Crazy U
Created: Sunday, 31 August 2014
Written by Super User
Crazy U: One Dad's Crash Course in Getting His Kid Into College
by Andrew Ferguson. Non-fiction. “Ferguson's book about college admissions makes you scream, ‘WHAT are we DOING?’ The book’s narrative focus -- Ferguson’s son’s journey through college admissions – stands alone in depicting the utter madness that defines the process of trying to get a kid into college (and then, somehow, paying for it). But Ferguson reinforces the sense of lunacy with interesting history and analysis. And Ferguson is SO funny. To wit, Ferguson, having been told his son should ‘dig deep’ and talk about his ‘innermost thoughts’ when writing his essay, Ferguson observes ‘seventeen-year-old boys do not have innermost thoughts – and if they did, neither you nor I would want to know what they are.’)” As the Washington Post put it, ‘It may seem strange to say that a book so full of heartache is a pleasure to read, but Ferguson's storytelling is irresistible. ’ Ferguson only begins to touch on the question that is probably at the heart of the higher ed bubble - is a Bachelor's degree truly worth a quarter million dollars and an unspeakable hassle? - but he does get you thinking.”
