I received Admission from LibraryThing's Early Review program and was excited about reading it based on some very good reviews I'd read on other blogs. Once it arrived, though, it fell to the same unfortunate fate as so many books and languished on my shelf for way too long. Once I picked it up I got into the story quickly, and wished I'd started it sooner.

I never gave much thought to the college admission procedure, but I loved reading about it. The process is complex and wonderfully interesting. The admission officers have a tough, but very rewarding job, and I found the behind the scenes information fascinating.

Portia has her history with an old boyfriend hanging over her head, and this is hinted at throughout the book. The situation isn't revealed until about 3/4 of the way through the book, and I found it to be a little unneeded. At this point in the book I was already invested in the characters and happy with where the story was going without this 'twist'.

Overall, Admission is a fascinating story, if a little wordy. For me, the book could have been shorted considerably and not lost any of its appeal. The same arguments about which students should get into Princeton popped up multiple times, and I could have done without the third or fourth rehashing of this issue. But, even with the length, I would still recommend Admission. ( )

Interesting story set against the issue of admission to a Ivy League university. Liked the main character. Worth reading. Will be on my best book of 2009.

I've seen a number of other reviewers suggest that Admission is overly long, but I would have to disagree. I purchased this for my Kindle so had no real idea how long it was until I added here (although with 8000+ locations I certainly knew it wasn't short). I finished it in less than a day.

The novel is about the life of a Princeton admission officer. The first half is primarily about admissions and what that entails, and the second half about Portia's life.

For my part I found the first part to be most interesting. I particularly enjoyed the sample essays that began each chapter ( )

Portia is a still young woman who works in the Admissions office for Princeton. After spending the first part of her career working with students on the West Coast, this is her first admissions season at home in the Northeast. Portia has a long term live-in boyfriend and an extremely distant relationship with her “crunchy-granola” feminist mother. It quickly becomes clear that her life has no direction. She isn’t moving forward in her relationship or in her career, and this may all be related to unresolved issues she has from her college years and her childhood. It isn’t until she is forced to look at her life through a chance encounter and an unnerving revelation from her boyfriend, Portia would have stayed exactly where she was. Now that she's forced to come to terms with the past and the present, she needs to decide what is most important to her.

I was very excited to read this book after listening to the author's Blog Talk Radio interview and because I was reading it along with Laura from I'm Booking It. We used Twitter to hold a mini book club meeting. I wish it had been a better novel. I stopped really caring if things worked out alright for Portia at just over half way mark. It was a long novel and Portia's continual analysis of the minutia of her life drove me crazy. I skimmed the rest of the book. I would have stopped reading it if it weren't for the discussion with Laura. It was a "meh" read for her as well, but for different reasons. Laura wanted more about the admissions process while I wanted out of Portia's head and into her life. Laura was much quicker on the draw than I was to write her review. It says it better than I can. The first sentence of Laura's review says it all:

"My biggest problem with this novel is that I kept wishing it was a different book." ( )

Admission is an extraordinarily well researched book about the frenzied sequence of events prerequisite to that sacred letter of acceptance from THE College of one’s choice. This book was quite the education in starting infants on the right track to commander not only the best college, but also providing access to acceptable associations to deliver entrée into the preeminent circles of life.

Portia Nathan, an admission representative for Princeton travels throughout the Northeast to ferret out the best of the current crop of high school students upon whom to bestow the promise of a ticket to Princeton. A paper trail of SAT’s, extracurricular achievements, letters of recommendation, and parental subterfuge cram each student’s folder. Apprehensively, the indispensable essay dominates the paper pile, and the weighted folder awaits the first reader’s assessment. The process continues as the folder passes to the second reader, and on to the selection committee for discussion and final determination.

Lest we lapse into a coma, Korelitz is kind enough to include sub-plots, which reveal the undercurrents within Portia’s seemingly stable life, which crumbles under the weight of a portentous secret. While I was not surprised at the daily strictures today’s high school students endure, not only at school, but also at home, I am grateful such mechanics were not the standard during my college application days. ( )

Admission was very well written however it ended up being a very slow read for me. The story focuses on Portia, an Ivy league admissions officer and her personal problems and her job. I just lost interest over and over throughout the book. It actually took me nearly three months to read, even though I was fairly eager in the beginning to read it.

I felt like I was gazing into a snow globe and trying to ascertain more about the main character, Portia. I could see that she was somewhat detached from her life but I could never get inside her head. If you enjoy books that focus solely on the life on one person and their issues, this will be a good read for you. ( )

Admission is a fascinating read. I really had no clue what the Ivy League admission process entailed--as I went to a state university. Portia's tale is highly compelling--even though she is not at all a likable character. She is highly neurotic and one has trouble understanding why she makes the choices that she makes. Portia spends much of the book locked off from everyone around her. The book examines her relationship to two lovers, her mother, her mother's ward, and the institution with which she works. The book carefully unfolds, revealing Portia's very shocking secret and why she is the way that she is. I highly recommend this book--it is a somewhat long book, but worth it in the end. My only nitpick would be that I don't really understand why John finds her such a compelling character. ( )

I found "Admission" to be a compelling read -- a fascinating look into the Ivy League admission process, the relationship between a mother and her daughter, the difficulties of growing older, the impact of decades of guilt. Portia, the main character, is not particularly likeable, and that is what makes Korelitz's novel all the better, as you continue to read about all of her neuroses, triumphs, and mistakes. ( )

i received this book as part of the Early Reviewers program and finally finished it all these months later. I enjoyed the book and its look into the admissions process, made more credible by the author's experience reading applications for Princeton, the setting of the novel. I especially liked how she began each chapter with a little snippet of an imagined college application essay.

Portia, the protagonist, isn't a particularly sympathetic or appealing character; she is very absorbed in her work in admissions and her "work" of keeping others at arms length. We're told early on that she has a secret in her past. The direction Portia's personal story was going in was a bit predictable and not terribly believable, in contrast to the author's writing style which is quite compelling and absorbing. Her final "admission" of the secret to her former partner gives one hope that she will continue to open up about her life, but I felt it would have been more satisfying if she also made a personal admission about her actions in her work. ( )

I agree with other reviewer who say the story falls a bit flat, but I found this novel engaging because I was interested in the application process. ( )

This book was interesting for the most part. Yet, I wasn't really sure where the story was going. The admissions aspect was what made me request this, but there was just a little too much of that in the book. On the up side, the writing is snappy and flows well. My problem is that once I put it down it was hard to pick up again. I had lost a feel for the characters. My advice is if you pick it up, don't put it down again until you're finished. ( )

This novel goes beyond the admissions process of an Ivy league college. This is the story that delves into admissions--both the process to be admitted into a college and the act of telling the truth. The storyline was rather predictable. The main character is less than frank in every personal relationship in her life. From the start we realize that she has experienced something in her past that she has revealed to no one, making it easier for us to piece together her background story before the author has to reveal it to us. After a leisurely though steady pace, the ending felt rushed with too many loose ends. Not to say a sequel or a longer work of fiction would have been more appropriate, but perhaps the story of Portia's relationship with her mom, her reaction to caring for a newborn, her new role of mother and whether she tells those people in her life the story of her past, etc. would make for a more compelling novel. ( )

I think this book would be much more compelling if the author spent less time having the main character contemplate the ironic complexities of admission to Princeton and more time developing other aspects of the novel--the plot, for example. At page 163, I realized that I knew a lot of elite college admissions, the character's thoughts about elite college admissions. Unfortunately, I also realized that the character wasn't actually doing anything. Yes, things were happening in relation to the main character, but her reactions were so languid and passe that I was bored. I really just didn't care about the character or her story.

This novel came highly recommended so I was disappointed that I failed to find it charming or interesting. ( )

Portia is a work-a-holic who buried herself in her work as an admissions officer at Princeton at the cost of all of her personal relationships. She is estrangered from her 1970's hippie mom, now in her 60's, who cannot understand what happened to the relationship she had with her daughter. Her long-term live-in boyfriend has left her to father a child with a near-stranger. She is ignoring a man from Maine who is pursuing her romantically, even though she is attracted to him. She has, instead of living a full and rich life, lost herself in the lives of 17-year-olds who want to go to Princeton. Ultimately, the secret she has kept for 17 years is revealed, and the reader gets a small glimmer of understanding as to why Portia has behaves as she has done.

I found the book to be overly long. There are endlessly descriptions of Princeton applicants, their obsessiveness, their neediness. There is a long and complex telling of Portia's secret. There are multiple backstories happening, some that seem to have no really strong purpose. 100 pages of editing-out would have made this a much better story. As it was, I kept falling asleep as I was trying to read it, as so many pages seemed so much like every other one. I came away feeling unsatisfied with the tale's conclusion. ( )

There’s a story inside the novel Admission, but sometimes it’s hard to find. This is really two books, one the story of an admissions officer at Princeton University and the other an overview and defense of the admissions process at highly selective Ivy League schools. And therein lies the problem…is this a novel or another book on how the admissions process works?

If you’re looking for the novel, the story centers on Portia Nathan, admissions officer at Princeton and previously at Dartmouth. A graduate of Dartmouth, she fell into admissions work after she graduated because she didn’t know what else to do. Now thirty-eight, she’s involved in a long-term relationship that hasn’t ever become marriage and she’s obsessed with her job and the lives of the thousands of applicants who cross her desk. Her significant other leaves her, she crashes, and ultimately we discover the secret of her past that has left her so rootless. She meets someone else, another connection to her past, and then there’s an amazing coincidence that leads her to betray the very system she has defended so vigorously.

Does this story need to be told in 450 pages? No, but the book also includes lengthy discussions of the stresses of the whole college admissions process. Korelitz, herself a reader of applications for Princeton for one season, actively defends the system through the voice of Portia Nathan and personifies the agony of the admissions officer. But frankly a little of this goes a long way. We hear Portia in debate with every type of character from anxious mother to rebellious teenager. And she provides dozens and dozens of examples of different students and their backgrounds and why they should or shouldn’t be accepted. For those of us who have been through the admissions process in recent years, either as applicants or as parents of applicants, it just becomes too much.

What was most frustrating was that all the admissions-talk got in the way of the story. I wanted to find out about Portia and her secret but it was buried in the defense of the admissions process. The more Portia felt the need to defend her work the less I liked her. In fact, by the end I would have advised any high school senior I know to simply stay away from Princeton and the Ivy League schools. ( )

Admission is the story of Portia, a Princeton admissions officer, who struggles daily with the responsibility of deciding who will be allowed to attend Princeton and who will not. She is utterly wrapped up in her applicants, elated for the underprivileged who she knows will thrive at the school, and heartbroken for the legacy kids who won't make it. She is passionate about the selection process, vehemently defending it to angry parents and even to her own cynical mother. All of this presents a unique and interesting view into the college application and acceptance process with many well researched details. It is not until well into the book that we begin to learn that Portia's focus and passion for her job are covering up some dark secrets from her past.

I really enjoyed this book! The unusual setting and plot device held my attention and drew me into a world I had not even contemplated before. I could have done with one or two fewer rants about how extremely difficult it is to say no to qualified applicants, but the interesting, likeable characters and beautiful ending made it all worthwhile. ( )

"Admission? Aren't there two sides to the word? ... It's what we let in but it's also what we let out."

Admission, by Jean Hanff Korelitz is a fascinating look at the admission process at an Ivy League university through the eyes of Portia, an admissions officer. It is also a compelling portrait of Portia - the secret she has harbored for years, has difficulty admitting even to herself, and the way her secret has informed every aspect of her life and her relationships.

Admission is an excellent, engrossing journey that is not to be missed! ( )

I know some have said that this book was a bit too wordy and dense. There are times in your life when you want to get deeply into a very dense book. I am in just such a time now where I needed to be very involved in Portia's story. That is really what this book is about at its inner core. All of the details of the admission process can be read in many non-fiction books written on the subject. After all, in the book Portia states that every admissions person who leaves the profession writes a book!
Portia's story is one of buried guilt and all the ramifications it had on her adult life. In a life is stranger than fiction storyline Portia has a chance to come face to face with her past and redeem her life. Of this I was glad that the author did not rely on the popular True Confessions magazines of old endings....a life ruined forever. ( )

Portia Nathan has been an admissions officer for Princeton University for about a decade. Before that, she worked in admissions at her alma mater, Dartmouth. In her current position, she visits high schools in the spring throughout the northeast, telling rising seniors why they should consider applying to Princeton. Then she spends the fall and winter going through their application folders deciding who should be admitted and who should be denied. It’s a heartbreaking job, having to say no to so many incredible young adults, but she seems to love working with her fellow admissions officers to find the perfect mix of students to create an intelligent and inspired incoming class.

While visiting a new, somewhat experimental school called Quest, she meets one of the teachers, John Halsey, who tells her he is an old college classmate of hers. He remembers her but she does not remember him. Several of the students at Quest intrigue her. They are very different from students at the more traditional high schools. One student is Jeremiah Balakian. Jeremiah seems incredibly intelligent, but his grades are poor because he has not followed the prescribed path to academic success; he has taught himself by reading – and reading thoroughly -- whatever subjects appeal to him at the time. She knows that if he were to apply to Princeton, his transcripts would pose a big problem.

Portia and John Halsey spend the night together, but she does not expect to see him again, at least not romantically. She then goes home to Mark, an English professor with whom she’s been living for sixteen years.

Over the course of the year, her domestic life sours. Problems with Mark come to the surface, and her exuberant mother, almost in her seventies, announces that she has taken in a pregnant teenager, telling the young woman that she will care for the baby once the baby is born. Portia is appalled. When John Halsey and Jeremiah Balakian reappear in the winter, Portia makes some life-changing decisions.

Throughout the novel, it becomes clear to the reader that Portia has a secret she’s been hiding for years. We’re not sure what it is at first, and when we begin to realize it, we still don’t know at first how it affected her. How she reacted – the choices she made and how those choices shaped her life – affected me quite a bit, though I realize it won’t have the same effect on all readers. I liked this novel a lot. It’s long and full of details about the admissions process at Ivy League colleges. Such detail may not appeal to some readers, but I felt it enhanced the basic storyline and was fascinating to read. ( )

Quite a book---both in length and detail! I thoroughly enjoyed the pieces of application forms added at the beginnings of the chapters. The story behind the story made me exhausted for Portia. Decisions have so many unintended consequences, both good and bad and this was a fascinating description of one person's initial decision and what followed and essentially controlled the rest of her life. It would be an entirely different story for each and every person, no matter what the decision so I guess that could stop us all in our tracks as we look at the "two roads diverged in a yellow woods" conundrum when we are facing any decision.
I am adding a comment after just finishing two more of her books---I am so impressed with her writing because each of the novels is so completely different!! Creativity at its best! ( )

I enjoyed Jean Hanff Korelitz's "The White Rose" immensely, and was equally intrigued by the college setting and plot premise of this book. And because I do enjoy her writing and have enormous respect for the earnestness with which she researched and portrays the college admission process, I was captivated by those portions of the book dealing with Portia's professional life. There came a point however, about midway into the book, where the growing cast of stereotypical characters and wildly improbable plot twists sank this from a 5-star to a less enthusiastic 3-star review. Susannah, a mother so wrapped up in saving the world that she's oblivious to her own daughter's plight. John Halsey, the sensitive, well-bred, but oh-so-well-meaning amd sexy former Dartmouth classmate with whom Portia is reunited on her visit to the Quest School. And so on. And Portia has a secret - we know that early on, as it is referred to in vague references when she meets John, and It surfaces again with growing glints of clarity as the novel progresses, finally bursting forth like the penultimate episode of a Lifetime melodrama. My empathy for Portia evaporated at that point, and I finished the book feeling angry and annoyed with the implausible plot line and tidy feel-good denouement. ( )

I honestly did not know what to expect from this book when I started reading it. I received it through Library Thing’s Early Reviewer Program. I just knew it sounded like an interesting book that I wanted to read. My first impression was definitely correct. From the first page of Admission, I was hooked.

Portia is a woman who thinks her life is just fine until one decision shakes up everything in her life. At that point she begins to question all that she has done as she has coasted through her life for almost 20 years. I found Portia a likeable character. I cared about her and wanted her to sort out her life. I also saw some of me in Portia. Don’t we all just sort of accept things and coast through our lives? As Portia works through her life I found myself turning the pages and wanted to know more about her. I didn’t always agree with decisions she made, but I never reached a point where I didn’t care about her.

The backdrop of Princeton admissions was very interesting and I loved the insight into the process that was throughout the book. I also enjoyed the other characters introduced and the setting of the Northeast and the Ivy League colleges. Growing up in the south, this book was a lovely look into the northeast for me.

This book is wonderful and I will definitely be checking out Jean Hanff Korelitz’s backlist (The White Rose, The Sabbathday River, and A Jury of Her Peers). I hate making comparisons to other authors because I truly believe each author is an individual and while their works are similar to other authors, they have their own way of writing and creating the characters. That said, if you like the type of books that Anita Shreve and Jodi Picoult write, I think you will like Jean Hanff Korelitz’s Admission. It has that serious tone (though there are some pretty funny moments) and a very real-life feel.

I can’t recommend this book enough and I am thrilled to have had a chance to read it. ( )

This book engaged me totally from the first chapter. I worked at university in the same building as the admissions offfice, so I am familiar with the rigors and joys of that office. I also remember gaggles of prospective students on campus tours with anxious parents in tow. Admission captured all of the excitement, angst and hope of adolescents making application to Princeton. It is extremely well researched and written. Anyone who has ever applied to a college or university or had a child who made application will be immediately drawn into this fascinating novel. Paragraphs from fictional essays that head each chapter will make every reader remember his or her diffficult struggle to find just the right experience to capture the attention of the admissions office.

Portia is an admissions officer at Princeton sharing a home and a long-term relationship with an English professor. Her assignment is to cover the northeast to recruit students and answer their questions about Princeton. She is a fiercely independent and private person with the loneliness that often accompanies those personality characteristics. Her past and present collide on a recruiting trip to New Hampshire, and the novel evolves very cleverly from there.

I haven't read Korelitz's previous novels, but plan to do so. I haven't been this impressed with an author in a very long time. ( )

A few years ago I read Sabbathday River by Jane Hanff Korelitz and while the ending didn’t quite sit well with me I nevertheless really liked the book and have recommended it to friends. So I was looking forward to reading Admission by the same author.

The topic is not one I’ve encountered before: it’s the story of an admissions officer for Princeton University. Portia Nathan visits high school seniors around the United States and describes the benefits of a Princeton education. Once the applications start flooding in the following winter, Portia, one of several admission officers, goes through the ones from her territory. The process of admission is described in great detail throughout the book in several different ways. As Portia’s story is told we see her progress through the applications, and when she is questioned about the criteria for choosing which students are accepted we see the philosophy behind the admissions. Integrity must be absolute for an admissions officer; they must have good reasons and use good reasoning in choosing who gets to go and who is passed by. More than once Portia’s qualifications for the job are questioned – she after all did not graduate from Princeton but from Dartmouth. Also, she sort of fell into the job – she wasn’t exactly trained for it. Despite that, she loves what she does and enjoys the kids she meets on her school visits.

Knowing how Sabbathday River played out I was expecting a surprise to come out of Portia’s story and I wasn’t disappointed. I won’t say more about that but the story does tie together with Portia’s character, what she does and how she has conducted her life.

For the most part I enjoyed Admission. It was well written and depicts a fascinating process that I’d never even thought about before. I don’t know if the same procedure for choosing students occurs where I live; but can it be so different? Applications have to be read by someone. I liked the story line too. It presents inner conflict in an intelligent and subtle way. Where it didn’t go well for me was the length of the story. I think it should have been shorter and included a bit less self-reflection by the main character. And I do really mean just a bit less since I like to know how a character comes to decisions and what makes them tick. But I think in Admission that self-reflection became circular and the same issues were re-visited a bit too much. Those bits were repetitive and boring. Fortunately there weren’t too many.

Despite these few disappointing aspects, I enjoyed Admission. Though it was not as good for me as Sabbathday River, but I can definitely see the appeal in a book like this especially for people who have been through an admission process at a an ivy league university. ( )

Admission offers the reader an in-depth look at the college admissions process, from the perspective of an admissions officer at Princeton University. Portia, in her late thirties, is in the midst of college admissions season when she is forced to grapple with several personal issues, including one from her past that might affect her professional life.

I liked the insight this novel gave me into the college admissions process. I work with grade 12 students, and found the insight into what makes a college application successful fascinating. In particular, I liked the little snippets of information from various applicants at the beginning of each chapter – how much one can tell from just a few sentences! I also liked the way in which various facets of Portia’s life were revealed to the reader, one by one, and felt that Korelitz had created a very believable character. I have recommended this book to colleagues who also work with students preparing for college, and hope they find it as insightful as I did! ( )