The Golden Ticket: A Life in College Admissions Essays Paperback – April 18, 2023

I don't write reviews often, but felt obsessively compelled to write one for this. It is the most brilliant book I have read since the Lessons in Chemistry, Bonnie Garmus' best-selling 2022 debut novel. If you liked that book, you'll love this one.Like Bonnie Garmus, Irena Smith is a first-time author who suffered repeated rejections (66 to be precise, not far shy of Garmus' 99). It's hard to believe that this much talent could be overlooked by so many. Or not. Smith's genius as a writer and memoirist is about as subtle as a stick in the eye. Knowing her personal story, which is deftly revealed in a collection of pithy, poignant and often hilarious essays inspired by real college application essay prompts, makes you want to root for her even harder.Like Garmus, Smith portrays characters (mostly herself, but also her Russian Jewish immigrant family, her husband and children, and her clients and colleagues in the wild world of college admissions) as deeply flawed and quirky and -- because of their myriad imperfections -- deeply lovable.Like Garmus, Smith is an exceptionally intelligent, creative, and precise writer and satirist, weaving golden threads of acerbic wit and incisive social commentary from the straws of painful and absurd experiences (to borrow her own metaphor), ranging from lusting against her mother's wishes after a bodice-ripping romance novel called Lace, to getting kicked out of Europe on a high school trip (and engaging in an awkward to-hell-with-it sort-of-orgy in the process), to watching her grandmother almost choke to death on a danish, to realizing and reckoning with the fact that her first-born son has autism, to guiding hyper-competitive Palo Alto parents and their prodigies, ahem, I mean, progeny, as a highly sought-after college admissions advisor.Smith is everything you could want in an author: wise, witty, entertaining, and real. In that exquisite torture of all great books, the pages will fly by (I say, jangling from caffeine having stayed up all night reading it, just so I can write this review), yet you'll want it to never, ever end. You'll find your breath snatched away by her artful twists and turns of phrase. You'll find yourself laughing out loud at her uncannily relatable observations. You'll be crestfallen at the twists of fate that she, like all of us, long to avoid but inevitably endure, becoming all the wiser.You'll also learn about how to write well (literary present tense is deftly explained in a funny footnote), follow your passions, and mine life experiences for life lessons.Last but not least, you'll learn about how get into college, that elusive Golden Ticket to which the title refers, because Smith's sharp story-telling is exactly the needle of grit, passion, messy authenticity, compassion, and humor that colleges themselves are seeking in the haystack of their admissions pools.In short, this is a must-read for anyone who loves humor, memoir, or social satire, and for anyone who has children going through the college admissions process. And, for everyone who relishes the sheer joy of reading a great writer.

The Golden Ticket is a really engaging combination of vivid personal memoir and sharp social commentary. Irena Smith's writing is exquisite and hilarious. The Golden Ticket reminds me a lot of David Sedaris’ stories in that Smith is also witty, self-deprecating, and often snortingly funny, but if anything Smith has more cohesive themes through her book.She describes her experience of being a college consultant to students (and their parents) who desperately want to get into the most selective colleges in the country, while at the same time being a parent who desperately wants to help her own young son diagnosed with autism. She really succeeds at using the structure of actual college admission essay prompts to bring her voice and personality to life on the page.Each of the book's chapters is a little gem of a personal essay. Smith effortlessly weaves together her biographical experiences and references to literature, movies, and TV shows—some more serious (Homer, Henry James, Mikhail Bulgakov) and some less so (Willy Wonka, Gilligan's Island, Anakin Skywalker)—typically with an emphasis on parents striving to make a better life for their families, to help their children be successful. However, how to define success—what exactly is the golden ticket?—that's the theme that Smith explores. I found her stories to be poignant, thoughtful, and ultimately uplifting.So who is the book for? I think it is for:● Students who would like to be inspired to read deeply and to write authentically.● Students who could benefit from knowing that not getting into Stanford is okay.● Parents wanting a behind the scenes look at the college admissions process.● Parents who could benefit from knowing that not getting into Stanford is okay.● People looking for a thoughtful and nuanced description of the blender of emotions, challenges, and gifts of being the parent of neurodiverse children.● A look at American culture from a Soviet era Jewish emigree who came to the US as a 9 year old speaking no English and who then went on to get a PhD in literature. She uses everything from Nabokov to The Brady Bunch to explore many of the tensions and paradoxes of what it means to be American.● Anyone who wants to be inspired to read more. I can't emphasize enough how good Smith is at making literature engaging and enticing in just a sentence or two. I want to dive into every one of the books she mentions in The Golden Ticket. Her reference list at the end of the book added a ton to my queue of books to read next.In other words, I think this book is for anyone who would like to read a terrific memoir written by a charming, perceptive, and very funny writer. Highly recommended!