Where you go is not who You'll be : : an Antidote to the College Admissions Mania

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Includes index.
"Americans have turned college admissions into a terrifying and occasionally devastating process, preceded by test prep, tutors, all sorts of stratagems, all kinds of rankings, and a conviction among too many young people that their futures will be determined and their worth established by which schools say yes and which say no. That belief is wrong. It's cruel. Bruni explains why, giving students and their parents a new perspective on this brutal, deeply flawed competition and a path out of the anxiety that it provokes."-- Provided by publisher.

REVIEWS & SUMMARIES

Library Journal Review
Booklist Review
Publishers Weekly Review
Summary / Annotation
Table of Contents
Author Notes

COMMUNITY REVIEWS

yeah, but... submitted by camelsamba on June 30, 2016, 9:36pm I have complicated reactions to this book. Perhaps it's because I honestly don't know the people who are obsessed with getting their kids into the Ivy League from the time they are in diapers. I don't get that mindset. Thus, much of the book just annoyed me, it seemed overblown. My frequent reaction was "yeah, but" (and I would have scribbled notes if it weren't a library copy) and then he might raise my objection a page later. So that writing style annoyed me as well.

At the same time, my oldest son is applying to a handful of high-power big-name schools, not because of the name but because they have people doing research in areas that interest him. He's self-directed. But I worry that he might be missing out because he's not looking at the so-called "Schools That Change Lives."

So on the one hand, I feel like Bruni is perhaps saying some important things - but I'm not his primary audience, so maybe I can't feel the full import of his argument. I also feel like he has cherry-picked his examples to support his point. We aren't getting any case studies of those who DON'T do well in the settings he lauds. It's basically saying if you are motivated and a self-starter, you'll do fine anywhere. (For that he needed 200+ pages??) But what about those who are just ordinary?

"It's not necessary to get into a highly selective school in order to be successful," he said. "What's necessary is to understand what you want to do and how to do it well, and to be a self-starter." (Quote of someone whose name I didn't note down, Chapter 9)