Admissions

A Memoir of Surviving Boarding School

By: Kendra James

Narrated by: Mela Lee

A sharp-witted and deeply insightful look into the storied world of elite prep schools from the first African American legacy student to graduate from the Taft School.

Early on in Kendra James’ professional life, she began to feel like she was selling a lie. As an admissions officer specializing in diversity recruitment for independent prep schools, she persuaded students and families to embark on the same perilous journey she herself had made - to attend cutthroat and largely White schools similar to the Taft School, where she had been the first African American legacy student only a few years earlier. Her new job forced her to reflect on her own elite education experience and to realize how disillusioned she had become with America’s inequitable system.

In Admissions, Kendra looks back at the three years she spent at Taft, chronicling clashes with her lily-White roommate, how she had to unlearn the respectability politics she'd been raised with, and the fallout from a horrifying article in the student newspaper that accused Black and Latinx students of being responsible for segregation of campus. Through these stories, some troubling, others hilarious, she deconstructs the lies and half truths she herself would later tell as an admissions professional, in addition to the myths about boarding schools perpetuated by popular culture.

With its combination of incisive social critique and uproarious depictions of elite nonsense, Admissions will resonate with anyone who has ever been The Only One in a room, dealt with racial microaggressions, or even just suffered from an extreme case of homesickness.

©2022 Kendra James (P)2022 Grand Central Publishing

Critic reviews

"What an extraordinary, razor-sharp book! Kendra James offers a gimlet-eyed insider’s view of being an outsider, painting the complicated world of elite schooling with such vividness and dark humor. This is a crucial account for our moment - asking and answering the question of how power is held, shifted, and grasped after by even the youngest in our society. I raced through the pages of Admissions, hungry for James’s voice and brilliant insights. The schooling she writes about may have been exclusive, but this book will electrify every reader." (R. Eric Thomas, best-selling author of Here for It)

“Through frequent pop culture allusions and a dry sense of humor, Kendra James reveals a world largely unexamined - the life of an American Black girl at a prestigious boarding school. Readers will shake their heads at young Kendra’s nerdy naïveté and frown at her classmates’ bigotry and bullying. As Kendra discovers the fallout of her own parents’ respectability politics and intraracial biases, she also learns more about her own identity and how she wants to navigate her life. Kendra James’ honest reflections as she looks back on what it means to be Not Like the Others will leave readers thinking about their own experiences with privilege and marginalization. Admissions is a captivating memoir, highlighting the complicated notions of upward mobility, belonging, entitlement, and community. Kendra has written a true eye-opener.” (Nichole Perkins, author of Sometimes I Trip on How Happy We Could Be)

"Admissions is a memoir of the highest caliber." (Bitch Media)

Listened practically straight through

As a white prep school fac-brat myself, I’ve spent years detangling the web of lies about intelligence, fairness and diversity I was indoctrinated into. While I’ve had many heated arguments with friends about how they should NOT put their children through this same system, now this book is a fantastic resource I can point them to. Told in a compelling, page turner type of way, with insight & clarity, I am deeply grateful to the author for writing about a time a lot of us would rather forget entirely.

An Important Story

I am a Taftie, class of ‘76, the fourth year in the school’s history that girls were part of the student body. I arrived there as an upper mid from having been at the Dalton School from 3rd through 10th grade. I am Jewish, so was somewhat of a minority in that sense in the prep school world, (and to my knowledge did not experience anti-semitism there - but maybe I was unaware, as I was of many things at that time) and the first in my family to have ever gone to boarding school. But I had long blond hair and bought Levi corduroys, turtle necks and Wallaby shoes (popular preppie shoes at that time) happy at 16 to superficially adopt the preppie identity. Though I can’t say Taft was a great experience for me socially, never would I have had the experience that Kendra James relates with great authority and urgency in Admissions. I listened to this book, not only because I went to Taft, knew the places and even some of the teachers and administrators she referenced, but because as far as I know, no one else has written about what students of color experience in the prep school world which is, indeed a world unto itself, yet also still a microcosm of the male dominated misogynistic and racist society our America is. Take for instance Ketanji Brown Jackson’s repulsive grilling by GOP Senators which was ironically occurring as I listened to James’ book. As an Upper Mid I wheedled out of taking American History at Taft which was, like its Honor Code a large part of being a Taft student, but now I know how much was left out of those history books and I’m glad I did not get that revisionist history taught to me. This book offers no clear solution to what Kendra James faced as a teenager at this school, but does us a service by bringing attention to the intractable problem that is part of the small elite society of all boarding schools like it, and the larger one we face every day. I will say that the education I received at Dalton and at Taft was a great one - enabling me to think critically which is the best of what an education gives us. Would that we all could receive the same without those who happen not to have white skin having to endure the inequities and daily indignities, injustices, and hurt that so deeply harm the soul, particularly the tender one of a teenager just beginning, as was I, too, at that age, to discover and celebrate her unique identity.

A story that needed to be told

As a black woman whose time at a New England boarding school overlapped with Kendra’s, I was spellbound reading this book. This triggered core memories and emotions for me that I haven’t tapped into in decades, and even put words to feelings that I could never quite describe before.

There was so much shock, confusion, and trauma in my 4yrs at boarding school that I was not prepared for at all, but it was such a niche experience and one that people still see as a ‘privilege’ for me that it’s been hard to put to words and layout in the context of race politics as they’ve evolved today.

Thank you Kendra for sharing your story. You’ve helped me heal in my mid-30s in ways I wish I could have decades ago.

Loved it!

As a military academy graduate, I very much related to this story. I also loved hearing about places in Connecticut that I'm familiar with as a Connecticut resident. This book makes you want to be sure to have different conversations with your African American high school children as they enter certain environments where they may be "the only". It is amazing how Kendra's story, although unique to her, is the same story shared by most African American children in these environments from decades prior to her and will be the same story for decades later. Thank you for capturing our story, Kendra.

great listen

An insider peek into the white, elite private boarding school world from an outsider. I walked away liking the author who is a gamer, Lord of the Rings fan girl who I can identify with regardless of race. The book gives voice to experiences for many of us who are people of color that are considered to be on the "inside". But yet feel the barriers to continue to separate us from our classmates and peers.

A glimpse into a world little known about

This memoir provides a little glimpse into the world of an elite prep school and details the struggles of a Black woman as she adjusts and comes into her own. I'm glad that this was published, and I look forward to reading more memoir about regular Black folks navigating predominantly white spaces. Her writing of Taft, the boarding school, did not come across as being academically challenging, and I would have loved to have heard more about how prep schools prepare people, academically and socially, for the "real world." I would have also loved to hear more about Mrs. Gallagher and how she came to arrive at Taft.

A phenomenal and panoramic view of the boarding school experience

Boarding school experiences vary wildly but Kendra’s memoir of her time at Taft strikes chords of familiarity that many will find familiar , especially students of color . From beginning to end I couldn’t stop listening and appreciated seeing Taft through her eyes. A must read for any prospective boarding school student and administrator . Her work is a flaming tower of truth that will live on for generations .

Captivating Book

As a graduate of the same boarding school the author references, I can say she is spot on in describing sights, scenarios, and situations only someone who has lived this experience could detail. I mostly enjoyed my boarding school experience, but the author raises very valid concerns about the unaddressed and underlying race issues that plague all elite American institutions. This book has forced me to reassess how I can be more instrumental in reaching back to aid boarding school students of color.

Authentic From the Author’s Perspective

Although I did not agree 100% to every story in this book, I wholeheartedly admit and admire this story told wholly from the author’s perspective and will definitely make the reader think holistically about boarding school experience for a POC.