Having gone through the tedious torturous application process with my son,I was fascinated to learn what really goes on behind the scenes.Informative eye opening revealing look at the entrance process.Fascinating look at all the facts some uncontrollable that goes into your acceptance or rejection,Highly recommend.#netgalley#scribner

As a parent of four children who will go to college at some point, I was very excited to read this book. It goes very in depth into three different college admissions offices and gives you a very open and detailed description on how colleges go through the piles and piles of applications and how they finally decide on who gets in, when they get in and any aid that may be offered. I underestimated how much other than grades go into who gets in. A great read that I plan on picking up again in a few years. If you have children going to college soon, pick this book up.
Thank you Netgalley,Jeffrey Selingo and Scribner for the ARC for my honest review.

Wow, this was a really interesting read! I was so engrossed into the book I read it all in one sitting.

Essentially, this book examines what happens behind closed doors of college admissions offices, as the author spent a year in the decision-making process of several colleges and universities, to share how acceptance is based. The book first starts with a history of college admissions, as most people used to apply to just a few schools, with the average student now applying to more than double the original norm of 2-3. He then details from a high school counselor how they work with schools, and also how what high school you go to can also determine much of your chances of getting in, as students from one high school often apply to the same few schools.

The actual documentation of the meetings was fascinating. Seeing how arbitrary a lot of these decisions are, as well as how students are often compared against each other when they come from the same high-school, or how getting one glowing recommendation letter or writing a glowing personal essay can trump a GPA or SAT score.

Schools often have to make admissions decisions based on finances and have to decide how likely a student is to need or accept aid. This leads to students with greater need being indrectly and directly discriminated against in this process, as students without aid needs who will generate tuition dollars don't face the same types of scrutiny from the admissions department.

I could go on and on about interesting points from this book, it's incredibly well written!

While very informative, this book wasn’t necessarily exactly what I’d hoped it’d be. It selves into the whole politics of admissions and red tape and extra stuff from an insider’s view and goes deeper than what I was looking for. I just wanted some tips and tricks and ideas to maybe drop to my kids or remind myself of. It’s more than that and is really quite fascinating.

My children have been out of college for a while now but I still find the whole college admissions process to be fascinating.  As a sociology major, I feel that there are great research projects to be done on the subject.


About twenty years ago, an author named Steinberg published a book called The Gatekeepers.  Who Gets In and Why strikes me very much as an updated look at the issues addressed in that earlier title. 


What readers will learn is that college admissions is a complex entity.  Those who are naive may think admissions is all about rewarding the best or most hardworking students but that is not really the case.  There are so many facets of the school's own agendas that influence who does or does not get the coveted "yes" letter.  Readers need only think of Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman to know just how true that is.


In this book, Mr. Selingo looks at the process from the perspectives of three different types of institutions, a private and a public university and also a liberal arts college.  The result makes for a fascinating read.


College admissions will no doubt be affected by the Corona virus with questions about what will happen to campus life and more.  Nonetheless this book provides a keen insight into what has been happening in higher education.


Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this title in exchange for an honest review.

As a recent college grad who's been through the circus of admissions, I was fascinating by the subject and hoped for more insight. Well, I got what I wanted! As someone with zero knowledge about the process, I was gobsmacked at certain points, including the parts about the complexity in the college's agenda and legacy students. A must-read for upcoming and past students.