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  • The Price of Admission

  • How America's Ruling Class Buys Its Way into Elite Colleges - and Who Gets Left Outside the Gates
  • Written by: Daniel Golden
  • Narrated by: Nancy Linari
  • Length: 14 hrs and 45 mins
  • 4.0 out of 5 stars (1 rating)

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The Price of Admission

Written by: Daniel Golden
Narrated by: Nancy Linari
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Publisher's Summary

National Best Seller

“A fire-breathing, righteous attack on the culture of superprivilege.” (Michael Wolff, author of the number one New York Times best seller Fire and Fury, in the New York Times Book Review)

Now with New Reporting on Operation Varsity Blues

In this explosive and prescient book, based on three years of investigative report­ing, Pulitzer Prize winner Daniel Golden shatters the myth of an American meri­tocracy. Naming names, along with grades and test scores, Golden lays bare a corrupt system in which middle-class and working-class whites and Asian Ameri­cans are routinely passed over in favor of wealthy white students with lesser credentials - children of alumni, big donors, and celebrities. He reveals how a family donation got Jared Kushner into Harvard, and how colleges comply with Title IX by giving scholarships to rich women in “patrician sports” like horseback riding and crew.

With a riveting new chapter on Operation Varsity Blues, based on original reporting, The Price of Admission is a must-listen - not only for parents and students with a personal stake in college admissions but also for those disturbed by the growing divide between ordinary and privileged Americans.

Praise for The Price of Admission

“A disturbing exposé of the influence that wealth and power still exert on admission to the nation’s most prestigious universities.” (The Washington Post)

“Deserves to become a classic.” (The Economist)

©2006, 2009 Daniel Golden (P)2019 Random House Audio

What the critics say

“Deserves to become a classic.... Why do Mr Golden's findings matter so much? The most important reason is that America is witnessing a potentially explosive combination of trends. Social inequality is rising at a time when the escalators of social mobility are slowing.” (The Economist)

The Price of Admission is perfect for those curious about what goes on in college admissions offices because it shatters assumptions about acceptance to elite colleges.... The Price of Admission forces the reader to wonder how affirmative action can be deemed controversial when favoritism of the white and wealthy is overly prominent in elite colleges.... [F]or those interested in the injustices in higher education, this book is a must-read." (Kansas City Star)

“Golden has fun making trouble in the best journalistic sense... The Price of Admission is a powerful reminder that the public will increasingly require selective colleges to defend their preferences; that not all are prepared to make their complex case well; and that some of their practices, finally, seem indefensible today.” (Harvard Magazine)

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