The Foreign Service Journal, June 2015

76 JUNE 2015 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL EDUCATION SUPPLEMENT Where You Go does not offer admissions advice, as Mathews’ book does; nor does it profile alternative colleges in depth, as Pope’s book does. But it does offer up- to-date statistics and inspiring profiles, written in Bruni’s evocative prose. Some Questions That’s not to say there aren’t flaws. What are we to make, for example, of the author’s notion of success? He casts a critical eye on today’s students who pos- sess a more narrow focus, tending toward more practical majors that will lead to lucrative jobs. Yet the adults whom Bruni holds up as examples tend to be successful in their work and in their earnings. Yes, they do speak about passion, and the not-always- easy route they took; but their success is nonetheless at least partially defined by their relative wealth. In today’s recession economy, who can blame any student for choosing a major that will lead to financial rewards? That said, it’s important to note Bruni’s insistence that college should be the one place where interests can be expanded on; where personal growth should be the goal as much as finding a well-paying career. It also gives the reader some pause that the students profiled, who for various reasons attend non-prestigious under- graduate institutions, quite often end up earning advanced degrees from Ivy League schools. While his point is that it doesn’t much matter where you go as an undergraduate, Bruni, perhaps unwit- tingly, still portrays Harvard and its ilk as a worthy goal for graduate school. The implication is that a graduate The book gets a bit controversial in its examination of the character of today’s elite students. Continued on page 86