Admission's title plays off its dual meaning - "admission" being both the act of letting something in and letting something out. After well over a decade as an Ivy League college-admissions officer (first at her alma mater, Dartmouth, and then at Princeton), both of those definitions converge in one academic year for Portia Nathan.

Portia's professional life revolves around "travel season," when she visits secondary schools to give presentations to prospective Princeton applicants and answer their questions; "reading season," when the admissions staff is immersed in reviewing thousands of applicant files; and "decision season," when officers discuss and determine the fate of every single applicant in committee. During this particular travel season, one of her visits is to a new experimental school in New Hampshire, where she encounters a former Dartmouth classmate on the faculty and one unusual student who makes a special impression on her; they stay on her mind throughout her other travels, distracting her from the strain in her relationship with her long-time partner, Mark, until he shocks her to attention by an admission of his own. The total immersion of reading season gives Portia an excuse to avoid thinking about her domestic life, while contemplating the files of applicants - including that one unusual student, who turns up for a campus visit along with that faculty member - pulls her in other directions. The approach of decision season finds her being drawn back to some of her own decisions -and non-admissions - in the past, and how they got her to where she is now.

The novel mixes the nuts and bolts of the college-admissions process with Portia's story, and I thought author Jean Hanff Korelitz did this very well. Part of her research for the novel included a stint as a seasonal application reader in Princeton University's real-life Admissions Office; while some of the details may apply more at highly selective colleges than to U of State, there's a lot of interesting insight into what colleges look for from prospective students, and what they do with it. Each chapter opens with an excerpt from a college-application essay, and sketches of the applicants Portia is getting to know through the files she's reading are sprinkled throughout the novel. It's not always clear what they have to do with the main plot, but I found them engaging rather than distracting.

There are a few threads to the story that are a bit more distracting - for me, the biggest one was the sideline concerning Portia's mother Susannah. It's not irrelevant, and I understand why it's there, but it felt bigger than necessary to me. On the whole, though, this struck me as one of those books where the reader has to be patient and trust the writer; most of the elements that seem random at first really do have a place in the context of revealing Portia's character.

I have a passing familiarity with Portia's academic surroundings (I was a faculty wife in my former life with my former husband), and fiction in that setting frequently appeals to me. However, despite that, I saw this as a "domestic" novel; the suspense and drama in the story are of the everyday, character-driven variety, and much of the plot wasn't hard for me to anticipate. I like that too, though, so it wasn't a drawback. But I think one's reaction to the novel depends on how one feels about Portia, ultimately. I liked and related to her, and felt that her personal growth over the year spanned by the story was believable.

I 'm not sure that I've found a new addition to my "favorite authors" list, but I do think that Admission will turn out to be one of my favorite works of fiction this year, although I feel like I'm having trouble articulating exactly why it struck such a chord with me. I knew I wanted to read Admission as soon as I started seeing reviews of it last spring, and hearing Jean Hanff Korelitz speak on a panel at the LA Times Festival of Books just reinforced that. It was on my "waiting for the paperback" list until it became one of the first books I bought to read on my new Kindle, and I'm glad I'm not waiting to read it anymore. ( )

This is the story of Portia Nathan, an admissions officer at Princeton University. When we meet Portia, she is traveling to high schools in the Northeast, reading thousands of application essays, and making hard decisions about who will get in, who will get wait-listed, and who will get the thin envelopes with the "admission denied" letters. She lives with her long-time boyfriend Mark, a professor in the English department, and goes to dinner parties, but her work is the center of her life.

As the story unfolds through "reading season" (the time when applications are reviewed), we learn more about Portia and about the decisions she made when she was young. When past decisions come back to haunt her, she is forced to look up from the stacks of applications and focus on her own life decisions. (OK, that's really vague, but I don't want to give anything away.)

I really liked this book. Korelitz does not let her prose get in the way of the story. In Portia, she has created a character who is flawed, but ultimately likable (at least in my opinion). And although I saw the plot twists coming from way down the road, the story is engaging.

But, most of all, I am fascinated by reading about people's work lives. I'm a management professor and I research how work experiences influence people and organizations. In Admission, Korelitz reveals the ups and downs of life as an admissions officer. She worked as a part-time reader for Princeton's Office of Admission for two years while writing this book, and the book paints a very clear picture of the difficulty of the decisions that must be made. It was fascinating to read about the stories behind the envelopes that arrive in the mailboxes of high school seniors each spring.

rec'd by People mag

I enjoyed the book because the main character, a college admissions officer, uses her vantage point to speculate on the BIG questions -- what makes a worthwhile life? How do we assign value to a person? The judging involved in Portia's job is inherently interesting. However, I get the feeling that the author saved up all the deep thoughts she had of this nature while she was working in admissions in real life, then included all of them in this book. The novel could have benefitted from a bit more editing! ( )

Admission tells the story of 38 year old Portia Nathan, an admissions officer at Princeton University, who along with her colleagues decides the fate of the many hopeful teens who apply each year to Princeton University. Portia's personal story is intertwined with the admission process, from visiting high schools, through reading the applications brimming with academic and social success until the committee meetings in which the students' futures are decided upon. Portia's childhood with a radical feminist single mother is recounted and a secret from the past is first alluded to and finally revealed.

Admission drags at first, picks up a bit in the middle, and limps to an unsatisfying ending. Portia is not very sympathetic and ultimately it's hard to really care about her. The supporting characters - her mother, best friend, partner, college boyfriend - are not fully developed and fairly one dimensional, each filling a solitary role. The mother, who is described in greater detail is just not that likable. The story about the admission process was interesting though you're hit over the end with how hard the job of an admission officer is, having to sort through so many gems, maintain fairness, and deal with the fallout from alumni whose kids don't make the cut.

Admission concludes with a feel good ending that ties up all the loose strings and left me unsatisfied. ( )

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 crumble 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! ( )