Getting in

There are so many horror stories (and success stories) out there about this looming transition from high school to college. So often, that which is talked about has little to do with the people that are involved, or more accurately, with how they feel about it. The spotlight is usually shown upon the status of the establishment at which a student is accepted. With a standardized result-oriented way of thinking of something as individual as what you want to be when you grow up, "Getting In" is a breath of fresh air. It focuses on the parts of these 'stories' that you don't often hear. The College Counselor...the un-cliché family...what families really fear and what they don't have to. And instead of leaving you with the aftertaste of fear or expectation, it leaves you with something to think about and a reassurance that maybe not everyone is the same, and that's ok. Better than ok, actually. Just as it should be.

Was Karen Stabiner wearing a wire as she made the rounds of private school events, poolside parties, kaffecafes and college advisors' offices in upscale LA? Or taking notes every time she eavesdropped on anxious teenagers and their tortured parents? My own kid is well past the college minuet, thankfully, but I'm treasuring this funny, insightful novel. It's a candidate for inclusion in a comprehensive anthropology text, or perhaps in a time capsule: This was aspiring, perspiring, excessive, obsessive LA in 2010.

Any parent and certainly any high school senior with eyes on Getting In to college will likely recognize the humor and drama that Stabiner creates in her book. She weaves a terrific story (with some well-turned phrases) that brings to life the transition from high school to college. You'll meet a collection of players--from the college counselor and high maintenance parents to the kids and cliques of two different high schools--that make the story enlightening, funny and worth the read.

If you are familiar with any of Karen Stabiner's other nine books, you will know that she is an extraordinary stylist and an excellent reporter. She brings both of these talents to bear on her new novel, Getting In. In fact, she easily could have presented this material as an insightful nonfiction guide for anxious parents facing the college application process. But she has wisely followed her instincts and proven the ancient writers' adage: "Truth is at the heart of every piece of good nonfiction; but there is a Higher Truth that usually can only be attained in fiction." In Getting In, Stabiner follows five high school students and their families as they go through each step of the "getting in to college" dance. Manipulated by the College Counselors, parents and students learn more than they ever wanted to know about the realities of money, status, and those Bs that could have been As with a little more effort. Stabiner's wicked sense of humor cannot be restrained when she describes the private school's realization that attendance at a financial aid workshop might be perceived as a sign of wallet weakness, so they open the program to "...the overtly less privileged public school parents from Ocean Heights, whose Odyssey minivans and Chevys the security guard discreetly directed to Visitor Parking, a section of the lot a safe distance from the Crestview [fancy private school] parents' pristine BMWs and Mercedes." Getting In is a wonderfully funny romp through all-too-familiar territory for parents and students who have already lived through this trial by fire. It is required reading, however, for those who are about to face the stark realities of getting in. The saving grace of this important book for readers who are already fearful is that Stabiner points out the learning and growing experience this experience can be for both teenagers and their parents. Yes, it is frightening. Yes, it is funny. But in the conclusion of Stabiner's novel - and in real life -- most kids will go to schools that are, in many ways, right for them. And for the few who don't make a good match - there's always next year!

This is the book for every parent whose child is going to apply to college, and for every parent who has lived through the process. At once funny, insightful and sobering, GETTING IN is a comedy of ill-manners, as parents go off the deep end. I wish I could have read this book before our child filled out the apps: GETTING IN is a masterful recounting of a year in the life of college applicants and their families.