Small Admissions by Amy Poeppel brings together two of my favorite themes:  rich people behaving badly and an academic setting.  When the book opens, Kate has dropped out of graduate school and is struggling with what to do with her life—and even getting out of bed.  She manages to get a job working in the admissions department of an exclusive private school in New York City, where she has to interview and evaluate both the children applying to the school and their parents.