GETTING IN records the route taken by an ingenious applicant, Tapioca Strangeways of Rising Gorge, Vermont, in order to gain admission to highly selective Riddle University. It begins when Tapioca receives permission from Dean Dorman, a young admissions officer at Riddle, to write an Admissions essay that's far longer than the one required of all the other applicants. And that essay goes on for ten autobiographical chapters, each of which charmingly and modestly presents one or more facets of Tapioca's depth, unique well-roundedness and overall worth to a university like Riddle. Interrupting...