by Jacques Steinberg
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| List Price: | $15.00 |
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| Lowest New Price: | $7.70 |
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Product Description
In the fall of 1999, New York Times education reporter Jacques Steinberg was given an unprecedented opportunity to observe the admissions process at prestigious Wesleyan University. Over the course of nearly a year, Steinberg accompanied admissions officer Ralph Figueroa on a tour to assess and recruit the most promising students in the country. The Gatekeepers follows a diverse group of prospective students as they compete for places in the nation's most elite colleges. The first book to reveal the college admission process in such behind-the-scenes detail, The Gatekeepers will be required reading for every parent of a high school-age child and for every student facing the arduous and anxious task of applying to college.
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Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 Interesting viewpoints..., 2008-07-19
Once I began reading this book, I couldn't put it down. I should also admit that I am a college counselor to high school students. This book was interesting to read because of the different viewpoints the reader got. The Gatekeepers doesn't just provide insight into how an admission counselor does his or her job, it offered the perspectives of everyone - students, high school counselors, other admission officers, directors of admission and even college presidents. I think The Gatekeepers effectively demonstrated which aspects of an application are under one's control, and that some simply are not. The ending was satisfying, because one was able to hear about where each student enrolled, and how his or her college years unfolded.
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
 Boring book about boring job., 2008-04-07
Boring book about a boring job. Another article stretched out into a book. Still in all well-researched and obviously appeals to some.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
For genuine insight, read this book, 2008-02-27
Excellent book. I have been an admissions consultant for over ten years. When parents or applicants ask me what they should read to understand the process, I recommend this book.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
 The Premium on Private High Schools, 2007-12-12
This book paints a disturbing picture of the admissions process. I fingered through this book when I was applying to Wesleyan several years ago; recently, I read the book in its entirety as a college graduate from a similarly prestigious university. As a student who attended an average public high school, I was shocked to see the insane premium placed on obtaining students from elite private high schools (even students with quite mediocre grades and SAT's). I was, quite frankly, angered to see the pull that admissions officers allowed guidance counselors from private schools to have in the admissions process, and disturbed to see the preference given to pampered, wealthy children from a college claiming to value diversity. Goodness gracious-- affirmative action and racial/ethnic diversity right past (and current) wrongs and enable a broader perspective in the classroom. But denying middleclass students with good grades and high SAT's in favor of admitting mediocre students from private high schools to avoid harming the relationship with those "feeder" schools? Give me a break. (And read this book!)
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
Great information for non-college educated parents, 2007-04-07
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and found it most helpful. Having no experience with the college admissions process, my husband and I felt somewhat lost in preparing our children for what would be required and/or expected by top colleges. The book gives insight into many scenarios, the brightest, the challenged, those who haven't given their best effort...and those, like our children, who were first generation. I was encouraged to read that admissions counselors consider non-college educated parents in regard to a students lower SAT scores. Although our kids both fell well within the top 10% in class rankings with highly rigorous courses of study, their SAT scores were not as impressive as their peers (who all seemed to have college educated parents). With so much pressure to perform on the SATs we were initially alarmed that our kids wouldn't get into the universities of their choice. After reading through an admission counselor's thought process as he considered an application I felt more confident that our children would be afforded a fair hearing based on so much more than their test scores. I am deeply appreciative for Mr. Steinberg's success at giving a realistic look at the process and for Wesleyan's and the many students' willingness to allow a viewing into a private area of their lives. I recommend that parents read this early in their children's high school years and buy it as a gift for their high school counselors if they haven't yet read it.
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