Although fictional, this was a fascinating look at how having money can jade our view on life. I was angry for most of the novel because of the real-life news scandal of celebrities paying for their children to have guaranteed access to Ivy League schools. The author mentions these stories were the muse of this story. Along the way, I felt some big feelings for the daughter(s) being caught up in their parents actions. I appreciated the diverse characters that were written in for a glimpse at those that work to earn their way.

Thank you to the publisher through Netgalley for an advanced copy.

Admission is a young adult novel that mirrors the admission bribery scandal of overprivileged, rich kids that have everything handed to them by parents who are willing to cheat the system to push their children above everyone else. Chloe Wynn Berringer was thrilled to be going to the perfect school while dating her dream guy. She had a famous mother and strong friendships. Then at a blink of an eye, her entire world comes crashing down and nothing makes sense.

This relevant story shines a light on the characters who played a key role in the unraveling of their lives. It was written in real time and the past until it finally catches up to the current moment that it began. You see the realization of how life can snowball and spiral out of control without paying attention.

I really enjoyed Chloe's character and her evolution as she reflected on what was happening and how life wasn't really what it seemed. Could there be something positive from so much loss?

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Children's Delacorte Press for allowing me to read this book for an honest review.

4 out of 5 stars - If you ask me, I'll tell you to read it.

This books is a fictionalized version of the "Varsity Blues Scandal" that tore through headlines about parents paying for raised test scores and fake athletic abilities to get their kids into great schools.

This novel takes the perspective of a child who didn't know it was happening, and the toll it takes on her life and relationships. It was written in a style that showed before and after the story broke in alternating chapters, showing what was known and perhaps what should have been known. It also shows what this sort of thing can do to relationships within a family and those of friendships and romance once the story broke.

I really enjoyed the book, and I will be looking for other stories from the author in the future.

Thanks to Random House Children's Delacorte Press and NetGalley for this Advanced Readers Copy.

Admission was a great fictionalized version of the college admissions scandal and I would definitely recommend reading it. It took a good look at privilege and what it's like for people with a lot of money. The book also touched a little on white privilege, but it didn't quite reach what I think the intended goal was.

Chloe started off being a sympathetic character, but towards the end, I was a little disappointed with her choices. I did feel for her when she lost pretty much everything that was important to her. The ending itself was good, I liked how things turned out for each of the sisters.

Julie's writing is great, and her characters were diverse (personality-wise). Each character felt wholly developed, and the Now and Then chapters wove together perfectly. Sometimes I'll read books with flashbacks and feel like they're two completely different stories, but Admission wasn't like that at all.

I'd give this book 4.6 stars overall. It was very good, but there's always room for improvement.

LOVED THIS ripped from the headlines story. The inside look into the College admissions Scandal was shocking. I felt bad For and also disgusted by the MC and her family. The best fiction feels like nonfiction and Admission is one of these books.

I enjoyed this book but it was definitely a guilty pleasure read. It pulls on the recent admissions scandal headlines and follows what happens to the protagonist both pre and post scandal.
I am a fan of Julie Bxubaum's other novels but this one felt a little flat in comparison. There were a few loose ends and I didn't think the alternating time line always worked. The characters at times felt underdeveloped but I will say I vacillated between being over Chloe's privilege and empathetic to her struggle to prove her value to her parents. There could have been nuance to her character or had the novel been written in multiple perspectives it would have rounded out the story well.
Overall, I did enjoy this book and would recommend it if you are looking for a quick YA read

I requested this book on NetGalley because I have read other books by this author and loved them. This book is about Chloe, a senior who is applying for college and gets mixed up in a college application scandal, finding out that her parents paid someone to flub her application, essay, and SAT scores.

The book goes back and forth between what Chloe witnessed and experienced leading up to the FBI knocking on her door, and the aftermath of what happened once her mom gets taken into custody. Her mom is released back home, but it's clear that the legal repercussions are huge.

I remember hearing about the college admissions scandal in real life, but I never understood the situation or did much research into what actually happened. I like how this book took a real event and fictionalized it in such a way that the characters have to come to terms with what they did, while also making the reader understand that they are people, too. The book does touch on some difficult subjects; for example, Chloe's best friend, Shola, works hard to get into the same college that Chloe applies to, but Chloe gets in instead of her black, low income friend. There are a few instances in the novel when Shola points out to Chloe that she has white privilege and is using it without realizing it, and the explosion of their friendship in light of what Chloe's parents did felt very real.

I enjoyed this book and would recommend!

I like books about cheating rings and college admissions so I've been looking forward to reading the inevitable fictional takes on the recent celebrity college admissions scandal, and this book delivered a satisfying one. I don't anticipate this title having an especially long backlist life, but it was a fun enough read so I would recommend buying for a YA collection.

This is a thought provoking fictionalization based on the recent college admissions scandal. It is told alternating between before the scandal and after. It is a book you will not want to put down.

I loved this book. Like Julie, I was obsessed with the college admission scandal so I really enjoyed this fictional up close and personal account of a similar situation. I liked how she made the MC a flawed character. I hated to put this one down.

I was so excited for this book after loving everything else Julie Buxbaum has written. I wish I had got into it not thinking about her other books, because this one was really nothing like them.

I like Chloe’s relationship with her sister, and I thought the scam seemed interesting at first, and definitely hyped up after the last year or two of real life scandals. But it just didn’t end up seeming that scandalous. It wasn’t exciting to see Chloe’s essay rewritten by an adult, or watching her retake the SATs.
I liked the idea of the plot, but in the end, it was an average book. I didn’t love the jumping between timelines (until the very end, where I thought it worked well). I also think lots of the characters were underdeveloped, including our MC. I thought Chloe’s group chat with the other kids would turn into a major plot point, but I thought it ended up falling flat and not adding anything to the story. The book was also too long. This won’t stop me from reading Julie’s other books in the future, but this won’t be a book I reread.

Incredibly timely, "ripped from the headlines" book. I will very likely add this to my collection when it is published.

This is a story following a fictional version of the real life college admissions scandal that took place recently. It was really interesting to see everything unpacked and to also see what the author predicted for a conclusion to a case that only just closed in the last month or two. This was a fascinating peek into the white privilege that dominates academia and the lengths people will go to in order to ensure the outcomes they want.

Admission was a good read by Julie Buxbaum. Chloe is on her way to the college of her dreams and is the daughter of a B-list Hollywood celebrity. Her life was great until the FBI came knocking and changed her future forever. Her mother is under arrest in a massive college bribery scandal and Chloe could possibly face charges as well. She winds up questioning everything as her life changes drastically. This was a good read and I can't wait to read more by the author.

Can not give a review of this book because I am a member of the Florida Teens Read Committee but I have added it to the "long list" for consideration.

Great read! The author draws you in with detail that makes you want to read on. I love when books making you feel like you are part of the story.

The then/now chapter breaks really worked here. Chloe's privilege is called out in small ways by her best friend and boyfriend in the "then", but is DEFINITELY showing in the "now". I found it telling that only the woman was blamed in the end, because we always let men off the hook.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy.

I love a good scandal and was excited about the timeliness of this book. This is the third book I've read by Julie Buxbaum and it was much better than the other two but somehow still just okay. Many of the "Then" chapters really slowed the story down and I think that's what took away from me really enjoying it.

As with Buxbaum's other books, I liked it as an "in between read" or palate cleanser. I didn't feel anything strong while reading it and I don't feel strongly one way or the other after finishing. So it's a nice break between heavy hitting books.

Based off the scandal, this story navigates the ripples of consequences and the whys. I wasn’t a huge fan. But it was a well researched book.

Admission is a well-researched novel, drawing from the 2019 college admissions scandal, a racketeering and fraud scheme helmed by private college counselor Rick Singer. In Admission, Singer is replaced by the mysterious Dr. Wilson. The other key players in the real-life scandal have equivalents here as well, though Chloe’s family doesn’t seem to be drawn too closely from that of either of the highest-profile celebrity defendants. Chloe’s mom, a sitcom actress who may soon be reprising her most famous role in a reboot, is similar to but about 25% more sympathetic than Lori Loughlin—but Chloe is nothing at all like Olivia Jade (whose nearest stand-in, the snotty, unapologetic Penny, appears only through group texts on Signal). The week I read Admission, I also picked up and devoured Unacceptable: Privilege, Deceit & the Making of the College Admissions Scandal by Melissa Korn & Jennifer Levitz. Reading the two simultaneously made it clear that Julie Buxbaum truly understood the scandal, beyond the headlines and celebrity gossip. While she doesn’t go too far into the expository weeds describing details of the scheme to get Chloe into Southern California College (a stand-in for USC), she hits many of the same notes as Korn and Levitz do in their true-crime account, but the novel grounds the story in character in a way that only good fiction can.

This is a compelling novel, featuring great character development and a well-drawn portrait of the reprehensible behavior of rich, entitled people, but the moral complexities are flattened for the sake of the narrative (unavoidable, perhaps). Something about this doesn’t sit quite right with me, which is why my rating falls a smidge short of 4 stars (I'd give it a 3.75 if quarter stars were possible). Regardless, there's a lot to love about this book. Chloe’s growing relationship with her sister Isla, who is just one year younger and dramatically more studious, is one of the best aspects of the novel. Isla pushes Chloe to come to terms with both the crimes committed on her behalf and her own role in them. Isla’s nudges and Chloe’s desire to be seen as a good person by her best friend Shola (a brilliant scholarship student at Chloe’s prep school and the daughter of Nigerian immigrants) are the driving forces behind Chloe’s development and growth as a character. Toward the end of the book, Chloe insists that there’s no version of her story in which she’s anything other than a villain. Buxbaum portrays her as a more complicated hybrid—part villain, part victim, part perplexed bystander. Chloe’s growing self-awareness makes her understand just how unacceptable her parents’ behavior is, and how their actions contribute to putting people like Shola and Cesar (a young boy she volunteers with) at a greater disadvantage. She’s aware that, at least to some extent, she has been complicit in their crime. But Chloe's first person narration makes it difficult to imagine that Buxbaum didn’t intend to paint a mostly-sympathetic portrait—of Chloe and, to a lesser extent, her scheming parents. Still, the final few chapters are satisfying and the epilogue feels true to life, not too tidy. I haven’t read Buxbaum’s work before, but after this experience I will be eager to explore her earlier novels.