Are students caught in the race to get ahead?

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I was not supposed to be a part of this story. As a journalist, I view my role as that of an observer, not a participant. As a storyteller, I like the novelesque quality of scenes in which readers forget that a reporter buffers them from the “characters.” For the rest of this book, my perspective will be absent from the students’ stories. In this case, however, it’s important to share how I got in the way.

When Julie and her mother invited me to accompany them on their second official visit to the college counselor, I readily agreed. I was interested to see whether Julie would stand by her personal preferences or decide the “expert” knew best. We agreed that Julie’s mother would tell the college counselor I would join them. The day before the meeting, I learned that Vera wanted to speak with me.

The college counselor informed me that she had a “near-perfect record” of getting her students into elite universities. Julie, she said, was far behind the rest of her clients in the application process. “All my other students are almost done. Julie hasn’t even started her essays,” she said. (Julie, who was itching to write her essays, had told me that Vera instructed her not to start them.) Then Vera hit me with something unexpected. She said, “She’s not a great student. She’s not going to get into a top college.” And if I, as a reporter, happened to follow one of her clients who didn’t end up getting into such a school, Vera told me, her reputation would be “slammed.”

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Brutally honest, indeed. It was hard to believe we were discussing the same girl: straight-A, Advanced Placement student, three-sport varsity captain, triathlete, excellent writer, a girl with a passion for science ... At first I assured Vera that she could be anonymous in this book, with no identifying details disclosed. “Oh, anonymity isn’t the issue. I wouldn’t mind my name in there. It’s publicity,” she said. She told me she would love to be interviewed, she could introduce me to people, she had so much to say. “I can be helpful in other ways!” she said eagerly. I was perplexed. The conversation ended unresolved.

The next morning Vera left a message on my voice mail: “Julie and I have decided to postpone our meeting.”

Now that the afternoon was free, I called Julie to see if she wanted to get lunch instead. While on the phone, I asked her why she and Vera had postponed the meeting. “Oh, wow,” she breathed in an even more halting voice than usual. “Um ... Well, Vera told my father that she wouldn’t work with me if I worked with you.”

I was mortified. Julie’s family had barely gotten to know me, and already my presence in their lives, which was supposed to be as a sideline spectator, was an obstacle in the very process through which I hoped to follow Julie. I called Vera to tell her that I wouldn’t attend her meetings, I wouldn’t mention anything about her if she kept Julie on as a client, and it wasn’t worth dropping Julie because of me. But I was too late. Vera had delivered her ultimatum. She maintained that if a reporter shadowed one of the few clients she had who she believed wouldn’t be accepted into an elite school, then Vera’s record would be ruined. It was either Vera or me.

I backed off. For days I waited on pins and needles for the situation to be settled one way or the other. Then one afternoon I got a call from Julie. “This is going to make a great college essay!” she said. “My college counselor fired me!”

Excerpted from “The Overachievers: The Secret Lives of Driven Kids,” by Alexandra Robbins. Copyright © 2006, Alexandra Robbins. All rights reserved. Published by Hyperion. No part of this excerpt can be used without permission of the publisher.

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Are students caught in the race to get ahead?