num_pages: 320
description: From award-winning higher education journalist and New York Times bestselling author Jeffrey Selingo comes a revealing look from inside the admissions officeone that identifies surprising strategies that will aid in the college search. Getting into a top-ranked college has never seemed more impossible with acceptance rates at some elite universities dipping into the single digits. In Who Gets In and Why journalist and higher education expert Jeffrey Selingo dispels entrenched notions of how to compete and win at the admissions game and reveals that teenagers and parents have much to gain by broadening their notion of what qualifies as a good college. Hint: its not all about the sticker on the car window. Selingo who was embedded in three different admissions officesa selective private university a leading liberal arts college and a flagship public campusclosely observed gatekeepers as they made their often agonizing and sometimes life-changing decisions. He also followed select students and their parents and he traveled around the country meeting with high school counselors marketers behind-the-scenes consultants and college rankers. While many have long believed that admissions is merit-based rewarding the best students Who Gets In and Why presents a more complicated truth showing that who gets in is frequently more about the colleges agenda than the applicant. In a world where thousands of equally qualified students vie for a fixed number of spots at elite institutions admissions officers often make split-second decisions based on a variety of factorslike diversity money and ultimately whether a student will enroll if accepted. One of the most insightful books ever about getting in and what higher education has become Who Gets In and Why not only provides an usually intimate look at how admissions decisions get made but guides prospective students on how to honestly assess their strengths and match with the schools that will best serve their interests.
language: English
title: Who Gets In and Why: A Year Inside College Admissions
publisher: Scribner