Originally published in hardcover by Hachette Book Group, c2015

The unsung alma maters -- Throwing darts -- Obsessives at the gate -- Rankings and wrongs -- Beyond the comfort zone -- From Tempe to Waterloo -- An elite edge? -- Strangled with ivy -- Humbled, hungry and flourishing -- Fire over formula -- Epilogue

Over the last few decades, Americans have turned college admissions into a terrifying and occasionally devastating process, preceded by test prep, tutors, all sorts of stratagems, all kinds of rankings, and a conviction among too many young people that their futures will be determined and their worth established by which schools say yes and which say no. That belief is wrong. It's cruel. And in this book, Frank Bruni explains why, giving students and their parents a new perspective on this brutal, deeply flawed competition and a path out of the anxiety that it provokes

Includes index

"Updated & expanded, plus new afterword." Cover