shape up: improve one’s behavior or performance to the required standard.

incredulously: unwilling to admit or accept what is offered as true.

grudging: unwilling; given or allowed only reluctantly or resentfully.

streak: an element of a specified kind in someone’s character. stubborn streak

whisk: take or move (someone or something) somewhere suddenly and quickly.

mediocre: of only average quality; not very good.

salsa: a type of Latin American dance music incorporating elements of jazz and rock.

glide: to move smoothly along without effort.

hunch: raise (one’s shoulders) and bend the top of one’s body forward.

inscrutable: impossible to understand or interpret.

intuit: understand or work out by instinct.

parse: to divide (a sentence) into grammatical parts and identify the parts and their relations to each other.

exploit: make full use of and derive benefit from (a resource).

psychiatrist: diagnosis, treatment and prevention of mental, emotional and behavioral disorders. A psychiatrist is a medical doctor (an M.D. or D.O.) who specializes in mental health, including substance use disorders.

contend with: to have to deal with a difficult or unpleasant situation.

apathy: lack of interest, enthusiasm, or concern.

top-notch: excellent; of very good quality.

For rich parents, it’s more about wanting a return on investment—all the time and resources they put into their kids will have paid off if they lead to this type of college.

paid off: successful.

bragging rights: entitlement to boast about something.

entrée: the main course of a meal.

envious: feeling or showing jealousy.

have a leg up: to gain some advantage; to get a head start.

breakneck speed: carelessly fast and dangerous.

anesthetize: having lost sensation to pain due to the effects of an anesthetic.

slip away: to leave secretly.

be sloppy about: showing lack of care; slovenly or messy

pump: to keep asking someone for information, especially in a way that is not direct.

gets out of someone: to get the truth out of; to get someone to tell you the truth.

inclination: a preference or tendency, or a feeling that makes a person want to do something.

steroidal: of or relating to steroid hormones or their effects.

deprivation: lack of; hardship; the damaging lack of material benefits considered to be basic necessities in a society.

sleep deprivation

palpability: (of a feeling or atmosphere) so intense as to seem almost tangible (touchable).

prop up: to stop (something) from falling or slipping by placing something under or against it.

measure up: to have necessary or fitting qualifications.

emerita: (of a woman who is the former holder of an office, especially a female college professor) having retired but allowed to retain her title as an honor.

granted: admittedly; it is true (used to introduce a factor that is opposed to the main line of argument but is not regarded as so strong as to invalidate it).

taper off: ​to become gradually less in number, amount, degree, etc.

binge-drink

cope with: to deal with and attempt to overcome problems and difficulties. cope with stress

survival-of-the-fittest: organisms best adjusted to their environment are the most successful in surviving and reproducing.

entitlement: People high in entitlement believe that they should get what they want because of who they are—and their sense of deservingness is not based on what others would consider to be good reasons.

crevice: a narrow opening or fissure, especially in a rock or wall.

Some of the students I taught at one Manhattan private school even believed in social Darwinism—the discredited idea that one is rich because one is better, simply stated. They defended it with all their hearts.

discredited: the idea of social Darwinism is no longer accepted or believed to be true by most people.

unabashed: not worried about being criticized or embarrassed.

corrosive: having the quality of corroding or eating away; erosive; harmful or destructive;

litany: a long list spoken or given to someone, esp. to someone who has heard or seen it before or finds it boring.

most behavior she doesn’t like, including the assignment of homework, constitutes bullying.

constitute: to be or be considered as something.

incrimination: to charge with or show evidence or proof of involvement in a crime or fault.

bully: a person who habitually seeks to harm or intimidate those whom they perceive as vulnerable.

zeal: eagerness and ardent interest in pursuit of something.

chaperone: accompany and look after or supervise.

egg on: to urge or encourage (someone) to do something that is usually foolish or dangerous.

make an example of someone: punish someone so as to be a warning to others.

I wait for Sophie to bring up her arrest and subsequent community-service requirement with me, but she never does.

bring up: raise a matter for discussion or consideration.

acne: a common skin condition that happens when hair follicles under the skin become clogged.

ciabatta: a type of flattish, open-textured Italian bread with a floury crust, made with olive oil.

stash: store (something) safely and secretly in a specified place.

duvet: a duvet is used as the top layer of bedding to keep the sleeper warm as they rest. 

in evidence: noticeable; conspicuous.

counselor: a person trained to give guidance on personal, social, or psychological problems.

bereft: (of a person) sad and lonely, especially through someone’s death or departure.

shuttling: travel regularly between two or more places.

requisite: needed for a particular purpose.

pinch: (of a person or their face) tense and pale from cold, worry, or hunger.

look in on: to make a brief social visit to (someone).

overlook: have a view of from above.

crooner: a singer, typically a male one, who sings sentimental songs in a soft, low voice.

guise of: the appearance of someone or something, especially when intended to deceive.

He doesn’t crack The Great Gatsby, though it was assigned to him, but he is suddenly and unexpectedly enthusiastic about As I Lay Dying, Faulkner’s absurdist tale of the fruitless quest of the Bundrens, a down-and-out Southern family, to bury their mother.

crack: if someone cracks, that person begins to feel weak and agrees that they have been defeated.

down-and-out: (of a person) without money, a job, or a place to live; destitute.

laconic: (of a person, speech, or style of writing) using very few words.

sedate: calm, dignified, and unhurried.

wash over: (of a feeling) affect someone suddenly.

depart for: leave, especially in order to start a journey.

garnish: decorate or embellish (something, especially food).

unadorned: lacking embellishment or decoration; plain, simple.

drowsy: sleepy and lethargic; half asleep.

in anticipation: with the probability or expectation of something happening.

surreally: having an oddly dreamlike quality.

pinstriped: (of cloth) having a pattern of very narrow stripes.

bring up the issue: to discuss, talk about a subject/something.

confront about: face up to and deal with (a problem or difficult situation).

yapping dog: barking dog.

blaring: make or cause to make a loud, harsh sound.

trail: the scent trail that a perfume leaves behind as it evaporates. trailing perfume

steel oneself: to make (oneself) ready for something difficult or unpleasant.

lacquer: a hard glossy coating made by dissolving cellulose derivatives or natural resins in a volatile solvent. a black resinous substance, obtained from certain trees, used to give a hard glossy finish to wooden furniture; covered with red. lacquered nail

subdued: (of a person or their manner) quiet and rather reflective or depressed.

the elephant in the room: an obvious problem or difficult situation that people do not want to talk about.

veracity: the quality of being true or the habit of telling the truth.

travail: work especially of a painful or laborious nature.

histrionically: in a way that is very emotional and energetic, but is not sincere or lacks real meaning.

down the hall: at the end of the corridor.

renovate: restore (something old, especially a building) to a good state of repair.

exterior: the outer surface or structure of something.

mount defense: to prepare for an attack; to get ready to fight back.

get off on the wrong foot: make a bad start at something, especially a task or relationship.

get off on the right foot: to make a successful start.

bristling: (especially of hair) close-set, stiff, and spiky. bristling eyebrows

catching voice: when that person is in a very emotional state, and the voice fails.

make good strides: advance considerably, make good progress.

pluck off: take hold of (something) and quickly remove it from its place.

sequence: arrange in a particular order.

incredulous: (of a person or their manner) unwilling or unable to believe something.

stump: walk stiffly and noisily.

akin: look like, as.

neuroses: a mental condition that is not caused by organic disease, involving symptoms of stress (depression, anxiety, obsessive behaviour, hypochondria) but not a radical loss of touch with reality.

run rampant: to go unchecked or without control; to be wild or excessive.

opulence: great wealth or luxuriousness.

neo gilded age: the junk-bond 1980s.

stranglehold: complete or overwhelming control.

stagnate: cease developing; become inactive or dull.

frenetic: fast and energetic in a rather wild and uncontrolled way.

fretting: be constantly or visibly worried or anxious.

hyperactivity: constant activity, being easily distracted, impulsiveness, inability to concentrate, aggressiveness, and similar behaviors.

putrefy: to decay, producing a strong, unpleasant smell.

austere: severe or strict in manner, attitude, or appearance.

resemblance: the state of resembling or being alike.

embodiment: a tangible or visible form of an idea, quality, or feeling.

disciplinary: part of the process when a company wants to address an employee’s behaviour.

sustenance: food and drink regarded as a source of strength; nourishment.

countenancing: admit as acceptable or possible.

artisanal: (of a product, especially food or drink) made in a traditional or non-mechanized way.

artisanal hot chocolate

corporal: of, relating to, or affecting the body.  corporal and unreasonable punishments

rigorous: extremely thorough exhaustive; strict or accurate.

conventional history: traditional history

unravel: investigate and solve or explain (something complicated or puzzling).

grounding: basic training or instruction in a subject.

College consortiums are formed through a collaboration between multiple institutes of higher learning that expands educational opportunities for students of all the participating schools. 

delve into: to examine something carefully in order to discover more information about someone or something.

exhilarating: making one feel very happy, animated, or elated; thrilling.

Enrichment programs are scheduled extracurricular classes where students can receive advanced academic instruction, get extra help with homework assignments, or discover new hobbies, interests and activities outside the classroom setting.

brashness: behavior that shows a lot of confidence and not much respect.

comb the newspaper: to make a thorough search of the newspaper.

facile: (especially of success in sports) easily achieved; effortless.

popcorn style: a technique to mix the order of speakers in a meeting by letting the current speaker choose the one who will speak next. Think about it like “passing the mic”.

The term boilerplate refers to standardized text, copy, documents, methods, or procedures that may be used over again without making major changes to the original.

infected by the bug of popular culture.

be bitten by the bug: used figuratively to describe someone as very interested in or excited about something.

on a daily level: happening each day; daily.

She can spend hours surfing the web and is up to date about the younger Kardashians on a daily level, while she is not as well versed in her classwork.

osmosis: the way in which ideas and information gradually spread between people.

intimate: a very close friend.

Celebrity comes directly from the Latin celebritatum, meaning famous, and is related to the verb celebrate which means to honor something with the proper ritual. 

be bound to: be e certain or destined to; also, be determined or resolved to.

pepper with questions: to hit (someone) repeatedly with (something).

track work: construction or maintenance of railroad tracks.

veracity: the quality of being true or the habit of telling the truth.

miffed: somewhat annoyed; peeved.

intensely: to an extreme degree.

pathological narcissism: a mental health condition in which people have an unreasonably high sense of their own importance.

fretting: be constantly or visibly worried or anxious.

apogee: the highest point in the development of something.

toss-up: a situation that doesn’t have one outcome or choice that’s clearly better or more likely than another.

sexism: prejudice, stereotyping, or discrimination, typically against women, on the basis of sex.