<p>Often funny, extremely lightweight satire of college admissions, by Paula Marantz Cohen.</p>
<p>Has a couple of clunkers that anyone in CC would groan over, like the excellent GC telling the very rich boy who doesn’t want to go to the school his dad wants him to that he can declare independence and get Aid, but overall, there are some pretty funny takes on all aspects of college admissions.</p>
<p>The book is patterned on Jane Austen’s Persuasion (which the characters basically announce about halfway through in case you didn’t get it), which is my second favorite Austen novel. the romantic plot is kind of dumb, but the secondary characters are funny, with lots of fun set pieces.</p>
<p>Much of the specifics will be very familiar to CC’ers, including the girl who sued to be val and then was found to be plagiarizing, had HYP admission rescinded, and ends up in school in Europe.</p>
<p>Overall, lightweight but amusing, easy read on college admission obsession.</p>
<p>Hey, I went to Scarsdale- it’s a good school, but an overachieving haven. On the other hand, they don’t name a valedictorian, rank, or weight GPA, so at least they’re doing something to tone down the ubercompetition.</p>
<p>The hs in it is not called Scarsdale, so the author’s rendition may have little or nothing to do with your school. I think the name was mostly for recognition purposes.</p>
<p>I posted a review of this book when I read it back in the spring, (enjoyed it, too!), and got a message from the moderator accusing me of trying to “spam” this book. I didn’t even understand what that meant, but my post was removed, and I was threatened with removal. ???</p>
<p>I haven’t posted a lot, mostly on the Columbia forum where my daughter is now a freshman. It was odd, but the message basically said that there had been a lot of spam re: the book (???), and that I would be removed as a “spammer” if I posted anything else about it. I still have the message from the moderator in my box, but that was the gist of it. I thought the book was a very entertaining read as well, having just gone through the college admissions process.</p>
<p>There are a bunch of funny fictional books about the admissions process. I really enjoyed the one that focusses on NYC kindergarten and high school admissions. Anyone remember the title? And there’s another one written by someone who was at one of the NYC private schools - Fieldstone? or was it Horace Mann? I swear I am braindead this morning.</p>
<p>Got the book for Mother’s Day. Thought it was a hoot. Mathmom, you may be thinking about “Academy X,” written by a teacher at one of the independent schools in Riverdale. It was, IMHO, way over the top and of course written to sell books, not to display accuracy.</p>
<p>Maybe it was “The Ivy Chronicles” ? Then there’s another about a NYC preschool called “Class Mothers” which describes hypercompetitive turbo-charged volunteers and the quirks–like how they volunteer in front of others, but dish off the actual tasks behind the scenes.The books are funny but sad at the same time.</p>
<p>Admissions by Nancy Lieberman is the title of the book about NYC kindergarten and high school that I was thinking of. And Academy X is the other book I was thinking of. But I’ve heard of The Ivy Chronicles and believe it’s very much in the same vein.</p>
<p>I thought Jane Austen in Scarsdale was one of the more entertaining books of this genre–nice characters, pleasant love story, gracefully written–would hold its own as light fiction even for a reader with college-admissions flashbacks or current concerns.</p>