Acceptance
by Susan Coll
List Price: $14.00
Pages: 320
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9780312426965
Publisher: Picador USA
Set in the neurotic world of a high-strung high school, Acceptance introduces us to such characters as AP Harry (a nickname derived from the unprecedented number of Advanced Placement courses he’s taken) and Maya Kaluantharana, whose mother wants to have her diagnosed with a learning disability so she can boost her already strong SAT scores by retaking the exam with special accommodations. Acclaimed novelist Susan Coll is at the height of her wry, perceptive powers as the college countdown ticks away for Harry, Maya, and the other students at Verona High, an elite public school in the suburbs of Washington, D.C.
On the other side of the equation is Olivia Sheraton, an admissions staffer charged with recruiting prestige itself to Yates University, a dilapidated liberal-arts school enjoying a new surge in popularity thanks to a statistical error that landed it on U.S. News & World Report’s list of top colleges. Balancing political pressure from colleagues with a daily quest simply to find a remarkable applicant, Olivia discovers that the price of acceptance fluctuates wildly. And as they navigate the turbulence of writing personal essays and taking standardized tests, the seniors from Verona are about to learn a similar lesson.
By turns comic and compassionate, Acceptance delivers a provocative look at the climbers and clout brokers of higher education.
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1. Grace is the first parent we meet in Acceptance. How does her household compare to the others in her neighborhood? Is Harry at a disadvantage by having been raised by a single parent?
2. Not all of Verona’s students are as academically driven as Harry. What separates the overachievers from the underachievers? Do either of these categories describe your experience in school?
3. What are the similarities between Harry’s and Taylor’s obsessions? As Harry becomes fixated on admission to Harvard and Taylor compulsively hoards mail, what insecurities are they soothing? What quirky obsessions would you admit to having?
4. How does Maya cope in the shadow of her high-achieving siblings? Why do her parents despise academic mediocrity? Can you picture Maya thriving as a college athlete?
5. How have attitudes toward college admissions changed since you were in high school? How did your school compare to Verona? What did your parents tell you about higher education?
6. In the seventh chapter (October), Harry runs into Lily Wong, who moved to an inner-city school district after a college counselor said she stood a better chance of getting into Harvard if she did “something to counter the smart Asian kid stereotype.” Does this scenario capture any realities?
7. Discuss the relationship between money and education described throughout the novel. What did money buy for the wealthiest families? Should Lily’s inner-city school receive the same amount of funding (per student) as Verona?
8. In your opinion, what does an SAT score measure? Would you pay for your child to receive the daily “test prep” recorded messages featured in the novel?
9. What makes the concept of college admissions competitiveness such a good target for spoofing? How is she able to blend humor with serious topics, and realism with the absurd? Which exaggerations were your favorites?
10. How is Maya’s outlook on success shaped by her summer in India? What had she believed about typical teenagers? Are the students depicted in the novel typical teenagers?
11. Nina insists that Taylor needs acceptance to a university where she will find a rich husband. Does a young woman’s key to success differ from a young man’s? How have college admissions standards changed since Nina was on the hunt for a spouse?
12. What is the effect of the sometimes elaborate background stories given for various characters, such as Basil Dickerson’s history at Enron, “overseeing the trading of charity futures”?
13. Discuss the satire of academia in Acceptance. After exercising so much power, why must Olivia remain an acting dean and compete in a recruitment search? Will she ever get to be truly in charge of anything? What are the honest answers to the applicants’ questions about getting into a top-tier school?
14. Taylor decides not to follow the considerable advice she receives regarding her application essay, and her decision to be frank almost keeps her out of college. What would have happened if she had crafted a “selling” essay for college admissions?
15. The Yashequana lawsuit recalls headlines about prestigious universities that now have to confront embarrassing aspects of their histories. How do the current goals of these universities compare to the principles on which they were founded?
16. What were your reactions to the novel’s ending? Which would have served Harry better: huge debt and a Harvard degree, or a free ride at the University of Maryland?
17. In the epilogue, Harry reads a statistic that implies it’s harder to get a job at Wal-Mart than to be admitted to Harvard. How does the competitive scenario described in Acceptance compare to life after college? To what degree do American universities resemble corporations?
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“Acceptance is A+ entertainment—witty, clever, and unpretentious. Excellent reading for all, but a MUST-READ for anyone with teenage children.”
—Anita Shreve
“Having just sent one kid off to college and with a second now preparing to apply, I had shivers of recognition again and again as I read Acceptance. Fortunately, each shiver came along with its corresponding several smiles and chuckles. Susan Coll has written a dead-on satire that’s also full of heart, which is a rare achievement.”
—Kurt Andersen, author of Heyday
“I don’t know why anyone would bother with those big, ugly college admissions manuals when a novel as smart and savvy as Acceptance can give us the same tips, with laughs. Susan Coll could make hell fun—and she does.”
—Marilyn Johnson, author of The Dead Beat: Lost Souls, Lucky Stiffs, and the Perverse Pleasures of Obituaries
