"[ The Gatekeepers] provides the deep insight that is missing from the myriad how-to books on admissions that try to identify the formula for getting into the best colleges.... I really didn't want the book to end."-THE NEW YORK TIMES

"Excellent... a thoroughly engrossing drama."-BUSINESS WEEK

In the fall of 1999, New York Times education reporter Jacques Steinberg was given an unprecedented opportunity to observe the admissions process at prestigious Wesleyan University. Over the course of nearly a year, Steinberg accompanied admissions officer Ralph Figueroa on a tour to assess and recruit the most promising students in the country. Expanding on Steinberg's original report, The Gatekeepers follows a diverse group of prospective students as they compete for places in the nation's most elite colleges. ]he first book to reveal the college admission process in such behind-the-scenes detail, The Gatekeepers will be of interest to every parent of a high school-age child and to every student who is facing the arduous and anxious task of applying to college.

 Introduction

ONE

 The Tortilla Test

TWO

 Don't Send Me Poems

THREE

 Istanbul (Not Constantinople)

FOUR

 Considered Without Prejudice

FIVE

 Read Faster, Say No

six

 Thundercats and X-Men

SEVEN

 Nothing to Do with the Dope

EIGHT

 Things Seem to Have Gone Well

NINE

 420-ed

TEN

 Unnamed Gorgeous Small Liberal Arts School

 Epilogue

 Acknowledgments

 Selected Bibliography