Where You Go Is Not Who You'll Be: An Antidote to the College Admissions Mania Paperback – March 8, 2016

Written in a malcolm gladwell style with many stories. Really a must read for any parent with a high schooler.

As the parent of a high school senior about to go off to college and having to make a smart choice as to where to go, I found this book incredibly timely. It sends a message I thought I knew yet need to hear again and again: that for some reason we value the brand name of a university, the "elite factor," much higher than it should be valued if we rationally looked at all the factors important in school choice.Frank Bruni is so talented in getting this message across. He presents us with dozens of resumes of well-known people we admire who went to what he calls the "unsung" alma maters. Howard Schultz, Chris Christie, Condoleeza Rice, and Christiane Amanpour get a mention, among many many more. He shows, again and again, how countless success stories are forged by such things as hard work, a winding instead of a straight path, often one littered with obstacles and setbacks, and by an intense focus and passion that comes from within.Bruni also takes apart the U.S. News and World Report college ranking that has risen to bible status yet is a very faulty predictor of university excellence at best, putting way too much weight on selectivity and admission counselors' opinions and giving rise to myriad ways universities can game the system to improve their rank. He reveals some fascinating studies linking later success not only with average SAT scores at schools attended but at schools one was rejected from, which sort of turns selectivity on its head, if you think about it.He also points out the dangers of exerting all this pressure on our kids from the seventh grade onwards, all geared to setting them on the path to greatness as defined by which college they get into. "My fear is that these kids are always going to be evaluating their self-worth in terms of whether they hit the next rung society has placed in front of them at exactly the time that society has placed it." Let alone the fact that we might create "contrived mannequins" who assemble their record and even their life in a way they think pleases an admissions office at an elite school rather than pursuing their interests and passions.There is one caveat: If by reading this book you're looking for absolute proof that an elite school isn't necessary for your success, especially if you define success by one day running a Fortune 500 company, you won't find it. In fact, the numbers presented show rather the opposite. Yes, not the majority of top CEOs come from Ivy League schools, but a large enough number do, so as to overrepresent these schools substantially when compared to the total number of alumni produced. This book isn't about numbers, it's about how we value education: by the label that society places on it, or by what learning we ultimately get out of it?Bruni's book is really just an extensive collection of essays on the topic of college admissions, a bit in the style of Malcolm Gladwell (though not as suspenseful). But they are nonetheless excellent essays full of information and thought-provoking tenets, and they are woven together seamlessly by Bruni's talented hand. If you're not in the college admissions game, you might skip this book. But if you are, you should not proceed without it.

Let me start this review saying this: everything in this book is fairly accurate, or at the very least, I agree with most everything presented in this book. I am a big believer in higher education, but I definitely believe that Ivy League schools like Harvard, Yale, etc. are completely overrated. Anyone who strives to be an Ivy Leaguer is simply looking for prestige over education.Is a degree from Ivy League U. equal to a Large State U.? Probably not, unfortunately. Elite schools do attract elite professors and crazy rich alumni which give Ivy League students more opportunities.Should the same degree from one university be valued higher than another? It shouldn’t. The problem here, apparently, is we value the location of the degree over the work put into a degree.Who is at fault for this? Practically everyone. Students, parents, faculty, administrators, politicians, and the like are all guilty of erroneously valuing the credibility of a college degree.But, if you are a student or a parent going into the college admissions process, here’s one word of advice: relax. Find a college that fits, don’t try to fit the college. You will be happier and more successful that way. Do not look at college rankings (they are mostly bogus, misleading, and useless). Do not look at exclusivity (elite colleges explicitly attempt to increase the number of applicants, not to increase the quality of their applicant pool but to increase their image). Students are going to do better in an environment that support them and challenge them properly.Frank Bruni said it best in this book when he said, “How you use college. What you demand of it. They dynamics get lost in the admissions mania…But their importance is vividly underscored by the histories of just about every successful person interviewed for this book.”Now that I have said all that, here comes my minor criticism: there is not enough information here to fill a whole book. This book is a well-researched, thought-out, and written article that was stretched over two hundred slogging pages. I know that this may be my own fault, many of the books Bruni cites or mentions are already in my personal library, so reading this book was kind of overkill for me. There is no information here for me, but being a higher education nerd that’s not a fair criticism. If someone was wrapped up in the mania of college admissions, I don’t think this book would change their mind. Perhaps it will open their minds a little, but I don’t think it’s going to change anyone’s world.So to sum up: find your space at your college. Stop expecting college to be the “everything” for you.

I wish I had read this book before my rising senior started looking at colleges. And wish she would read it now. Tells you what we already know but ignore. There are numerous paths to success (however you define it), and you don’t need to go to an elite/super expensive school to achieve even extraordinary success. Nor should you engage in the related businesses that profit off of the college craze (tutors, private college counselors, etc.)If I had to do it all over again, I would have drilled into my child’s head that she should go to the outstanding state school and not the most elite school that she gets admitted to. When you have a beyond brilliant child who has done everything right to get into a top school, you feel (justifiably) that they’ve earned a right to go to whatever school they get admitted to. But at what cost and in the end does it matter? The takeaway in this book is that passion and hard work are more likely to lead to success/happiness than a diploma from an elite college. (But read the book so these concepts get drilled into your and your child’s head.)