Admissions Confidential: An Insider's Account of the Elite College Selection Process [Paperback]

Rachel Toor (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0312302355 | ISBN-13: 978-0312302351 | Publication Date: August 17, 2002

There are hundreds of books available that coach kids on writing college application essays, improving SAT scores and trying to beat the admissions system. Admissions Confidential is a definitive look at why those books don't work. Toor lifts the veil on a process that anxious parents and high school students have never had decoded before. And they may be shocked to find out:

--that elite colleges spend thousands of dollars recruiting students they will never admit
--why some students at the bottom of their high school classes are admitted to top schools when the valedictorians are rejected
--how pricey independent college counselors can hurt an applicant's chances
--why admission to a top school depends on who reads your application
--why the top of the class at a high-performing high school may end up at their second and third choice

Written in engaging first-person and covering the entire admissions process--from recruiting to enrollment--Admissions Confidential is a year in the life of a college admissions officer.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A former admissions officer at Duke, Toor calls this a "Dear John" letter to her old job, but it's really a description of the relatively honest and complicated process by which thousands of eager, qualified applicants are evaluated every year by a typical "elite"university. While title and jacket scream "expos‚," anyone looking for tales of under-the-table bribes or unopened applications in the shredder will be sadly disappointed. Human error sometimes creeps in tired readers can make cranky decisions but according to Toor, the system basically does what it's supposed to do: admit students who fit Duke's profile based on grades and the difficulty of curriculum, extracurricular activities, teacher recommendations and SAT scores. Like many universities, Duke supports affirmative action in addition to preferences for jocks and offspring of major alum donors, but such deviations from pure meritocracy should surprise no one. The only "shocker" here concerns the "BWRK" the "bright well-rounded kids" who're just too common in the applicant pool. The "angular" student, mediocre in some areas but outstanding in others, often has a more memorable application and is frequently preferred to the better-prepared BWRK. Structured to reflect the seasons of an admissions officer's life, the book reads easily, even if the personal reflections that preface each chapter (the ex-lovers, the pet pig, playing basketball, etc.) can be annoyingly irrelevant. Too benign to generate gossip in the guidance counseling/college admissions world and too superficial for social scientists' attention, the book's real audience is parents who will read anything that might give their kid an edge.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

Adult/High School-A look into the admissions process that may make high school students rethink their college choices. Toor describes her first year as an admissions officer at Duke from the summer campus tours and interviews to the final push in May to persuade the students who were accepted to commit to her university. Each section is prefaced with Toor's personal statements, which were columns written for the Chronicle of Higher Education or National Public Radio. Although they provide insight into the author herself, the real meat of the book is professional expertise. Readers learn that schools are so inundated with applications from BWRK (Bright Well Rounded Kids) that they just seem "boring." Now colleges are looking for students who are "angular-kids who have done all the typical stuff and then have pursued an interest or passion to an nth degree." Published median SAT scores are not in line with most of a school's admissions. Publishing a wide range works to the university's advantage, because the more individuals who are encouraged to apply, the more students it can reject, and the more selective it can appear. Although Toor talks about admissions at the most elite universities, these principles still apply to schools that are not as selective. Recommend this book to your BWRKs, but make sure it is read by the guidance counselors and the teachers who write recommendations as well.

Jane S. Drabkin, Chinn Park Regional Library, Prince William, VA

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin (August 17, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312302355
• ISBN-13: 978-0312302351
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #556,256 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Admissions, not academics, may determine success, October 27, 2001

By 

Peter Lorenzi (Maryland, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Admissions Confidential: An Insider's Account of the Elite College Selection Process (Hardcover)

This is a nice, light, fast, fun read. College admissions staff have many stories to tell. Toor tells plenty about applicants, admissions officers, and her friends. This is a personal case study, not empirical research, so any findings or conclusions should be viewed with real caution. Many will find it too personal and, at times, self-centered. Personally, I would have been glad to forego the pig stories, and I'm not referring to applicants.

That said, writing here as a long-time university professor and administrator, none of what Toor wrote surprised me. In fact, I continue to be more surprised by people who think that students applying to great schools are admitted based only on their SATs, just like some parents believe that students at large public universities have full-time professors teaching all the first-year classes.

Toor reports the abundant resources (if low pay for admissions staff), intense competition and sometimes convuluted admissions decisions of one of our most prestigious schools. The portfolio of scores, skills, essays, recommendations, extracurriculars and other facets of the first twelve years of an education comes under closer scrutiny than any of the work the student is likely to put forth in his or her classes in the coming four years. The investment part of the educational model at Duke appears to be spent in the admissions office, not saved for the classroom.

Research shows, contrary to the elitist assertion repeated here, that it matters less what university you attend than to what university you are admitted. Its the admissions process that is the hallmark of the top schools, not the academic experience itself. Get admitted to Penn State and Princeton, attend Penn State, and statistics show that the graduate will do as well having attended Penn State instead of Princeton. And she will have saved enough money in four years to fund much of her entire retirement. Strange but true. So it just might be worth finding out if you can cut it in the (Duke) admissions rounds. Pray you get admitted. But then save your money and attend a good but affordable school.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Overrated by herself, April 11, 2005

By 

N McKeever "N" (Colorado USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Admissions Confidential: An Insider's Account of the Elite College Selection Process (Paperback)

The author's opinion of herself -- how interesting she is and how her Yale background (frequently mentioned) makes her eminently qualified to rate others -- is the driving force behind this book. There is a certain amount of informative material here that can open the eyes of college applicants and their parents and counselors. However, the only thing that really makes the book unique is its personal memoir style, which on balance detracts from rather than adds to the value of the book. Padding the book with irrelevant "insights" into her personal life and with reprints of columns previously published elsewhere both reflect that the book is really as much about the author as anything else. The reader also gets the impression that the author sought the job in the first place in order to write a book about it later. There is some justice in the world, however. Telling applicants to be careful not to submit essays with "embarrassing typos," the author relates a tale of having a girl applicant write that "she wanted to go to a 'smaller private school like Duke,' not one the the 'big state pubic institutions." (2001 paperback edition, p. 49.) It is so sweet that a few pages later, she herself writes: "Kids from elite private schools rarely get fives in achievement. And only the top few from the good pubic schools do." (Page 94.) Oops! If you're going to be smugly superior about others' imperfections, you'd better also be perfect.

19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Cleverly written but.., November 26, 2001

By 

Kevin C. Kropf "I ADMIT" (Albion, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Admissions Confidential: An Insider's Account of the Elite College Selection Process (Hardcover)

I am a college admission professional and while I really enjoyed the peak inside the Duke Admission office, the author does not offer real advice for the type of people who will most likely buy this book. 3.9+ gpa and 1400 SAT's are great credentials, but what else--what is your hook--how do you stand apart from thousands just like you?

I don't envy the challenge of handling 14,000 BWRK (Bright, Well-Rounded Kids) and a goal of selecting maybe 3,000 for admission? Lots of people who are qualified are not admitted, but you do not need a whole book to learn this.

Toor's writing style does suck you in and you do find yourself rooting for the few students who she profiles a bit more indepth. I for one did not mind her forays outside the admission office as it showed some personality, however the pig stories might have been a bit much. Her introductions to each chapter show off her excellent writing skills, it is just too bad that her talent is tied up in an overlong newspaper article.

If you are thinking about this book because you want a leg up on the competition, you are probably better off reading A for Admission (which Toor takes a swipe at in her introduction) by Michele Hernandez.

Bottom line is that there are lots of great colleges out there, some have big time names like Duke, Yale, Stanford etc... While others offer excellent educations in their own right even if their name is Kenyon, Carleton, Albion or Grinnell. The names might not be as recognizable, but the experience will be just as good if not better.

Glad I read this--yes for the inside look, but not much else.