Go ahead -- be cynical and think that Chelsea Clinton didn't have to sweat it to get into Stanford.
That, yes, famous parents can assure entry is just one acknowledgment by an Ivy League college admissions officer who shares all in A Is for Admission: The Ultimate Insider's Guide to Getting into the Ivy League and Other Top Colleges. Warner editor Rick Wolff acquired the book for a reported mid-six-figures in January, kept it under wraps until now to protect the author's job, and will release the book with a 150,000 first printing this fall. Next month, Warner will reveal the identity and college affiliation of the author -- once she leaves her job. The publisher also plans some sort of promotion for the book at BookExpo America at the end of this month.
"This is hot stuff; it will explode the myths of the admission process," said Wolff, a Harvard man himself. Among the revelations: admissions officers actually crunch various criteria (SAT scores, etc) in a formula called the Academic Index (detailed in the book), and Asian-Americans apply in such numbers to top schools that they are essentially not considered minorities.
Wolff won the book after a three-day auction last January conducted by agent Robin Strauss, which consisted of seven bidders and seven rounds. The book is on submission for serialization at a major magazine (none confirmed, but PW suspects Time), with a decision expected in the next few weeks. The book is also an alternate selection of the Book of the Month Club and the Quality Paperback Book Club.
