Customer Reviews

Fat Envelope Frenzy: One Year, Five Promising Students, and the Pursuit of the Ivy League Prize

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I really enjoyed reading this book. It's still shocking to me how hard it is to get into an ivy league school, so it's great to get a former college admission's officers take on thing. The author definitely demystified things--for instance I never knew that being wait-listed in all but the rarest cases means your out.

But the best thing about this book is the five kids who are followed during the year they are applying to college. One is the US champion in rhythmic gymnastics. Another spent his summers in China working in orphanages. Another is a math machine. And a fourth had his family home trashed in Hurricane Katrina. All such fascinating teenagers, with really moving stories.

Fat Envelope Frenzy is a wonderful, engaging, easy read. I kept tearing up as I read it - at the students essays, as they received their letters of acceptance and sadly for some, rejections. Aside from the personal stories of the 5 students, I also found myself learning a lot from the author's insider knowledge about college admissions and the history of the admission process. I thought I knew it all about the admissions process, but this book taught me a lot. A+

Joie Jager-Hyman's "Fat Envelope Frenzy" is both informative and interesting. In fact, I read the whole book in one day! The author does an excellent job of demystifying the college admissions process, which I must admit, has baffled me ever since I went through it myself years ago. However, what makes the book truly special are the engaging stories of the talented, dynamic students whom the author followed for a year. Ms. Jager-Hyman writes about these individuals with great respect and without reducing them to stereotypes. I definitely recommend this book!

Talented and empathetic author, Joie Jager-Hyman, explores the makings of five wonder kids, revealing the behind-the-scenes drama and pressure, exposing the humanity and normalcy of even the most extraordinary. You will root for each kid and want to give them a hug at the same time. Joie's writing is smart, incisive, engaging and fun. Fat Envelope Frenzy is like a great reality TV show without the exploitation.

I applaud this book. As a father of 3 high school kids, I have been witness to this "Frenzy" for a long time - after reading "Fat Envelope Frenzy" I felt validated in my belief that wherever my kids wind up it is where they are supposed to be and that they will be OK. I have always felt that the hype and pressure that the kids were feeling was too much for any 17 or 18 year old to have to deal with. I understand that it is a competitive world out there but reading the stories of these five great kids and seeing how they succeeded made me feel that I could relax a bit and keep it real for my own kids.

Jager-Hyman demystifies the admissions process by personalizing the experience. She shares the stories of five "promising students" as they navigate the highly competitive maze of getting into the "right school." A must read for any student, parent or professional who is or will be confronted with this challenge. Jager-Hyman's realistic assessment of the pressure that students and parents face and explanation of what can realistically be anticipated is important for everyone involved with this process to understand. Her positive outlook on the results and admiration for the individual is a wake up call to all who get trapped in the Frenzy.
A must read!!

As a tutor for college-age students, I think Ms. Jager-Hyman has captured the culture extremely well. On the one hand, these incredibly talented and driven students impress us with their accomplishments and maturity. On the other hand, they scare us with...their accomplishments and maturity. Ms. Jager-Hyman's book does an excellent job of introducing us to and bringing us along through this stressful year in the life of some of America's best and brightest, while along the way providing commentary from her years as an admissions officer at Dartmouth and an education PhD candidate at Harvard. It is rare to find someone who knows a field so well and yet can bring it to the public with such art and verve. It is a quick read, and a highly recommended one.

Fantastic book! This book is so well written and engaging. I felt like I really felt like I knew the students whose college application journeys were portrayed. I even cried when one of them had (his or her - don't want to give it away) dream come true. It was also beautiful to read how their views of what will make them happy in the end changed over their senior year. I hope to share this book with other parents whose children are applying to colleges. Although my own children are presently at (and also looking at)state colleges, it's such an honest and personal portayal of the pressures of senior year. I hope the author will write a follow-up to describe the pleasures and challenges of college.

I spent a most pleasurable day today reading the "book." I could not
put it down. It read like a novel, and I found myself totally
absorbed in those five youngsters' lives. I think it
is beautifully written, and I absolutely loved Ms. Jager-Hyman's digressions into
the ambiance and physical, environmental , and emotional circumstances
time and again. I loved that she could actually discern the type of
dress someone was wearing, and in the totality of the book, it was so
ameliorating to digress from the intensity of the central theme. I
felt as if I knew each of these kids.
It is again one of those books which you describe at
the end as one of the wide picture......very significant for a decent
understanding of the process, and along the way filled with little
jewels of information which are add -ons for the observant. It
reinforces many of my own ideas of the process, and finds a way to
reach out and humanize the entire process.
It is a wonderful book. I was sorry it had to end............Thanks
for writing it....all who are interested in admissions should read it
including parents, students, and guidance counselors.

I recently read The Overachievers, by Alexandra Robbins. This book is very similar in content and style, though I feel that Robbins' book was a bit more engaging. Fat Envelope Frenzy follows fewer students, and makes the revelation of who got in where much more dramatic. FEF, perhaps in an effort to be neutral, has a less personal feel to it. I really felt invested in the kids in TO, whereas I "liked" the FEF kids, but did not really have the same level of concern for them. This book is just over 200 pages, while the Robbins book is well over 400 pages, so it may just be that with more time, the feeling of personal investment grows.

The five real seniors who Jager-Hyman follows are:
Felix, a 16 year old Asian American who dreams of Harvard,
Andrew, a Catholic school boy from Louisiana who is displaced after Hurricane Katrina,
Marlene, a Hispanic girl who contemplates enrolling at the community college but shoots for the Ivies,
Lisa, a petite gymnastic champion with Olympic aspirations,
Nabil, a devout African American Muslim who is a big fish in a small pond at his high school.

All of these kids are personable and have qualities that will serve them well in college. I did get the impression that only 2-3 of them were actually strong candidates for the Ivies, and it was interesting to see how things went.

The best advice I can pull out of this for potential applicants is for them to find their passions and take action to develop in these areas. A candidate with "good test scores" but no particular demonstration of unique strengths is perhaps not a viable candidate for top tier schools. Colleges today want a well-rounded student body; not necessarily well-rounded students.

It is also very unfortunate that the cost of an education has become the stuff of nightmares. Too many excellent students are either following the money to lower tier schools that may or may not provide a superior education, or choosing tier one schools and graduating with tremendous debt.