
In real life, Mitchell Stevens is a professor in bustling New York. But for a year and a half, he worked in the admissions office of a bucolic New England college that is known for its high academic standards, beautiful campus, and social conscience. Ambitious high schoolers...

Stevens explains how elite colleges and universities have assumed their central role in the production of the nation's most privileged classes. This book makes clear that, for better or worse, these schools now define the standards of youthful accomplishment in American culture...