While I don’t’ have a child headed for college, I’ve read Jeffrey Selingo’s previous work and appreciated his deep dives into the world of college admissions. Here he offers thoughts on looking beyond the elite schools for parents who are looking for both success for their child and manageability of payments for themselves. His main audience here is families who make too much to get large amounts of need-based aid but can’t necessarily afford full tuition at the schools where their children might go; he is also encouraging a wider lens in looking at schools such that the priority is finding a good fit for the student rather than going to the highest-ranked school (and as he points out, admissions at the most elite schools are so selective that many excellent students will be shut out). He has done a good deal of data-driven analysis, and the book does end with a list of schools he thinks are underestimated, but he tries to steer away from simply recommending specific schools in favor of showing parents how to think about the benefits of a given school for their child. It still seemed to me that students of today needed to weigh factors I never would have thought about before college, such as potential interest in research opportunities, but it’s probably good that students of today are forced to be more thoughtful about these things than I was as a high school student. This book will be valuable for the demographic at which it is aimed and interesting for those who have reason to follow the topic in general.

I work with high school students to help them get into college, and this book is exactly the kind of transparency and guide we've been seeking to help our students find their best fit. Wonderful resource!

I am helping my niece with the college process. This book was very helpful for us. Thanks for the opportunity to read it!