet I would feel like I couldn’t tear my eyes away- as the process sounds like a bit of a trainwreck- but I also kind of want to bury my head in the sand. Can’t avoid looking at it, though- it affects all of us.
This book sounds really interesting. I love a book that is entertaining and that has characters that really come to life like the teens, but if it can also open my eye and educate me, that’s a winner! I can’t wait to check this book out. Fantastic review!! –Lisa
Thank you, Lisa! I know it would be right up your alley!
I love how panoramic your view is and how you bring so many different perspectives to this review. For me this is all a purely theoretical debate as I didn’t go to school in North America, where I live now, but it’s also a fascinating one. Great job!
I definitely want to read this book after reading your review!
Having worked as a teacher, and being the parent of two “neurotypical” kids who went to college right after high school, and one “issues kid” who is working out a different path, I have a lot of opinions about college in general …. especially the push from high schools to send all kids directly to college, whether they’re read or not right after high school …. mainly (in my opinion) because their high school rankings depend largely on the percentage of kids who go straight into college after graduation. They don’t really care if those kids crash and burn in their first semester or first year. And many of them do (I’ve seen it with friend of all three of my kids). I am writing about some alternatives I would like to see put in place for all kids, and especially for kids with issues … that’s planned as a future post for my blog, but if you want a guest post, let me know! 🙂
I’d love to hear more about a possible guest post! It sounds like you have a valuable perspective!
Your own personal perspective on this issue is as interesting as the review. It’s not a world that I know that much about, although my husband went to prep school and has some incredibly fond memories, as well as some jaded views about them too. Thank you for linking up with The Sunday Parenting Party. I appreciate your support.
I’d love to read this book. I was both a college admissions counselor and a high school guidance counselor, so I have seen both sides of the coin. It’s been years though, and I don’t feel any less anxious about beginning the process with my high school sophomore. And that’s not even considering how we’re going to pay for this!
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This is very good sharing, thanks you very much.