Princeton University admissions officer Portia Nathan spends
most of her life either doing her job or thinking about her job.
Even as she travels to the schools in her area to talk about
Princeton and encourage seniors to apply, she reads student
applications on the plane and in her motel room. They are
heart-breaking in their earnestness as the students try to persuade
the admissions office to accept them. (Snippets from fictional
college application essays preface each chapter to good effect; the
essays range from powerful to laughable.)

Portia is delighted to be in charge of the New England district
after working for many years with schools on the west coast. As the
story opens, she is speaking to students at Deerfield, a prep
school. She is struck by how homogenous they are --- mostly wealthy
and with a general appearance of being blonde and fair. When Portia
talks to this group, their response is typical. There are the
super-confident kids, such as the boy who shakes her hand,
introduces himself and suggests he was swaddled as a newborn in a
Princeton blanket. Others appear fearful; they have dedicated their
young lives to the goal of getting into Princeton or a similar
school. Will they make it? Or is all that work for naught?

The next school Portia heads for is quite different from
Deerfield. Quest School is located in the wilds of New Hampshire,
at the end of a road called Inspiration Way. When she arrives, she
finds a barn with cows grazing nearby. A teacher named John
introduces her to the school, recently started by a small group.
Portia is a bit nonplussed as she prepares to give her talk in the
middle of a cow barn. She is even more flummoxed when the seniors
react to her uncharacteristically. Some have not heard of
Princeton, and one girl challenges any assertion that a college
education is a necessity.

As the afternoon passes, Portia is intrigued by many of these
unusual students. She is particularly fascinated by a young man
named Jeremy, who has read widely enough to educate himself on a
number of subjects and yet admits he struggled in the school he
attended before Quest. She talks about Jeremy with John later in a
discussion that veers off course when John states that he remembers
her. John, it seems, attended Dartmouth when Portia did. The
mention of her student years makes Portia queasy as she works to
quell an emotional reaction to that time in her life. She leaves
abruptly.

Portia is reading student applications in her motel room when
John calls to apologize. He invites her to dinner, which leads to
an entanglement that is not at all typical for Portia, who must
finally tell John that she is involved in a long-term domestic
relationship. But when Portia arrives home to her boyfriend, her
life is on the brink of unraveling. As a result, Portia, who has
refused to acknowledge her own inner life for years, will
inevitably face a terrible long-hidden realization. This sudden
comprehension has the power to destroy her.

ADMISSION's plot pace is leisurely, particularly when dealing
with the process of college admissions. Readers looking for a
fast-paced beach read should probably look elsewhere. But those who
can give themselves fully to Portia's musings and the unhurried
uncovering of her secrets will be richly rewarded with a satisfying
story --- and may suddenly remember how it feels to be deeply
involved in a fictional character's life. Highest recommendation
for this elegant and thoughtful rendering of a woman's journey from
disconnection to realization.