The Golden Ticket: A Life in College Admissions Essays by Irena Smith

Each chapter of The Golden Ticket :A Life in College Admissions Essays starts with a prompt from a college essay. In the spirit of the book, I am sharing a prompt from MIT’s application.

We know you lead a life, full of activities, many of which are required of you. Please tell us about something you do simply for the pleasure of it.

Luckily as the author shares we are adults and do not have to worry about word count!  For me, things I do simply for pleasure are reading, scrapbooking , and connecting with friends. How would you answer?

My Review: I have thoroughly enjoyed reading The Golden Ticket: A Life in College Admissions Essays by Irena Smith. The author uses college application prompts to share her story, the stories of her students and families, and weaving in valuable lessons about living life. The author has the gift of sharing stories about her family while being real, funny and thoughtful. Her honesty is refreshing, and her story will resonate with anyone who has had a struggle with a child.

As the mom of students who have filled out many college applications I deeply appreciated her humorous, insightful and honest views on the college admittance process. She has a gracious way of putting the process in perspective, making you laugh out loud, and reminding you what is really important in life. I highly recommend The Golden Ticket by Irena Smith.

I was given a copy by the publisher and not required to write a positive review.

Irena founded her college consulting practice 15 years ago, drawing on her experience as an admission officer at Stanford University, where she read and reviewed thousands of applications. Now, she helps school students find and celebrate their best stories as they navigate the application process.

Irena has a BA in English from UCLA and a PhD in Comparative Literature, also from UCLA, where she received a Distinguished Teaching Assistant Award and a Dissertation Year Fellowship.

Irena has taught literature and composition at UCLA and Stanford and has nearly 20 years of experience as a writer, editor, and teacher. Her memoir, The Golden Ticket, explores the college application process from the perspectives of a parent, college counselor, and admissions officer. She is a voracious reader, a fervent proponent of the serial comma, and a shameless consumer of Trader Joe’s chocolate-covered espresso beans.