While it should be stated clearly, and repeatedly, that this program is not offering college admissions advice or counsel, the issue could easily be on the minds of some explorers, as it is hard to avoid the topic.  Perhaps the explorer would like the opportunity to talk about some of these issues with someone who has no vested interest in the outcome, not a parent, not a college counselor, not a college admissions officer (now re-branded “enrollment managers”), but someone with a listening ear.  

To that end, we note the spate of books out there about how the college admissions process works, or as some phrase it, actually works.  One of the most recent in that regard is Jeffrey Selingo’s Who Gets In And Why: A Year Inside College Admissions, September 2020.  Selingo has made it his task to write about “the future of higher education” and another book on “life after college,” so his interest is in the period of the college years and right thereafter.  While we would not want to limit this conversation to Selingo and his ideas, one has to start somewhere, and this recent book has gotten quite a bit of what is popularly known as “buzz.”  Here is a sample review of the book: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/15/books/review/selingo-korn-levitz-college-admissions.html,. Again, this is not an attempt to provide college advice, but to offer a forum for a conversation on an important topic.