Getting In: A Novel Read Online Free PDF Page B

her list, and Nora would have wondered why her beloved and accomplished daughter was clinging by a hangnail to the bottom of the acceptance brackets at so many schools.
    Still, they had a list, which Ted transferred to Crestview’s printed form and embellished with underlining and brackets, arrows and margin notes. The point of this meeting was to evaluate the schools and divide them into three categories—Stretches,Even Odds, and the newly renamed Best Chances, which he had called Safety Schools until last year, when a very contentious father complained to the head of school that safety meant safety, and what was Crestview going to do about the fact that his child had been rejected?
    Ted made three copies and handed them out:
     
    STRETCHES
    Stanford
    Williams/Wesleyan
    Columbia
    Northwestern , underlined, with an arrow pointing down toward the Even Odds category, with the notation, “Early?”
     
    EVEN ODDS
    University of Michigan (too big?)
    Claremont (too small, too near?)
    NYU (no campus), also underlined, with a smaller arrow and “Early?” pointing toward the Best Chance category. Ted knew of eight other students who planned to apply early, a bit of information he would not reveal unless asked.
     
    BEST CHANCES
    UC Santa Barbara
    Skidmore
     
    “So all you need is another best-chance school and I’ll let you go,” said Ted.
    “But there’s no place else I want to go,” said Lauren. “I mean, I don’t even want to go to some of these.”
    “You know the rule. Everybody comes up with three likely candidates and I get to sleep at night. We’re just a bit top-heavyhere. A bit top-heavy. We need to add a little more weight at the bottom.”
    Lauren’s voice got smaller. “I’ll think about it. Can’t I make NYU a best chance?”
    She had opened the door.
    “Bad-mouth it to the other seniors,” Ted said. “Your test scores are strong—”
    “That’s nice to hear,” Nora interrupted. A score of 2200 in May might not beat Sam the barista, but with his help Lauren had improved on her April score, and she was going to try one more time in October.
    “Mom.”
    “Well, they are, sweetheart. It’s nice to hear Ted say so.”
    “The scores are strong,” Ted continued, rowing for shore, “but I’d like the GPA up just a little, so no slacking this semester, no senioritis. It would be good if they didn’t have the biggest increase in apps of anybody last year, which makes them even hotter this year, but there’s not much you can do about that. Except convince your friends they’d hate it.”
    “Wait a minute,” said Nora, trying for a light tone. “I’ve got it. Tell us a great school nobody wants to apply to and Lauren can go there.”
    “Macalester,” said Ted, without hesitation.
    “Where’s that?” said Joel.
    “Minnesota,” said Ted. “St. Paul, either of you been there? Really a great city, great food…”
    “I am not going to school in Minnesota,” said Lauren, a pinched note of fear in her voice.
    That was Ted’s cue: logic and strategy were about to give way to emotion, and to preserve his sanity he had to get them out of his office, fast. “Anyhow, let me know by Friday and we’re good.” He stood up and shook hands all around, and before the Chaikensquite knew what had happened they were standing outside the counseling offices. Lauren put on her best harried face. The bell was not going to ring for another ten minutes, but her parents did not know that.
    “Listen, Chloe wants me to come by after school, so can you go home together and I’ll take Mom’s car?”
    She waited while her parents got flustered, compared their schedules, and worked out a new plan. Other girls’ parents acted as though they had it down cold, whether they did or not. Lauren’s parents were in what her dad called a suspended state of constant revision, which was not as unnerving as it sounded. Lauren knew they were going to let her use the car because they missed Chloe, too, so there was