3/5 stars. This gave me flashbacks to the undergrad college application process. This book did a lovely job of showing the anxiety, tension, and growing pains involved with leaving home for college. In a day and age where celebrities are paying off the advising boards to get their kids into college, this wasn't an entirely unbelievable premise. The story was good, but the character development could have been stronger. It works as a YA novel idea.

I received an advance review copy for free through NetGalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily

A sort of collegiate Catch Me If You Can, I thought the elements dealing with the pressures of expectation/perfection, particularly for a first-generation American character, were very strong; Perla's anxiety about disappointing her parents was palpable, and the narrative did a nice job showing the journey to her understanding that even if they meant the best, that didn't mean their choices and views were the best. However, I do think things fell down a bit in terms of character. Perla's cleverness was present, but her manipulation of others/fear of disappointing her parents overwhelmed basically everything else about her and the occasional mention of how much she loved video games couldn't make up for that. The secondary characters seemed to exist almost exclusively to support Perla's story, which became fairly evident in the few paragraphs of "where are they now" wrapup at the end. I don't necessarily feel like the ending was a letdown in terms of tone or content, but it did feel somewhat rushed and I found myself wishing a bit that there was one more scene to round things out. Definitely a relatable read for those going through the college application/acceptance process, hand to fans of Chau's American Panda, Buxbaum's Admission, or Quah's Not Here to Be Liked - although maybe not for anyone who you think might use a clever how-to guide on hiding out on a university campus.

I’ll start this out by saying I read this book in about five hours- almost one sitting.
This Is Not A Personal Statement was a hard book to put down, it grabs you from the beginning and then you just fall more and more into the story.
Perla thrives on academic validation, and the validation of her family members so applying and getting into college is a big deal to her and her family- it’s almost a given for her to get into a good school. So when she didn’t, she had to come up with a plan. Throughout the book you see the sixteen year old balance going to a college (which she should not have been), and a lot of firsts. It was fun to see all the side characters and how they changed the dynamic and supported her even if she was doing some illegal things behind their backs.
Overall I’d give this book four stars out of five, I love the way it was written and I fell to love Perlas compelling character, Jackson the sweet barista and camilla.

This book was something completely different than anything else that I've ever read. The concept was something I had never heard of, in fiction or reality, and the author did really good with putting us in Perla's shoes while she was going through this myriad of lies.
Throughout the novel, I felt every sort of emotion that could be felt, happiness, sadness, second-hand embarrassment, pretty much everything. The book was so well written, I really haven't felt all of the emotions while reading a book in a very long time.
I also really enjoyed the secondary characters. While reading, you could really tell that Perla really cared about each and everyone of them as the book moved along. She stayed with them, didn't stray away from them, even though it did eventually turn on her.
Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins for the eARC edition of this book.

This book gives me anxiety... but like in a good way. In a thrilling kind of way. You know?

A big thank you to Netgalley, publisher, and author Tracy Badua for the ARC!

I absolutely loved this book. It explores unrealistic sky-high expectations, academic pressures, and the suffocating demands of perfection. Discovering that the principles you've held on to for basically your whole life is wrong, realizing that the people you've looked up to and whom you spent your whole life trying to please are extremely flawed, and having to unlearn and relearn all that you've believed in. That's a lot to take in.

Our main protagonist, Perla here, well, she's a mess. She did some, oh you know, just a bit of some illegal actions here and there. She made some decisions that led her to a rather of a sticky situation, I guess you could say. "Trespassing, fraud, theft of services, etc." But, despite all, I found myself rooting for her. I found myself rooting for her to not get caught. To be able to gain success from her seven-part plan spreadsheet. Perla was such a likeable character. A complex one too. This book did a brilliant job diving deeper and deeper into her heart and unravel all the tangled knots and chains until all break loose in the ending.

I loved the cast of characters too. Especially Camilla and Jackson. The way they became this sort of anchor to Perla, helping her through and through, but didn't hold back their punches, their criticism, that they knew were necessary for her to take so she could grow and improve.

I loved loved loved that ending, but there's no way I'm talking about it here and take away from you the experience of reading it for the first time! Just trust me, if YA contemporary novels are right up your alley and loveable characters, messy storyline, and a lively cast of characters makes up your nice cup of tea, you would NOT want to miss this.

4.5/5 stars!

This was a sweet read, even if it feels like a huge suspension of disbelief to stick with the protagonist for as long as she is able to forge her counterfeit student life.
That said, I really appreciated the internal struggles she dealt with as she learned to separate her own ideas and beliefs from those of her well-intentioned but overbearing parents.

Skipping two grades, sixteen year old Perla Perez excels at Monte Verde High. Known by her peers by her hated nickname Perfect Perlie Perez, it’s a given that Perla will get into Delmont University, a prestigious college on the West Coast. After all, it’s the next step in the plan that her family came up with, which was created to ensure that their first and second-generation Filipino families will look to the Perez extension with pride. However, the plan is shattered when Perla doesn’t get accepted into Delmont…or any of the other universities she applied to. Perla knows that if she tells her parents about her rejection she will become a family disappointment. Deciding to take matters into her own hands, she forges an acceptance and creates an elaborate scheme to get behind the gates of Delmont to rectify the obvious error of her rejection. However, as parts of her plan begin to unravel and implode, will she be caught?

Whew, that was a journey. Full confession: I read this book in two days because I couldn’t put it down. This reads like a mystery/thriller masquerading as a contemporary YA novel, and I loved it. As a reader, I really wanted to know if Perla was going to get caught. It’s taken me a few days to sort out my thoughts as to why I found this novel so compelling and I have distilled it to three main points.

First, Perla is a compelling and sympathetic character. She is very flawed, but as a sixteen year old attempting to grow up, she is bound to make mistakes. While reading, this lack of perfection made her choices feel believable and much like those that a teenager would choose. But at the same time, the pressure cooker of Monte Verde High and Perla’s immigrant family make her sympathetic. She really wants to please everyone and stick to the plan, ensuring she doesn’t become an outcast within her family. What really sells me on Perla is that she grows throughout the novel, much like any child split from their family for the first time. She begins to pick apart which beliefs have been ingrained and whether she wants to hold onto views from her hometown and family or grow into her own person.

Second, the supporting cast is lovely. Without revealing spoilers, particular standouts are Jackson and Camilla who support Perla at various stages of her journey.

Finally, as noted, Perla makes some pretty bad decisions, illegal ones too, throughout the novel. Look, as a reader who reads a lot of YA, I do like a happy ending where everything works out and a part of me wanted Perla to get away with everything; however, that would not have triggered the growth that she so desperately needed. Tracy Badua decided correctly by ensuring that there are adult consequences in a novel about a character trying to emerge into a grown young woman. While a part of me mourns for Perla at the end of the novel, I haven’t stopped thinking about this book over the last few days, so there’s definitely something about the writing that has made me return to Perla's decisions and the eventual outcome.

Overall, I highly recommend This Is Not a Personal Statement. I was initially drawn to this novel as an educator who has a specialty in teaching personal statements. And there’s definitely a lot to mine for other educators and individuals who help students apply and make the transition to college. In my own role, I’ve seen that the stress and pressure Perla experiences are very real!

Thank you @netgalley @tracybaduawrites for allowing me to read an eARC in return for an honest review.

Our students NEED this book. Parents NEED this book. I am so glad that I read this book!

I was so very mad at the adults in Perla's life. They failed her in many ways with their desire to look like the perfect family to their extended family, friends and colleagues. They use their daughter as a bragging point, to show that they are better than everyone else. They constantly compare Perla to others children, and make it clear to Perla that she MUST be the best. Anything less than best is an embarrassment to the family. Perla truly believes that if she is not Perfect Perlie, that her parents will not love her. Her biggest fear is disappointing them. So when the rejection letter comes from the university they expect her to attend, she tires to fix it by faking an acceptance letter.
She believes that she will be accepted to one of the other top colleges that she applied to, and can then convince her parents that she should attend on of them instead. But all that comes is rejections letters. Perla is stuck with her original lie & off to Delmont she goes.
What follows is more lying, to the friends she makes, her parents, and herself; but also the realization of the situation that she has put herself in and why she felt this was her only option when the rejection letter came.

I highly recommend this book. No sex, no bad language. There is 1 time alcohol use

Great coming of age story. Would definitely recommend to those graduating or trying to figure out what do do with their life post graduate. Would definitely read something else from this author

I think this was such a cute story. The crazy concept of a student sneaking on campus and pretending to be a student was so much fun. The issue I had was I did not connect with the characters. They each had one thing that became their whole personality and they read as very stereotypical. Despite the lack of compelling characters, this book still deals with the important message about generational expectations and the pressure put on teenage girls (specifically WOC) to be perfect in their performance.

I read an e-galley provided by NetGalley.

This book wasn't quite what I expected, which is not a complaint. After being rejected by her top choice college (and all her choices) the main character, Perla, comes up with a plot to go, anyway. I thought she was going to somehow actually attend a full schedule of classes, enjoying freshman life, just not be on the books.

Granted, that would have been quite far-fetched.

Instead, Perla is living a disturbing, secret life, and attending only one class, if I recall correctly. Her plan is to find out what she did wrong with her application and apply again for spring semester.

She doesn't learn much about what she wanted to know, though she does spend a great deal of time thinking about her relationship with her parents who have no idea what she's doing.

I found Perla a little talky as far as her family expectations are concerned. But this is an intriguing set-up for a story and toward the end there is some tension over what's going to become of her. This reader was even left with some tension over what will become of her in the future.

(I will post this to my blog closer to the publication date.)

The pressures for Perla from the very beginning had my heart breaking. How it feels like we're on the precipice of ruin. This toxic pressure of college and the name brands associated with it. But where This is Not a Personal Statement also excels is the way in which it also examines the generational pressures. How her immigrant parents and even generations before, have sacrificed for our dreams. For these chances and possibilities they never had before. And those unique pressures.

Thank you to NetGally for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

The bonkers premise was what initially intrigued me about This Is Not a Personal Statement, but that promising premise was ultimately let down by truly awkward and ill-written prose as well as characters that lacked depth.

Perla's stress and anxiety about getting into her preferred school was relatable, as were the pressures of her parents. However, that stress and anxiety were really the only character traits we saw in Perla--beyond the many, many, truly cringe-y video game references she constantly made.

A similar pattern is seen in the side characters: her frenemy from home, the hot guy in her bio class, the dormmate she befriends, and the guy who works at the coffee shop are all thinly drawn and bland.

This Is Not a Personal Statement was disappointing, but one thing I wasn't disappointed by was the ending. It would have been easy for Tracy Badua to give Perla the easy way out, but she does not go that way and I was pleasantly surprised. The overall experience, however, was not pleasant. 2.5/5.

Badua has crafted an engaging and surprising YA with an unexpected ending. I really enjoyed this. The main character is realistic, in that she definitely has faults that get the best of her. This makes the story relatable for young readers. Definitely recommend.

Perla made me so anxious!!

I wanted to shake her & tell her to go home to her parents. I wanted her parents to be receptive of her feelings and comfort her through her “failures.”

I love YA books because as an adult, I question their actions but then I remember being a teen and the pressure to live up to your parent’s standards.

I enjoyed Perla’s adventure. And how she executed her plan. She stood behind her decision to fake admission into Delmont but Im telling yall the anxiety that came along with reading this book 🤣

I would give it a 3.75 rating.

This is Not. a Personal Statement was a book I could not put down!

Perla is a 16 year old academically driven student who was pressured to forge a path her Filipino immigrant parents wanted for their daughter. When Perla doesn't get into any of the universities of her choice, she decides to crash her top choice. We go along with Perla as she forges a path filled with lies and hides her big secret from her peers, parents, and university.

Tracy did an excellent job portraying life as a college student, I felt like I was sucked into college again. It reminded me and gave me flashbacks of memories of being once a college student. I felt so many different feelings, worry for Perla, understanding of Perla's situation, and wondering whether she will be able to keep up with her lie in the end. Tracy encaptures the difficulty students in Perla's experience of having helicopter parents, the struggle for 1.5 and second gen immigrant children may feel in fulfilling the "American Dream" and succeeding in ways that almost feel like perfectionism. We witness her come of age, make mistakes, make friends, and contemplate what life she is living for. Her own dream? Or her parents?

I am impressed by Tracy's first YA novel and I hope this is certainly not her last.

Man.. this book was EVERYTHING! Thank you @netgalley @tracybaduawrites for this amazing ARC. I had so many emotions while reading this. I felt sad for Perla for not getting into the school of her “dreams” but then I was so mad at her for becoming a fake student and continuing to lie to all her friends and family. Perla is a different type of female lol she did some bold stuff in this book that shocked me. Can you imagine your parents dropping you off at college and you faking acting like you are going to your dorm room but you actually going to break into another room thats vacant? 😭 Perla did alot of things that can land a person behind bars! All because she didnt want to disappoint her parents. Perlas parents were pretty much trying to live their dreams through her. Some parts of the story I didnt like Perla but eventually loved her character and understood why she did what she did. I read this book in two days! Go add this book to your cart. You wont be able to put it down!

I have to admit, I really didn't know where this story was going and I was continuously surprised with each new chapter. The pressure by parents, peers and what you place on yourself can be immense. And as an adult, you have to self-regulate what you can and can't do.
I think it was interesting to use a young prodigy to show how even with a gift or talent there is a level of maturity needed to use the gift while still taking time to grow up. Unfortunately, it is up to the parents to help with this task and sometimes they are the worst offenders by pushing kids to take on to much.
It was really insightful with how pressure can build until it explodes.
Enjoy!

Perla is a Filipino American with a clear dream. Well, at least it's clear to her family, study hard, get into Delmont, go to med school, work alongside her month as a dermatologist. After skipping a few grades, she's ready to start her college career at the age of 16. There's just one thing, Delmont doesn't want her.

With no safety schools or other options, Perla makes a very rash decision - lying about her acceptance. Lying again. And again. And again. Forging paperwork, squatting in dorm rooms, living off of granola bars, accumulating debt and auditing classes. Her whole life is a lie. She's even lying to herself, believing that all this is really worth it, believing that Delmont is really what she wants.

This book is not a thriller. THIS IS NOT A PERSONAL STATEMENT is realistic fiction. Like most things in life, Perla's lies snowball in a slow, incremental way. And like real life, it cumulates not with some big revelation, but the slow acknowledgement of what we've known all along.

The story here isn't the actions Perla takes to pretend to be a Delmont student. The real story is the relationships she makes and breaks along the way, the self she finds, the freedom of being away from home, and the limitations of living a secret. THIS IS NOT A PERSONAL STATEMENT belongs in the hands of teen and new adult reads who want (or need) a catalyst for reflecting on the expectations put on them by society, their culture, family, and themselves.

Possibly the most stressful book I have ever read. I was torn between wanting the main character to get away with her scheme and having her face consequences. Regardless, as a high school senior applying to colleges right now from my competitive California school, I did see a lot of reality in this.