Acceptance: A Legendary Guidance Counselor Helps Seven Kids Find the Right Colleges – and Find Themselves
By David L. Marcus; Penguin Press, 2009; 244 p. $29.95
I gotta come clean: I know David L. Marcus, the author of Acceptance. Known him for years, in fact, since he went to college with my husband. Back in the day, Marcus (as I’ve always known him) helped Chris score a job at the Miami Herald. He was at my wedding and our son and his appeared within three days of each other, albeit on opposite coasts. He’s a great guy and an accomplished journalist. Still, his shameless self-promotion of his new book bordered on annoying. Didn’t the school I worked for want him to come speak? Wouldn’t I like to look at the YouTube vid of his gig at a Long Island bookstore? Could I give him names of folks at other Bay Area college prep schools? Why didn’t I list his book on my “What I’m Reading…” email signature line?
When I noted that I write book reviews and might be able to place one for Acceptance somewhere – it was partially in hopes of ending the stream of email from (I’m not kidding) bookdave. A few days later, when the FedEx package arrived – I sighed. And sighed again when I picked it up later that evening, looked longingly at my stack of higher-priority reading, and thought, “Okay, I said I would, so I guess I will.” It was already pretty late and I fully expected to fall asleep by page four.
Have I made this predictable enough?
A hundred pages later – and only because a windstorm took out the electricity – I forced myself to put down the riveting tale of seven high school seniors, their guidance counselor, and their paths through the college application process. Part how-to book and part window into the world of real teens and their anxious families, Acceptance stimulates worthwhile reflection upon the concepts of “brand” and “fit” in the life-shaping process of finding the right college.
Gwyeth (rhymes with faith) Smith, aka Smitty, developed such a reputation that ambitious parents migrated to his Long Island public high school district in the hope that their kid would draw him as their college counselor. Acceptance recounts Smitty’s final year before retirement. Outwardly, his highly successful college placement stats indicate Smitty has figured out the magic formula for getting his kids in. In reality, however, Smitty’s philosophy has very little to do with numbers, as Marcus demonstrates through his focus upon the lives of Lee, Chelsea, Allyson, Jeff, Riana, Layla and Nathaniel.
Part of the charm of Acceptance is the frankness with which Marcus approaches these seven kooky, talented, arrogant, brilliant, lazy, creative, athletic, and/or average teens. I found myself rooting for some and sneering at the conceit of others, but desperate to find out where they all landed come May. Where would Jeff, the good-but-not-scholarship-material athlete with the C+ average heading into senior year, end up? How about Lee, the Korean-American with excellent grades, plenty of parental pressure and an attitude? Will highly creative Chelsea ignore the flash of a big university in favor of a perfect fit?
Smitty, too, pulls no punches with the kids or their parents and appreciates college admissions officers who do the same. He’s got a boatload of insight into what goes on behind their office doors – and the book is worth the read if only for that. But you’d be missing the main point. Smitty’s philosophy challenges the kids to subvert the metrics of the college admission game rather than play along. In doing so, they can win and win big. The larger message of Acceptance is this: Approach touring campuses, writing essays, making deadlines and taking standardized exams as a process of self-discovery, and the college acceptance part will take care of itself.
Marcus’s account of the journey to Acceptance is revelatory, and as a good a page turner as Dan Brown’s latest. You’ll find no secret codes here (or maybe you will; reread Acceptance before settling on that application essay topic) but its humanizing of a daunting process offers a path to discovery all its own. Highly recommended for teens and parents alike.
By David L. Marcus; Penguin Press, 2009; 244 p. $29.95
I gotta come clean: I know David L. Marcus, the author of Acceptance. Known him for years, in fact, since he went to college with my husband. Back in the day, Marcus (as I’ve always known him) helped Chris score a job at the Miami Herald. He was at my wedding and our son and his appeared within three days of each other, albeit on opposite coasts. He’s a great guy and an accomplished journalist. Still, his shameless self-promotion of his new book bordered on annoying. Didn’t the school I worked for want him to come speak? Wouldn’t I like to look at the YouTube vid of his gig at a Long Island bookstore? Could I give him names of folks at other Bay Area college prep schools? Why didn’t I list his book on my “What I’m Reading…” email signature line?
When I noted that I write book reviews and might be able to place one for Acceptance somewhere – it was partially in hopes of ending the stream of email from (I’m not kidding) bookdave. A few days later, when the FedEx package arrived – I sighed. And sighed again when I picked it up later that evening, looked longingly at my stack of higher-priority reading, and thought, “Okay, I said I would, so I guess I will.” It was already pretty late and I fully expected to fall asleep by page four.
Have I made this predictable enough?
A hundred pages later – and only because a windstorm took out the electricity – I forced myself to put down the riveting tale of seven high school seniors, their guidance counselor, and their paths through the college application process. Part how-to book and part window into the world of real teens and their anxious families, Acceptance stimulates worthwhile reflection upon the concepts of “brand” and “fit” in the life-shaping process of finding the right college.
Gwyeth (rhymes with faith) Smith, aka Smitty, developed such a reputation that ambitious parents migrated to his Long Island public high school district in the hope that their kid would draw him as their college counselor. Acceptance recounts Smitty’s final year before retirement. Outwardly, his highly successful college placement stats indicate Smitty has figured out the magic formula for getting his kids in. In reality, however, Smitty’s philosophy has very little to do with numbers, as Marcus demonstrates through his focus upon the lives of Lee, Chelsea, Allyson, Jeff, Riana, Layla and Nathaniel.
Part of the charm of Acceptance is the frankness with which Marcus approaches these seven kooky, talented, arrogant, brilliant, lazy, creative, athletic, and/or average teens. I found myself rooting for some and sneering at the conceit of others, but desperate to find out where they all landed come May. Where would Jeff, the good-but-not-scholarship-material athlete with the C+ average heading into senior year, end up? How about Lee, the Korean-American with excellent grades, plenty of parental pressure and an attitude? Will highly creative Chelsea ignore the flash of a big university in favor of a perfect fit?
Smitty, too, pulls no punches with the kids or their parents and appreciates college admissions officers who do the same. He’s got a boatload of insight into what goes on behind their office doors – and the book is worth the read if only for that. But you’d be missing the main point. Smitty’s philosophy challenges the kids to subvert the metrics of the college admission game rather than play along. In doing so, they can win and win big. The larger message of Acceptance is this: Approach touring campuses, writing essays, making deadlines and taking standardized exams as a process of self-discovery, and the college acceptance part will take care of itself.
Marcus’s account of the journey to Acceptance is revelatory, and as a good a page turner as Dan Brown’s latest. You’ll find no secret codes here (or maybe you will; reread Acceptance before settling on that application essay topic) but its humanizing of a daunting process offers a path to discovery all its own. Highly recommended for teens and parents alike.
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