<p>Yes, Xiggi, I know -- an article by Jay M. quoting Lloyd Thacker probably has you so beside yourself that you're speechless :) -- I'll leave to another day a debate about either one's merits. </p>
<p>Anyway, the book itself is a collection of writing from those heavily involved in the admissions process. Frankly, it doesn't seem to break much new ground -- more hand-wringing about the "commercializtion" of college admissions and the college experience. But one of the quotes from the book did catch me eye:
[quote]
Bruce J. Poch, vice president and dean of admissions, Pomona College. Poch is one of the admissions deans least afraid of expressing his views on the excesses of the process. Among many interesting points, I enjoyed his attack on the chat rooms for applicants that have become so popular on the Princeton Review Web site: "From a sociological standpoint, it is a fascinating but sometimes horrifying glimpse into the panic, rumor mongering, and college-obsessed minds of the authors, but it also is gasoline added to an already enormous fire of confusions," he writes.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Hard to disagree with that, even though I'm rapidly making my way towards Senior Member status here on CC. I <em>think</em> the Parent's Forum has a bit more perspective, but maybe I'm just rationalizing.</p>
<p>Maybe, I should send a little note to JM to encourage him to read the CC posts of Carolyn. What JM considers a "new" book was described in detail months ago by Carolyn. It is amazing how many degrees the words news and newsworthy may take for some.</p>
<p>For what it is worth, I do hope that JM reserves some space in his column for a nice eulogy for Thacker's fledging organization.</p>
<p>Xiggi is right. The book came out in September 2004. I guess it's "new" in the sense that it's only a year old. :)</p>
<p>In the past month or so, the Chronicle of Higher Education had an update to the extensive article they published last fall on Thacker and his book when it first came out. They noted that the Education Conservancy hasn't taken off, and that even the colleges that supported the concept behind the conservancy and wrote all of those great articles describing how admissions should be changed in the book haven't made any major changes in their enrollment/admissions policies and procedures in the past few years. Since this is the third article on Thacker mentioning the book in the past year, I guess it's a fair assumption that the education writer of the Washington Post (Matthews) doesn't read the leading journal covering higher education. </p>
<p>Still, the book is interesting if you want insights into the more theoretical aspects of college admissions and enrollment management -- not to mention, lots of comments from admissions folks talking earnestly about how the process would change -- if only someone else's school went first.</p>
<p>Just an aside, but Matthews has a daughter who is either a current student or a recent graduate of Pomona. I have noticed that he has "parent-itis" when it comes to Pomona: like many parents paying tuition bills to a certain school, he tends to always cast Pomona in an angelic can-do-no-wrong light, and seldom digs below the surface to see if there's more to the story. I tend to take everything he says about Pomona with a big dash of salt, keeping in mind that he has his personal biases.</p>