Game On

As a parent of four children in public school who are all headed to college in the next decade, college admissions and mainly paying for it scare me more than anything in my life at this point. I am not sure how a sane person has their child apply to a college, fall in love with the college only to get a statement of the costs to be expected each year, This book is a no nonsense guide from beginning to end on getting into college and paying for it. I have also come to accept that most colleges can get my children where they want in life and that choosing a higher ranked college and either saddling us or them with tremendous debt doesn't set anyone up for success. I never knew about financial aid appeals which I plan to use for my children. A well written book that is a must read for anyone with children going to college.
Thank you Netgalley, Susan F. Paterno and St. Martin's Press for the ARC for my honest review.

This is a very informative book. There are so many misconceptions about Ivy League schools and community colleges and state universities and how to get into them. I like how the author, Susan Paterno, begins the book talking about her own family and how she helped all four or her kids navigate their way through the college process. Everyone has their own need and not all schools are the same.

I recommend this book to all parents sending their high school students off to college. I thought I knew a lot about this process since I had done it three times before and I just learned so much more. I appreciate the opportunity to read and review this book, I will be recommending it to several parents that I know that will be sending their kids to college over the next few years. Special thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for allowing me the chance to enjoy an ARC of this book.

This book was exceptional! It was so easy to read, well-thought, and sensible. This was the best book I've read on the state of universities, money, and the sheer randomness of acceptance into college. Ms. Paterno's writing was exceptional - I simply couldn't put it down. I highly recommend this for parents and staff of high school-age teens.

As an educator of high school juniors and seniors, I thought I knew it all when it comes to the insanities of college admissions and how to navigate the system. Not so! I learned so much from Game On that I can bring back to the classroom to share with my students. Informative without being dry, and easy to understand for all audiences (parents, teachers, admin, teens).

I received this book as an advanced reader copy from NetGalley. As a parent of teenagers and an educator, this book provided clear and valuable information about the college admission process and how to financially afford college and navigating financial systems.

I have worked in and around admissions for nearly 20 years, and I have seen the changes for the worse in American universities' policies and administrations. I enjoyed this book for the author's perspectives as a parent and a journalist, as well as her sense of humor. She develops the story of how higher education has played an ever-changing role in society, and how corporate and political greed and manipulation have led to the mess in which we now find ourselves. Her exploration of the world of admissions in the past 20 years goes far beyond the Aunt Becky scandal, exploring the less criminal and slightly less expensive world of prepping, coaching, and becoming merit-worthy by any means possible.

The tepid reviews of this book must be from Reagan apologists, because the author is not afraid to expose his extremely corrupt administration's role in ending the social contract of upward mobility -- college tuition has risen more than 800% since 1980, thanks to Reagan's cuts to taxes that subsidized student aid and his dismantling of regulations and reforms that had provided previous generations a stepping stone to the middle class. The author offers advice for individual families to navigate the college admissions process, but, like many problems, there is a need for structural reform that is vast and daunting, and needs to be much more prominent in public discourse. This book is a great addition to a parent's or grandparent's bookshelf, or anyone interested in social issues.

Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to review a digital ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

If you have a high school child who wants to go to college I strongly suggest you read this book. The author did a great job of organizing this book. I wasn't so excited about reading this one but I am so glad I did. Once I started it I could NOT put it down.