Admissions

by Nancy Lieberman

This sharply observed and bitingly funny novel exposes the over-the-top absurdity of New York City`s elite private school admissions circus. For Manhattan's most affluent parents, the Tuesday after Labor Day marks the beginning of the city's most competitive and vicious blood the start of the private school admissions process. But for Helen Drager, mother of Zoe, it shouldn't be such an ordeal. After all, Helen's best friend Sara is an admissions officer at Zoe's current K-8. But Sara's position becomes precarious, and Helen soon finds herself drawn ever deeper into the mounting lunacy generated by the fierce competition.

Genres: Fiction, Chick Lit, Humor, Education

368 pages, Paperback

First published October 18, 2004

About the author

I was born in Elizabeth New Jersey in 1955. In 1964 my family made a radical decision to relocate to Kailua Hawaii where I went to school barefoot, took hula lessons and learned to play the ukulele. In 1969 we moved again to Los Altos California, which at that time was the verdant apricot capital of the United States. Valley. I attended Los Altos High School in the early 1970's, a time when public schools in California had a reputation for excellence and few parents sent their children to private school. I went on to Vassar College, which had recently turned coed, and spent my junior year abroad in Florence Italy where I became conversant in Italian and enamored by Renaissance painting. When I graduated from college in 1977 I moved to New York City, where I lived ever since, and began a career in the arts. In 1983, I naively started a business. My new business partner and I opened Lieberman and Saul Gallery in Soho and specialized in photography. We were lucky in that we were early comers to a field that was to explode over the next decade and we were able to make a name for ourselves. I left the business in 1991 after my daughter was born, having made the difficult decision to devote more time to being a mother. Over the next ten years I wore various hats in the art photography world, including that of curator, appraiser and auction house specialist. After navigating my way through the complexities of the admissions process, my daughter was admitted to a New York City private school. No sooner had we settled in than I was called upon to head up the annual fund-raising auction, chair the Parent's Association and join the Board of Trustees. These experiences opened my eyes to a world I had never known existed-the world of privileged, neurotic New York parents obsessed with their children's education. I've always been a voracious reader and, like many, often found myself thinking that, one day, I would love to write a novel. After my daughter was admitted to school and the dreaded process was behind me, I frequently regaled dinner guests with amusing admissions anecdotes and discovered that people were fascinated by my stories and also anxious to share their equally outrageous tales. Inevitably, each of these conversations ended with my saying something like "this could be a novel." My husband, having heard me say this dozens of times, encouraged me to write one. So I did. ADMISSIONS is my first novel and I am currently at work on my second. I live in Manhattan with my husband and my daughter.

Reviews

[Kristi Cameron · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thrift store pick. It was a far cry from a good book, yet I read it from cover-to-cover which is actually sort of embarrassing. I suppose I have a weird fascination with the lives of really rich people.

[Manik Sukoco · Rating 2 out of 5]

If someone else has already coined this term, apologies for not giving them credit, but this is the best way to describe this book and others of its type that I could come up with here. Like "chick lit" these books are chock full of characters that are more toxic than a nuclear waste dump: shallow, pretentious, amoral, obnoxious and more concerned about a latte spill on their Armani suit than say, the war in Iraq. Most books of this sort take place in a Big City, almost always New York (apparently the only city editors think people want to read about). Is this because most publishing houses are in New York?

I'm curious. Do these authors not know any decent people in New York (which would be a big cliche right there) or is there no market for books which portray the rich as having admirable traits, such as compassion, morals, ethics, and interests outside of their penthouse? Or is this the hopelessly naive view of a non-New Yorker?

The book tells the story of a comparatively "average" family of three whose teen daughter is applying to high school. This is supposed to be very nerve-wracking, except there is inherently no suspense for the reader, once we learn that Mom and Dad have "ins" at all the schools the child wants to attend. Mom is a composite of every obnoxious parent you have ever wished to slug for her 100-percent irony-free sense of entitlement. Though it doesn't quite come to this, she is the type who would perform sexual favors if it would get her child into the school of her dreams. Her husband, who we see too little of to get a sense of how he feels about the admissions process, is far too passive, and would likely stoop even lower than he already does to get the child into school, if his wife browbeat him into it.

The child herself is sympathetic only her problems are buried under an avalanche of over-the-top characters. This is the kind of book where the type of shoes someone buys is supposed to pass for character development. The stereotypes, such as the child's gay best friend, are truly offensive. The child's current school is supposedly diverse and PC, but it is only "15 percent nonwhite." Personally, she might be better off in a public school, but of course, that would not qualify as a happy ending.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am a dork. I love books like this as I never really had to go through anything like this. People that torture themselves with this interest me to no end. This book was about the applying to private high schools in NYC, which is slightly different then most books like this, which would focus on college, so the difference was kind of good. Still over done about WHO THE HELL CARES subjects that I find weirdly interesting. But that doesn’t stop me from wanting to scream, CALM THE FUCK DOWN. The one thing that I wish they went into more detail about was why the parents thought principal had like all types of power and stuff when it came to getting their kids into schools. And why the principal at this school was all sorts of weird. I kept waiting for some big secret to come out and in the end, nothing. That pissed me off a lot. If there was some crazy payout in the end, I could sort of live with that, but just to have the principal be crazy with no explanation? It made you not care about the parents putting all their trust into this person at all. I liked the descriptions of all the schools. Just shows you how crazy families can be about private schools. And I liked the interminglings with the public (oh the horrors!) school kids and yes, we are normal and not as dangerous as everyone thinks.

Grade: C

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a strange cross between The Devil Wears Prada and Nanny Diaries starring The Real Housewives of NYC. The only characters I liked were the 14 year olds and Michael, the Dad. I tried to like the main characters Sara and Helen, but each time I would start to warm to them, their shallow personalities, often revealed by a snarky remark, brought on my disdain. Lieberman's substitution of descriptive names for schools' real names( examples: "The Fancy Girls' School" and "The Bucolic Campus School") is hilarious. This sort of word play throughout the book added necessary humor. My favorite was the "Huts for Humans" project. However, I also found much of Lieberman's word choice to be pretentious and the analogies dreadful. I'm wondering if this was done on purpose to mirror the pretense exhibited by most of the characters. It's not a bad read, but it's not a really good one either.

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wish I had read "Admissions" by Nancy Lieberman back in 2004 when it first came out, as it now seems dated. The underpinnings of the Manhattan private school admissions process were clearly written by someone with experience in this echelon. I could almost see the editor's notes saying "add humor" as many sections ended with a literary groaner. The Times was very generous likening it to "The Devil Wears Prada" or "Nanny Diaries." And while I was looking for a light read, these characters were painted with such wide brushstrokes and were so over the top, they were unbelievable and hard to connect with.

[Alecia Cole · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book!! Very entertaining, very humorous. A goodlight read. Nancy Lieberman takes a subject that is, by anyone NOT fro New York, would find almost unbelievable. The way the parents of children vie and compete for placement in the "best" schools is a subject that would never enter the mind of an "ordinary" parent of a child in any other city. If Ms. Liberman can come up with a subject as entertaining as "Admissions" and carry off her comical writing style with another book, I'm there!!

[Amon · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a fun read for entertainments sake. It was not as cut-throat as I expected- and conflicts in the book seemed to resolve before they came to a climax, which did make the story less predictable.

[Stacie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Bad book. No treat for you. Bad book.

[Janani · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very typical parody of life in the Big Apple. But this time, it's school admissions! The story did not go the way I expected it to.

[Jane Lippincott · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting story of getting a kid into NYC private schools. Funnt and informative, but could have been a 1/3 shorter

[Kacey · Rating 1 out of 5]

The writing in this is horribly juvenile. Straight from the book: "She's acting like a real Miss Buttinsky."
"Your mom's usually so cool. Can't you tell her to butt outsky?"

It hurts to read.

[lalo vera · Rating 3 out of 5]

fun to read at the start of a school year. very much devil wears prada / jennifer weiner / nanny diaries

from lfl to lfl

[stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

i feel like i should have a section devoted to nyc chick-lit, but anyway.

this isn't about getting your kid into preschool (like The Ivy Chronicles). this is about a family that has a daughter who needs to get into high school, a best friend who is an admissions director for a K-8 school, and the crazy ways people try to get into school. it's fairly depressing, in a way, that so little is on the actual merit of the child when portrayed in this type of light.

however the story has crazy twists with the unpredictable head of The School, and the admissions directors at the high schools, and ultimately, that wonderful happy ending everyone wants.

but there were almost too many characters with not enough on each of them - i wanted more from the kids, especially. i mean, what happened between catherine and zoe? why isn't there more of zoe? did helen and michael really agree not to have another child because of the cost of education? and so on, so on. and it's long for this genre, which i found slagging at times.

(though honestly? i want a sequel focusing on april winter. poor girl.)

[Kendall Concini · Rating 3 out of 5]

#readingchallenge2016 (my book based on the cover) (admittedly based on the title and cover equally)

Working in a school, I was excited by the notion of reading the dirty behind the scenes lives of those aggressive, self-entitled parents I'm all too familiar with. The book started strong. I became invested in the characters. I could relate to aspects in every sense. I was frustrated by the attitudes and comparing what I would do in real life. This made it a quick read. I just wanted to know more of the pieces.

However, I ended up settling on a 3/5 rating because I feel the book was all build up with no development. Some story lines were taken nowhere, some big aspects didn't have enough in the end, and the ending overall was just cut and dry compared to the initial story line.

While it was all interestingly pieced together, with great flow, it just didn't go anywhere for me.

Still a decent read. I'd recommend if for those in schools who want a chance to laugh at similar situations in a comedic setting. A very 'hey I'm not alone, she gets it"

[Ilse · Rating 3 out of 5]

je komt het heel vaak tegen in boeken, de stress van amerikaanse ouders om hun kind op een bepaalde school te krijgen. Nu dus een heel boek over dit thema. saai??? het begin is idd behoorlijk saai en erg langdradig, want je kan natuurlijk niet oneindig vertellen over het systeem, maar eens je door het saaie stuk door ben, nemen de zijverhalen de overhand en komt er echt wel wat meer vaart in het boek. Ik kan niet zeggen dat ik dit boek een 2de keer ga lezen, maar ben wel blij dat ik het uiteindelijk heb uitgelezen.

[K · Rating 2 out of 5]

For Manhattan's most affluent parents, the Tuesday after Labor Day marks the beginning of the city's most competitive and vicious blood sport: the start of the private school admissions process. But for Helen Drager, mother of Zoe, it shouldn't be such an ordeal. After all, Helen's best friend Sara is an admissions officer at Zoe's current K-8. But Sara's position becomes precarious, and Helen soon finds herself drawn ever deeper into the mounting lunacy generated by the fierce competition.

[rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this was an amusing but of satire until I started to bump into friends and neighbors who were actually exhibiting these behaviors. The day I sat in the coffeeshop, praying for an out of body experience while 3 otherwise sane pals casually discussed the 5 figure deposits they were putting down for kindergarten for the toddlers, I realized the world truly had gone mad. I contemplated slipping copies of this one into their strollers, but I don't want to have to move.

[Fiona · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked this book off the library shelf randomly at the start of the summer. It was a fun and definitely fluffy read overall. The shallow obsession with getting into the right schools could be hilarious (particularly when it came to getting into the right kindergarten), but I tended to get frustrated with a lot of the characters for that very reason, which made it hard to get through the book at times. Only read it if you are not currently undergoing any kind of admissions process yourself.

[Ashly Garberick · Rating 1 out of 5]

so I am not sure I should have marked this 'read' but I am sorry I spent the $1.99 to buy this book. (I had just finished another book and it was the advertised special on my kindle's screen saver) I had thought that since there is a movie coming out/is out based on this book.....
I just can't get through it. I only made it 30%.
not exactly sure why I doesn't hold my interest but it was moving slow and i don't have any patience or empathy for an adulterer.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was amusing and worth reading once. I might go back and read it again eventually, but it definitely won't become one of my favorites. I loved how she named the schools after what they were known for, like The Fancy Girls School and The Progressive School. Despite a few amusing anecdotes, I felt there was something lacking from it.

[Margarita · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book, while being light, easy reading sure had a lot going on! There was family drama, eating disorders, embezzzlement,and adultery all mixed with plenty of teenage angst amidst a hilarious lampoon of the cutthroat world of upper class urban schooling. Especially if you know anyone who works in the world of private education you will find this over-the-top book to ring just a bit too true.

[Muriel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a lot of fun, would have liked it better if I had managed to warm up to the heroine Helen but something about her I found off-putting. The sad thing is that I know some of these insane Manhattanites who go to extreme measures to secure spots for their children in these exclusive prep schools and for the most part the author is not exaggerating.

[Chyna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I came across this book at the dollar store and figured, "What the heck...it's only a dollar." I found the book to be surprisingly entertaining. It resonated with me because I had just gone through enrolling my child in kindergarten, but the process left me feeling like I was trying to get her into Harvard.

[Shirlyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is along the same lines as Nanny Dairies and the crazy things some New York familes do to get their kids in the "right" schools. In the end it can't possibly be worth it. Easy read for the beach

[Jill · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this accidentally. I thought I was reading the book that the TV show "Privileged" is based on. I was wrong. It was an ok book - I wouldn't highly recommend it, but I didn't want to poke my eyes out rather than read it either!

[Megan]

This is a good read about the parents in NYC who are bound and determined to get their child into a good school so he/she can get into college. Having gone to a private school myself (albeit on scholarship), I can relate. It is an amusing ride.

[Maile · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a blend of several themes that I enjoy. Upper class Manhattan and private schools. While this book wasn't flawless, it was a fairly quick read that showed how intense parents can be about their child's education.

[Jeanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

a funny novel on private school admissions in NYC..even if a 1/4 of this is based on reality its a sad commentary on what people will do for the 'right' school. but is was a good read..light and funny and moved quickly

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can't understand how *this* review disappeared since I enjoyed the book so much! Unfortunately (a year later) I can't remember the details that I had put down last time. I really liked it though, and wish I could own it.

[Lian Dolan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A window into the tiny, uptight world of NYC school admissions, from Pre-K to High school. Some funny/true observations- but in the end, didn't love either of the main characters enough to root for them wholeheartedly.