The Gatekeepers: Inside the Admissions Process of a Premier College

323 Pages·2003·1.41 MB·English

by  Jacques Steinberg

*Much of the account that follows was drawn from that article.
Praise for The Gatekeepers by Jacques Steinberg
A New York Times Notable Book
“Mr. Steinberg has a sensitive style that is unflinchingly honest in portraying students’ emotional journeys,
evoking empathy in the reader…It’s testimony to the power of The Gatekeepers that each of these people
seeps into your thinking and leaves you wondering what happened to them, much as the characters in a
good novel stay with you after you finish it. I really didn’t want the book to end.”
—The New York Times
“Excellent…a gripping account…a thoroughly engrossing drama depicting how nine overworked members
of Wesleyan’s admissions office accepted roughly 1,800 applicants from almost 7,000…if you’re still
determined to seek the prize of a prestigious college, The Gatekeepers will at least prepare you for the
ordeal.”
—BusinessWeek
“A compelling human drama…Steinberg gets informants on both ends of the [admissions] process to reveal
their unlovely as well as inspiring emotions…and he presents each with empathy and dignity. The result is
riveting: One wants all involved to, if not attain their dreams, at least gain some portion of what they hope
for.”
—San Francisco Chronicle
“Impressive in its detail…[The Gatekeepers] chronicles the ins and outs of the admissions officers’ way of
building each class.”
—Chicago Tribune
“The Gatekeepers is a stunning piece of education reporting. By documenting the aspirations and anxieties
of real-life applicants as well as strategies and motives of real-life admissions officers, Jacques Steinberg
has demystified the admissions process of an elite private college in compelling fashion. The Gatekeepers
blends helpful information with engaging—even suspenseful—storytelling. He describes a distinctly
American rite of passage that turns out to be more reasonable than most applicants and parents fear—but far
more complex and idiosyncratic than colleges would have us believe.”
—Edward B. Fiske, editor of The Fiske Guide to Colleges and coauthor, with Bruce Hammond, of
The Fiske Guide to Getting into the Right College
“Jacques Steinberg’s book is an absolutely fascinating inside look at how some of our most prestigious
colleges and universities determine their admissions. It’s an engrossing narrative and, while the author’s
voice is not judgmental, he leaves us with some very searching questions as to how our nation’s
meritocracy is actually shaped by personal decisions and connections and by all-too-human interventions—
and whether, for these reasons, it is actually a ‘meritocracy’ at all.”
—Jonathan Kozol, author of Amazing Grace
“The Gatekeepers is an intimate, compassionate and piercingly candid portrait of how America selects it
elite. The human stories that Jacques Steinberg unfolds are both uplifting and cautionary, for they show the
almost unbearable pressures at work in the admissions process of one outstanding university. If you want to
know what it means to play God in contemporary America, read this book.”
—Samuel G. Freedman, author of Small Victories and Jew vs. Jew
“Whether you are the parent of three teenagers or simply curious about the college admissions sweepstakes,
you will find The Gatekeepers an absorbing read.”
—Howard Gardner, author of Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences and Intelligence
Reframed: Multiple Intelligences for the 21st Century
“Jacques Steinberg establishes himself as a superb journalist with his honest and absorbing account of the
college admissions process. With great skill and insight, he describes the meritocratic choices that colleges
make as gatekeepers to the American dream of higher education.”
—James O. Freedman, President Emeritus, Dartmouth College
PENGUIN BOOKS
THE GATEKEEPERS
Jacques Steinberg has been a staff reporter for The New York Times for more
than ten years and currently is a national education correspondent. In 1998, he
was awarded the grand prize of the Education Writers Association for his nine-
part series on a third-grade classroom on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. He lives
in New York with his wife and children.
THE GATEKEEPERS
Inside the Admissions Process of a Premier College
JACQUES STEINBERG
PENGUIN BOOKS
For Sharon,
who said, Yes!
and
In memory of Karen Avenoso,
who taught me so much
PENGUIN BOOKS
Published by the Penguin Group
Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, U.S.A.
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Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices:
80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
First published in the United States of America by Viking Penguin, a member of Penguin Putnam Inc. 2002
Published in Penguin Books 2003
Copyright © Jack Steinberg, 2002
All rights reserved
THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS HAS CATALOGED
:
THE HARDCOVER EDITION AS FOLLOWS
Steinberg, Jacques.
The gatekeepers: inside the admissions process of a premier college / Jacques Steinberg.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN: 978-1-1012-0031-5
1. Universities and colleges—United States—Admission—Case studies.
2. Wesleyan University (Middletown, Conn.)—Admission. I. Title.
LB2351.2.S72 2002
378.1'61—dc21 2002016884
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