<p>Xiggi: I think you are taking the book way too seriously. There is no doubt that has crossed paths with many of the same characters we have, but his work is NOT at all meant to be a reference book. This book is entertainment. Ferg merely uses this college app experience as his muse. His kid is at the University of Virginia, which does not make Ferg a “baaaaad” dad at all. That is the perfect school for his son (based on the son’s own goals). The author pokes fun at himself, all of us and all of the admissions committee folks committee folks. His artistic contribution is very biting toward those who seek to financially profit from the college app process. The irony is that he has just joined them. :)</p>
<p>I’m guessing that the author’s son picked the schools (other than the one of two the author mentioned he and his wife contributed.) Whether or not the author “hoped” his son would apply to other schools (or if the son in fact applied to other schools) is not really known. I just thought it was a breezy read of one family and their son and not a how-to manual. He “cherry picked” his CC examples and I’m sure some intrepid sleuth will eventually figure out what his name was on CC if they haven’t already. It’s just all good fun…probably the “funnest” part of this whole college “thing.”</p>
<p>Xiggi…I have to agree with glido on this one – the kid’s at the University of Virginia for goodness sake! He’s at a top 25 school! In your eyes how did the author fail his son? Because the kid’s not at HYP or a private do you think he’s a failure? Can you say with certainty that anything the dad did could have improved his son’s chances or changed the outcome? When you reach a certain level, a lot of it boils down to luck, IMO. The kid is going to a very selective and prestigious school;he should be very proud, and I believe he’s going to be just fine.</p>
<p>I think that Xiggi is saying (hopefully without putting words in his mouth) is that the author’s son succeeded despite the “help” of his father. I have only read a little of the book thus far, but the author strikes me as extremely naive regarding the admissions process. It is entertaining, but is definitely not a “how-to” book.</p>
<p>Personally, I have found CC to be very helpful and have learned to sift through the advice that is freely given on this site to learn what I can. I have been here long enough to recognize posters and their agendas (if they have one), but I recognize that not everyone has that kind of time. When it comes to understanding the admissions process, you give your kids that amount of time that you can. Some can give more, others less.</p>
<p>Hat, That’s what I thought xiggi meant as well-that the son did quite fine without the dad’s well meaning help(which it sounds like the dad admits?-I admit I have not read the book).The son has ended up at a great school, one which many kids, both instate and out of state, really want to go to! I’m guessing xiggi will let us know his exact thoughts when he has the chance.</p>
<p>While I am not certain anything I wrote amounted to call Ferguson a bad dad, I am happy to clarify that my comments solely related to the “objective of the book.” </p>
<p>I agree with people who find the book humorous, especially when the authors engages in self-deprecating humor. My “beef” if there is one starts with a title that contains the words “crash course.” As I have written above, I do not see much of a redeeming value if the book is to serve as a guide for parents to come. Also, I am afraid that this might become yet another one-eyed trying to lead the blind. </p>
<p>However, none of my critics meant to criticize Mr. Ferguson as a parent … even if I throw stones at Ferguson the newly self-anointed college guru! I will also freely admit to find him guilty by association as some of his sources included several persons who I only look at with the deepest scorn and contempt. Fwiw, I would have liked the book a LOT more had he foregone his attempt of “explaining” a few things to us. The book works when Ferguson speaks a dad trying to understand the process; it does not at all when he starts wearing the hat of a social scientist and channeling the Thacker and Robert Schaeffer of this world/ </p>
<p>Lastly, please accept my opinion for what it is. A subjective opinion among many.</p>
<p>PS I did not address this question. “In your eyes how did the author fail his son? Because the kid’s not at HYP or a private do you think he’s a failure?” No, not all! The failure is not about “improving” the outcome, especially since I believe that there was NOT MUCH Mr Ferguson could have done to improve the “results”. I thought I offered an example when I discussed the essay. I also happen to think that Mr. Ferguson failed to make the process *simpler * for his son to navigate. In many ways, I believe that a lot less intervention and transfer of and parental anxieties and expectations would have been better.</p>
<p>It’s a very funny book. Very thoughtful and perceptive, too. I for one enjoyed it immensely. And I don’t mind that the author is promoting it. That’s what publishers do, when they think they have a bestseller on their hands. :)</p>
<p>I’m still chuckling over the part where Ferguson describes how today’s college-app process (the mania over ECs, the dread “personal essay”) is turning our kids into Eddie Haskell. LOL–so true!</p>
<p>xiggi…So sorry if I took the following remarks out of context:</p>
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<p>I suppose I honed in on these remarks and misinterpreted your post. I appreciate you taking the time to clarify because I truly thought this tongue and cheek book gave a glimpse into how completely subjective and contradictory the college admissions process has become. Again, I feel Ferguson’s son landed a spot in a very coveted, reputable school, and anything done/not done by the author, most likely would have not affected the outcome. Thank you again for your candor.</p>
<p>No problem whatsoever. I can see why what I wrote could be viewed in the context you saw. I try to keep a conversational style in my posts, and I realize that sometimes the outcome sounds harsher than I intented to.</p>
<p>This was all in all a really stupid book. I can see people who are ignorant or not that knowledgeable about the admission process blindly enjoying the book’s humor, but as I don’t fit that category, I found the misguided statements and attempts at edifying to be disgusting and pathetic.</p>
<p>So,Polyglot,I take it you did not enjoy the book?</p>
<p>In addition to the silliness associated with calling the University of Virginia “Big State University” (and then identifying same during media interviews), Ferguson also neglects to mention that his son graduated from a private high school in the DC area whose tuition exceeds that of U-Va. (He never names the school, but my kids went there too and knew him, and the school was also easily identifiable in the description of the pivotal camping trip.) There was no way that his son was going to qualify for any need-based financial aid, so there was little practical point in Ferguson’s struggles with the FAFSA. If finding the money for college were really a serious issue for the Ferguson family, they would have sent their son to public high school.</p>
<p>He carefully did not include facts that most middle class families do not relate to. It doesn’t takeaway from the story…and it is simply that …a story. The reality of what college BSU really is just isn’t relevant…the idea of a BSU is. Where his son went to high school isn’t relevant…his attitude about the college search and the journey through those final years is relevant. The author wrote about universal things. It isn’t a how-to manual. It’s a story.</p>
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<p>The problem is that the book is being marketed as a “how-to-manual” beginning with the cover’s claim that it is the author’s “crash course on getting his kid into college”. Now, having read the book, I think that “crash course” was intended to emphasize the word “crash” rather than “course” because the points made are not terribly useful to the subject of how to get your kid into college. So, while it is just a story, I don’t see it being sold that way.</p>
<p>I did enjoy the humor, but I also found it humorous that he spent all this time researching the points he makes in the book regarding SATs, test prep, tuition, college interviews, etc. and could have learned the same things had he actually spent some time on CC. His denigration of CC and some of its posters (specifically including Dean J) reflects poorly on his research abilities.</p>
<p>Lastly, the dance around BSU is sort of silly. As soon as he mentioned that BSU was in a state where Tech was in the furthermost corner and the state has its own military academy, it was obvious that BSU was UVa. Anyone in Virginia would know this. Add to this the comments about Dean J and anyone familiar with CC would recognize that he was talking about UVa.</p>
<p>Who knows,maybe even Dean J read his kid’s app and had something to do with his admission. Talk about biting the hand that feeds you with the comments about Dean J,curriculum,etc. he’s been making without being willing to identify the school. If you’re going to go around making comments ,at least have the courtesy(guts?) to identify who you’re talking about. It is so obvious what college he’s talking about and was not at all hard to figure out his kid’s Catholic Md. private school. I agree with Hat that a big part of the problem is that the author is being marketed as some kind of expert (as opposed to just another hapless parent like the rest of us).</p>
<p>I enjoyed this book. The author sounds like his photo - a nice guy. I got lots of info about rich people, e.g., their private college counselors and their Ivy dreams/actions started at the age of nine months. But not much usefulness about college admissions.</p>
<p>His “eat the menu not the dinner” reminds me of the debate about state u vs private schools. A kid can get a decent education from many places, just like we can get something to eat from many restaurants. But lots of people want to eat the menu.</p>
<p>But the author is not really a “hapless” parent. He’s not a lower-level municipal employee and single parent in some small midwestern town trying to get his honestly “average kid” into college and figuring out how to pay for it. He’s an educated professional surrounded by other educated professionals in the DC area, which is kind of like CC in real life. His son went to a private school in which college admission is a topic from freshman year, and did well enough to be admitted to U-VA, which is no small feat for someone from northern Virginia. Plenty of top students from that area are turned away every year.<br>
Don’t get me wrong – it was a great read. But he’s not an average Joe.</p>
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<p>Plenty of families who don’t qualify for need-based aid still have to fill out the FAFSA if they want to take out PLUS loans. Even if a family is relatively affluent, it doesn’t mean they’ve got 30-60K a year in disposable income rattling around in the checking account. Also, the FAFSA determines your EFC at state schools like the one the kid went to, so of course Ferguson is going to fill it out.</p>
<p>Ferguson is a professional D.C. area journalist. Of course he’s not a regular guy. He’s much more articulate and self-conscious; that’s why he wrote a book. It seems odd to criticize him for not being average. He also lives in a status-obsessed area of the country where parents actually do talk about college admissions at neighborhood parties. Believe it or not, that’s not actually normal either! I don’t think the “lower level municipal employee and single parent in some small midwestern town” is Ferguson’s target audience. And the book is not a how-to book but an extended personal essay about the anxieties and absurdities of the elite college admissions process for one “creative class” family.</p>
<p>claremarie, there is no way to know the finances of someone at private school. My nephew attended a very expensive and well regarded prep school in the DC area on a substantial scholarship. He went to Rice with lots of aid as well. I find Ferguson’s coyness about BSU a bit irritating, but at least he does lip service to giving his son some privacy unlike so many authors of similar books.</p>
<p>Mathmom,because my kids also attended this school, I know how the financial aid works. There isn’t a lot of it, and kids from small families with professional parents don’t get much, if any. My point was that someone accustomed to writing a $20K check each year for high school has already worked that expense into the household budget. Moving onto college just changes the payee. </p>
<p>I did find the book compelling enough to finish in a weekend, and agree with his “expert” that elite colleges charge high tuition because they can. I daresay that the very top schools could raise their tuition by 50% and still fill their freshman classes with capable, eager students, especially from overseas.</p>