New Book Offers Inside Look at College Admission Decisions and Spotlights Davidson

Davidson Admission Office Harding House

One of the nation’s best-known higher education writers next week takes readers through the decision-making of college admission—the story of a year inside the University of Washington, Emory University and Davidson College.

Long before readers reach the back cover, they get an up-close view of Davidson’s holistic approach to each application.

Jeff Selingo, best-selling author and a contributor to The Atlantic and the Washington Post, on Tuesday will release Who Gets in and Why: A Year Inside College Admissions. He serves up a first-hand look at the process of evaluating, admitting and enrolling the class of 2024.

Selingo visited Davidson throughout the 2018-19 academic year, spending hours with the Admission and Financial Aid team

His unique access and insight, combined with the pandemic’s warping of the upcoming college admission cycle, have spiked the pre-release appetite for the book. An adaptation appeared as the Saturday Essay in the Aug. 29 edition of the Wall Street Journal. New York Times columnist Frank Bruni centered his Sunday column around Selingo’s discoveries.

Selingo has reported on higher education for more than two decades. He is the former top editor at the Chronicle of Higher Education and, in addition to The Atlantic and the Washington Post, his writing has appeared in the Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. He featured Davidson in two other books, There Is Life After College and College (Un)Bound.

Published

  • October 19, 2020

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