Admission, Julie Buxbaum’s upcoming novel, is an exciting take on the college admissions scandal that exploded only a year ago, when Lori Loughlin, Felicity Huffman, and others were charged with conspiracy to alter the college admissions decisions process. Buxbaum reportedly stopped working on another book, and immediately felt inspired by the scandal to begin work on this story instead - and I’m so glad she did!

When the scandal broke last year, I was fascinated by it and so reading this version of it, from the side of the children who were negatively affected by their parents’ actions, was compelling. Once I started reading about Chloe, I was hooked, and couldn’t put this one down. The story is told in two different timelines - from before the scandal broke, to after Chloe’s mom was arrested by the FBI. It was well-developed and writing the story from the perspective of a high schooler was a smart move on Buxbaum’s part. This story is unlike some of her other work in that everything is not perfectly wrapped up at the end, and I appreciated that she tried to keep it as realistic as possible.

I can’t wait for this one to be published in December of this year and to recommend it to all of my students this fall!

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Children’s Delacorte Press for the free electronic ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this title before its release date.

Admission tells a fictionalized take on a very true event: the 2019 College Admissions Scandal was everywhere in the news in early last year, with celebrities like Felicity Huffman and Lori Laughlin caught up in the scheme. In this story Buxbaum has gone inside what it must be like for a student whose parents paid thousands of dollars to cheat them into college.

You might not immediately think that is a viewpoint you care to read from but it gives an opportunity for our main character Chloe to recognize her own privilege and learn from her and her family's mistakes. This was a pretty good read and I enjoyed what the conversations it had about family, wealth, privilege, the college admissions process, the judicial system, etc. It's not my favorite from Buxbaum but it's a decent read. I think a lot of younger readers will enjoy this one!

I received a copy of ADMISSION on NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. Thank you to the publisher and author.

Five stars and here’s why:

I love it. I was so excited to receive a copy of this book because Julie Buxbaum is one of my favorite YA authors. I believe students will really connect with this story because it handles the issue of college and the admission process with significant insight into the idea of how race, class, and the inequities of the current system. What works in this book is that the author makes the reader truly feel for all of the characters in the story, and does so with such skill, the reader doesn’t feel like there’s a sermon or moral to the story. It is what it is and that’s life. I totally recommended this book to a lot of students and friends who have kids in high school Highly recommend people read it.

Not all YA books are created equal. I like some but don’t enjoy most. This one, however, is good.
It is about a college admission scandal of a tv star and her daughter, told from the daughter’s perspective. The tone of the book is lighter (aka easy to read) but it looks at this situation with real insight on privilege and celebrity.
I’ve read a few of her other books but this one is the best so far. I really loved the foreword the author wrote that when this scandal hit the news, she was in the middle of another book that she put down because this book came pouring our of her. I love hearing the inspiration for books and it made me go into this book liking its perspective even more.

Thank you to Netgalley for the advance copy.

I am usually a huge fan of this author but this book fell a bit short for me. I liked the beginning but the whole admission scandal just didn't interest me. I didn't feel for the main character or care that this happened because she didn't really care either.
I don't know it just wasn't my favorite.

Admission is a story about a high school senior named Chloe. Chloe has a somewhat famous mother, a great dad, and is living her best life in a lot of ways. She finally has the attention of her long time crush, and she has a great best friend. If it wasn’t for the pressure of her college applications, she’d have it made.

Chloe isn’t the best student, and it looks like all of her dream schools are out of reach. Her mom hires an admission coach to help her get into the college of her dreams. Well, it works because Chloe gets in. But then, the unthinkable happens. Her mom is arrested in a college admissions scam and Chloe’s life is over.


This book navigates Chloe’s before life, and Chloe’s now life. It shows everything leading up to her college acceptance and we get to find out if Chloe knew what was going on all along, or if she’s as innocent as she seems.

Admission was an interesting read and definitely unique from what I normally read. There were things I liked about it, but I never felt completely invested in Chloe’s story. I understood where her family was coming from and why they did the things they did, but I found it difficult to be empathetic for them. Overall, this wasn’t my favorite Julie Buxbaum book but it was still well written and I think a lot of people will love it.

Thanks to NetGalley and Delacorte Press for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I LOVED this book! YA is usually hit-or-miss for me, but I was intrigued by its plot line centered around the recent college admissions scandal, and it did not disappoint. I also love it when YA books don't have a romance at their core (don't get me wrong, there is still some romance here, but it's not the focus of the book). I highly recommend this to everyone, teens and adult readers alike!

Review posted on Goodreads on April 21, 2020.

Thanks to partner NetGalley for the digital ARC of Julie Buxbaum’s Admission in exchange for an honest review. The book releases Tuesday, December 1.

“Even villains are allowed nuance” (loc. 3772).

The college admissions scandal of 2019 inspired Julie Buxbaum’s Admission, which focuses on high school senior Chloe, the daughter of television star Joy Fields. Chloe and Isla, her younger sister, have grown up with wealth providing everything they needed, but Chloe is now dealing with the realization that her academics will not gain her admission to the college of her dreams.

Chloe–mostly–accepts this truth . . . but her parents do not. They are accustomed to being able to give Chloe and Isla everything they need or even begin to want. And so they reach out to Joy’s long-time friend Candy, who has recommended an admissions consultant who helped her son.

The novel, told in alternating past and present chapters, moves compellingly through Chloe’s story. As a high school teacher of juniors and seniors, I found Chloe to be quite realistic. She’s not sure what she wants to be, WHO she wants to be, which is not unusual. In her school and her social group, however, this kind of uncertainty is not the norm. Instead, Chloe is an underachiever whose only real, authentic interests are tutoring with Cesar, the young son of an undocumented immigrant; enjoying a beautiful friendship with her brilliant friend Shola; and nurturing a long-time crush on her good friend Levi.

The shifts in time allow us to see both the progression of the admissions scheme and Chloe’s reflection while looking back on it. As she shares her story, she’s constantly pushing herself, questioning what she knew, what she should have known, and how much she is at fault, all while she’s dealing with a multiple of horrible potential futures for her parents, her sister, and herself. I found Chloe to be a wonderful, well-developed, and nuanced character. She’s a character who has been spoiled, and while she’s aware of that fact, there is definitely a level of privilege that she has taken for granted. Her recognition of all that she didn’t see is powerful. I also had not considered the impact of feeling that one’s college possibilities are so dire that they require expensive, and illegal, maneuvers to overcome one’s shortcomings. Chloe’s reflection makes clear that the incredible machinations of her parents have a definite effect on how she views herself.

The secondary characters are also strong: Chloe’s parents clearly are guilty, and yet Buxbaum does a great job in building a family who we come to love. Chloe and her sister Isla aren’t close, but as they deal with the crisis and the fact that so many superficial “friends” have abandoned them, they come to understand and love each other even more.

At the beginning of the book, Buxbaum includes a letter to the reader. She says, “I felt that the scandal was a story about teenagers and their parents, about families, about how the expectations of one generation shape the next. . . . Reading fiction is often an act of empathy–as is writing it” (loc. 3). Buxbaum does an excellent job igniting the reader’s empathy, in helping us to understand–though not to excuse–the actions of each of these characters.

I’m a big fan of Buxbaum’s previous novels, particularly Tell Me Three Things, and Admission is a strong addition to her collection. This book is compelling, compassionate, and thought provoking, asking each of us to consider our complicity in building a system of values that pushes families to act in these ways. Admission made me question my own reactions to the admissions scandal, my own lack of empathy for the teenagers and parents at its center, and the values I’m sharing with my own children. I highly recommend Julie Buxbaum’s Admission for both young adults AND their parents.

Julie Buxbaum is my favorite YA author and she did it once again!!! Admission explores the college admission scandal and did so with tremendous insight. Buxbaum explored themes of race, class, and the inequality in our education system and did so without ever feeling preachy. She explores both sides of the scandal and the reader is able to understand the choices that the parents made - what insight and empathy! Buxbaum knows how teens think and shows their motivations so well.

I have always thought that fiction is a great way to deal with serious, real-life issues - and that is what this story does. Taking the college-admissions scandal and giving life to it, Julie Buxbaum explores the many sides of this issue. While the crime of the parents was wrong, this story imagined what life must be like for the students who cheated into college - whether they knew it or not.

I was provided this book in exchange for my views, the views expressed in this review are my own.

Thank you Random House Children’s And Netgalley for the eARC of Admission!
I love the way Julie Buxbaum writes her characters they feel very real, like people I could’ve met at school. I’ve been very interested in the admissions scandal, and I loved reading this fictionalization- the characters were multifaceted and I ended up being able to see other sides of the story (not just my own outrage).
I also read this right at the beginning of the Stay at Home order, and while Chloe was missing out on senior year for a much different reason, it really helped me sympathize with all the feelings my senior students are feeling.

My favorite BuxBook yet! The story of Chloe, her family, her friends, and the college scandal had me flying through the chapters. Without giving anything away, I loved watching the character arcs in this one. Very well done. A lovely read. 10/10 would recommend. 5 stars all the way.

Having followed Operation Varsity Blues with great interest, I was curious how Buxbaum would approach a YA version of the tabloid tale. Nearly none of the real-life players are at all sympathetic. But man, did Buxbaum knock it out of the park. So often YA characters are all about their goals: they want to go to this college or pursue this career. It was refreshing to sit with a character who genuinely had no idea what she wanted, because I think that's how a lot of teens really are. And Buxbaum hit the perfect balance when it came to complicity. Chloe isn't blameless; both Chloe and readers recognize the role privilege played. But Chloe also wasn't some odious spoiled brat. She was just, as she says, aggressively oblivious and pathologically misunderstood by her parents. This book was funny and heartbreaking and I loved it.

Thanks to netgalley for an early review copy.

This book gave me some serious mixed feelings and had me really thinking about our society’s attitude towards college.

First a quick summary:

Chloe is a senior in high school who as her sister says “is not the brightest bulb in the sea” 😂 and school is a real struggle for her. Her father has a great job and her mother is a B-list tv show celebrity. This has given Chloe and her younger sister Isla all the advantages growing up but now Chloe is about to see the reality of one of those advantage’s consequences.

Chloe’s parents hired people to bribe Chloe’s way into SSC for college. They changed her ethnicity, gave her a sport advantage which was one she had never even tried, had someone write her college admissions essay and even perk up her SAT scores for a higher score.

Chloe seems very naive but is a good person in general. She is somewhat aware something weird is going on but does not understand the full capacity of what is happening until it is basically done already.

I did like this story because not too long ago we had this happen with some tv celebrities and their kids so it was interesting to see it from the kids’ point of view. This was something I never even considered. On the other hand I have to say it didn’t really bother me that much because rich people are always buying their way into certain places. I kind of expected it to be honest. I also did not try to get into any of those top schools so seeing it from someone else’s POV who had worked years to get into that school was interesting.

The thing that really bothered me about this book was Chloe’s best friend Shola. She was honestly a jealous bitchy girl who Chloe was always making excuses for. This is just how I felt so other people might have interpreted this differently. I felt like Chloe always had to put herself down to not offend Shola. After the scandal Shola never talked to Chloe again and this reallu bothered me. Chloe was raised differently and she was oblivious to alot and I don’t think that was her fault. I can understand why Shola would have been upset but honestly you would drop your best friend? Someone who has always been there and supported you over something her parents did? Chloe throughout the story mentioned to certain people that something didn’t feel right and no one said anything seemed sketchy to them.

I also loved the chapters going back and forth between “now” and “then”. The “then” unltimately leads up the opening part of the book. It was a fun concept.

I do love this author and would always be open to reading anything from her! And i recommend this too!

I absolutely adore Julie Buxbaum. I always love her YA voice. She’s funny and insightful and crafts wonderful stories about growing up. All of those things are true about the book Admission, but this one was a little harder for me to read. I’ll own that I’m used to Buxbaum writing romances and Admission does not fall in that category. It’s based on the recent college admissions scandal. The book starts with the FBI knocking on high school senior Chloe Berringer’s door to arrest her B-list actress mother for submitting a fraudulent college application. The story then unfolds in alternating then and now timelines where we undercover what Chloe knew and how the arrest affects her family.

It was hard for me to separate my own opinions about the real life celebrities and their children that inspired this book (this fictional family seems to fall closer to the Aunt Becky camp as the mom refuses early on to plead guilty). Chloe is not an Instagram influencer, so that helped me sympathize with her, but she was also pretty lazy. Throughout the book she is seen not doing the reading for class repeatedly, not having any idea how to write her college essay, not really having drive about anything. Which made her not the most likeable character. But probably a pretty real one.

Chloe grapples a lot with her own privilege. She comes to terms with how little she’s aware of it and tries to figure out how much responsibility she holds because of it. I think that’s a really important thing to be discussing, and I can’t think of another YA book that I’ve read that tackles this issue from this perspective. Ultimately, I’d recommend this book for that reason alone. Plus to make up for the lack of love story, the way the relationship between Chloe and her younger sister Isla changes after their world falls apart is probably better and more important than any teen romance. By the last page I was weeping just a little.

Would you be able to separate your real-life college admissions scandal feelings from this fictional account?

Thank you to Netgalley, Random House Children's Books, and Goodreads for allowing me to read this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I really felt that Julie Buxbaum did a tremendous job explaining what the individuals in the well-known scandal might be feeling without making excuses for them. After I saw her at teen book fest and she talked about this book it made me want to read it. I think she did a good job of shedding light on this situation.

The characters didn't really stand out to me in any particular way, but they were interesting & it added levels of complexity to the story.

I enjoyed reading the Admission. And I think people will read it & have a good look into the admission scandal.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Children's for the ARC copy of the book.

Admission is a can't miss read about a ripped from the headlines scandal. This book centers a teen who is at the heart of a college bribery scandal and asks tough questions that we all wish we could ask the real kids involved. Julie Buxbaum humanizes a headline that sucked so many people in. She uses dual timelines to tell the story and allows the reader to come to their own conclusion about who is at fault and what's at stake. You'll read this in one sitting.

This was a really enjoyable read. I know I, like many others, was fascinated by the college admission scandal awhile back. And the author of this book does a great job exploring what it could have been like for a family involved. We get to see how this fictional story unfolds by following two timelines--then and now. It explores how the privilege of wealth and collusion can play out in the high stakes of college admissions. "Admission" was thought provoking and well written. I was actually kind of sad when it was over. I wanted to know more about these characters--especially her little sister and Chloe's friends. Maybe someday we will get their stories.

***Advanced copy obtained from Delacorte Press via Netgalley***

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I think that kids would like this book and that it would help them understand the current situation.

Though I liked the book, I didn't love it -- as much as I wanted to. Julie Buxbaum did a tremendous job explaining what the individuals in the well-known scandal might be feeling without making excuses for them. She also brought up what I've been thinking all along -- parents donate buildings to get their children into Ivy League universities quite often; however, cheating on SATs is and should be illegal.

This being said, I had a hard time connecting with the characters in the book. I don't always have to love or even like the characters, however, in this case, I felt no emotions whatsoever. They all just seemed a bit flat.

In conclusion, I enjoyed reading the Admission. It wasn't the greatest book I've ever read, but it definitely wasn't the worst either.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Children's for the ARC copy of the book.