The designs for her college applications are due, and the Winter Formal designs for the girls in her class are almost done, and now there is nothing to do but wait and see which of the three colleges, FIDM, Parsons, or FIT, she is accepted to--and then decide whether her future is in Los Angeles or New York.

Working one-on-one with Tiger-mothered, burned-out kids, Anne "the application whisperer" can make Harvard a reality. Early Decision follows five students over one autumn as Anne helps them craft their college essays, cram for the SATs, and perfect the Common Application. It seems their entire future is on the line and it is. Though not because of Princeton and Yale. It's because the process, warped as it is by money, connections, competition, and...