Book Review: Admission, a Novel by Jean Hanff Korelitz

I never thought that is was possible to make the college admissions process sound interesting in literary fiction, but Jean Hanff Korelitz has done that, in Admission. Korelitz succeeds because she has chosen an interesting point of view. Her main character, Portia Nathan, has been an admisssions officer for sixteen years, first at Dartmouth, then later and at Princeton.

There are two meanings for admission in this novel. The first is the labor-intensive and paper-intensive process of selecting a freshman class at one of the nation's most selective schools. Even the Internet has not removed the need for personal visits to high schools, cross-checking, multiple readings and hands-up votes by the admissions committee. It is also interesting to have a perspective on how an admissions committee addresses diversity within a class when there are record numbers of applicants.

Through the story, I saw that Portia's job was especially draining because she is told to encourage as many students as possible to apply to Princeton, knowing full well that the vast majority will be rejected. It is too difficult to tell the high-achievers she meets that there is no "magic formula," whether it be creativity or connections, to get in. But Portia also stays within her role; she does not try to do a guidance counselor's job and help students find a school that might be a better fit. But I got a sense that she wished she could. Korelitz did an excellent job of getting inside the head of an admissions officer on-the-job.

The second definition of admission is Portia's search for meaning within her own life. Her long-time relationship, including a shared home, is ending. While Mark, her (and I hate this term) significant other, has cheated on her, she admits that she was never sure if she had been truly happy in the relationship. Or any other relationship for that matter, including her activist single mother who raised in the progressive Five College community in Massachusetts, and a college boyfriend who had gotten her pregnant during her sophomore year at Dartmouth.

Portia sees herself as unremarkable, and not wanting to stand out, at Dartmouth or Princeton, places where everyone has been, and likely will continue to be, a high-flyer with an impressive resume of achievements. Korelitz has done an excellent job of making a "face" of a school to be a more complex character.

Portia is attracted to the principal of an alternative school that has never sent a graduate to Princeton; its students have never given much thought to college. And she is challenged to back an applicant, Jeremiah Vartan Balakian, from this school who has scored eight perfect "fives" on advanced placement examinations, despite a transcript with poor grades, and no advanced placement classes. She is drawn to this boy's promise and he reminds her of her own unremarkable past. I was left to believe that she wanted Princeton to take a chance on Jeremiah because Dartmouth had taken a chance on her.

As someone who writes about education issues, I found Admission to be very interesting, thought-provoking and well written. I give it a strong recommendation to any college-expectant parent, or any college bound student, who also loves to read.

Stuart Nachbar blogs on thought and fiction in education and politics at www.EducatedQuest.com