A higher-education journalist draws on insider access to explain the nuts and bolts of college admissions today, outlining the unexpected agendas that reflect which and why prospective students receive admission into better schools.

"Over the last few decades, Americans have turned college admissions into a terrifying and occasionally devastating process, preceded by test prep, tutors, all sorts of stratagems, all kinds of rankings, and a conviction among too many young people that their futures will be determined and their worth established by which schools say yes and which say no. That belief is wrong. It's cruel. And in WHERE YOU GO IS NOT WHO YOU'LL BE, Frank Bruni explains...

"The Enlightened College Applicant presents a no-nonsense account of how students should approach the college search and admissions process"-- Provided by publisher.

"This alternative college admissions guide gives non-straight-A students advice on how to identify, gain admittance to, and pay for the schools that will allow them to flourish"--Provided by publisher.

The author recounts his haphazard experiences of helping his son get into college, an effort marked by quantities of self-help books, contradictory counselor advice, and steep costs.

An exposé of the Varsity Blues scandal reveals how an unscrupulous college counselor named Rick Singer preyed on the desperation of wealthy, upper class, insecure parents who sought to have their children admitted to elite colleges to maintain their own social status.