NYT: "Peak College Admissions Insanity"

[Anonymous]

Seems about right to me:

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/01/opinion/college-admissions-applications.html?unlocked_article_code=1.ok0.G9-F.xk2gFRSMz5Td&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

[Anonymous]

I thought it was good and covered all bases, except one, that I continue to rant about.

Part of the reason there is so much competition for the top schools is because so-called elite employers only recruit from them. We need companies to see that there are tons of bright students everywhere. Just look at the girl profiled in the article who is clearly smart and likely has a ton of grit. She's going to Hunter College where no investment bank or MBB would ever look to hire from. Until that mindset is broken, things will not change.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I thought it was good and covered all bases, except one, that I continue to rant about.

Part of the reason there is so much competition for the top schools is because so-called elite employers only recruit from them. We need companies to see that there are tons of bright students everywhere. Just look at the girl profiled in the article who is clearly smart and likely has a ton of grit. She's going to Hunter College where no investment bank or MBB would ever look to hire from. Until that mindset is broken, things will not change.

You clearly didn't read until the end. She got a full ride to Wesleyan.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I thought it was good and covered all bases, except one, that I continue to rant about.

Part of the reason there is so much competition for the top schools is because so-called elite employers only recruit from them. We need companies to see that there are tons of bright students everywhere. Just look at the girl profiled in the article who is clearly smart and likely has a ton of grit. She's going to Hunter College where no investment bank or MBB would ever look to hire from. Until that mindset is broken, things will not change.

I agree with your point, but also the girl you’re referring to is going to Wesleyan, if you read all the way to the end.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I thought it was good and covered all bases, except one, that I continue to rant about.

Part of the reason there is so much competition for the top schools is because so-called elite employers only recruit from them. We need companies to see that there are tons of bright students everywhere. Just look at the girl profiled in the article who is clearly smart and likely has a ton of grit. She's going to Hunter College where no investment bank or MBB would ever look to hire from. Until that mindset is broken, things will not change.

It said she ended up getting a full-ride from Wesleyan at the last minute, so she is going there. Believe that is on these companies' target list.

Also, I believe that City University in NY is a big feeder of employees to Wall Street. I bet Hunter does OK too because of location. Both I assume hire kids as interns and then extend FT offers to the kids that do well.

[Anonymous]

Our family is just getting started in the college process, so forgive me if I’m totally wrong here, but this article has me confused. I thought for ED, you could use the college’s aid calculation tool to get a sense of what aid you might get and then if accepted ED, you could wait until the aid information was received before pulling your other applications, and reject the ED offer if it wasn’t in the ballpark of what the school calculator had indicated. This article seems to say that if you apply ED but also apply for FA and get in, you are obligated to pull your other applications before knowing your FA result and have committed to go regardless of FA result—although the article does indicate colleges would not be able to force a student to attend a school they couldn’t attend.

So which is correct as far as ED if you need FA?

[Anonymous]

^sorry, couldn’t for force a student to attend a college they couldn’t *afford*. Typo.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our family is just getting started in the college process, so forgive me if I’m totally wrong here, but this article has me confused. I thought for ED, you could use the college’s aid calculation tool to get a sense of what aid you might get and then if accepted ED, you could wait until the aid information was received before pulling your other applications, and reject the ED offer if it wasn’t in the ballpark of what the school calculator had indicated. This article seems to say that if you apply ED but also apply for FA and get in, you are obligated to pull your other applications before knowing your FA result and have committed to go regardless of FA result—although the article does indicate colleges would not be able to force a student to attend a school they couldn’t attend.

So which is correct as far as ED if you need FA?

The former is correct.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I thought it was good and covered all bases, except one, that I continue to rant about.

Part of the reason there is so much competition for the top schools is because so-called elite employers only recruit from them. We need companies to see that there are tons of bright students everywhere. Just look at the girl profiled in the article who is clearly smart and likely has a ton of grit. She's going to Hunter College where no investment bank or MBB would ever look to hire from. Until that mindset is broken, things will not change.

Until the mindset of “only elite employers for my kid” mindset changes, things will not change.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our family is just getting started in the college process, so forgive me if I’m totally wrong here, but this article has me confused. I thought for ED, you could use the college’s aid calculation tool to get a sense of what aid you might get and then if accepted ED, you could wait until the aid information was received before pulling your other applications, and reject the ED offer if it wasn’t in the ballpark of what the school calculator had indicated. This article seems to say that if you apply ED but also apply for FA and get in, you are obligated to pull your other applications before knowing your FA result and have committed to go regardless of FA result—although the article does indicate colleges would not be able to force a student to attend a school they couldn’t attend.

So which is correct as far as ED if you need FA?

The former is correct.

Well then I wish someone had told that to the girl in the article so she could have applied ED to Barnard like she wanted to. Glad she got a full scholarship to Wesleyan though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought it was good and covered all bases, except one, that I continue to rant about.

Part of the reason there is so much competition for the top schools is because so-called elite employers only recruit from them. We need companies to see that there are tons of bright students everywhere. Just look at the girl profiled in the article who is clearly smart and likely has a ton of grit. She's going to Hunter College where no investment bank or MBB would ever look to hire from. Until that mindset is broken, things will not change.

It said she ended up getting a full-ride from Wesleyan at the last minute, so she is going there. Believe that is on these companies' target list.

Also, I believe that City University in NY is a big feeder of employees to Wall Street. I bet Hunter does OK too because of location. Both I assume hire kids as interns and then extend FT offers to the kids that do well.

I think you’re missing the larger point that PP was making, which was spot on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought it was good and covered all bases, except one, that I continue to rant about.

Part of the reason there is so much competition for the top schools is because so-called elite employers only recruit from them. We need companies to see that there are tons of bright students everywhere. Just look at the girl profiled in the article who is clearly smart and likely has a ton of grit. She's going to Hunter College where no investment bank or MBB would ever look to hire from. Until that mindset is broken, things will not change.

Until the mindset of “only elite employers for my kid” mindset changes, things will not change.

Yup

[Anonymous]

Regarding the ED finance calculators, if it is just suggesting merit b/c you don't qualify for need-based aid, if they don't give merit, are you still on the hook? If merit is shown on the calculator, is it pretty definite that you will get that?

[Anonymous]

If the so-called elite employers think they're doing well recruiting from a certain set of schools, what incentive do they have to spend more time/money looking elsewhere for (in their mind) marginal value?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought it was good and covered all bases, except one, that I continue to rant about.

Part of the reason there is so much competition for the top schools is because so-called elite employers only recruit from them. We need companies to see that there are tons of bright students everywhere. Just look at the girl profiled in the article who is clearly smart and likely has a ton of grit. She's going to Hunter College where no investment bank or MBB would ever look to hire from. Until that mindset is broken, things will not change.

It said she ended up getting a full-ride from Wesleyan at the last minute, so she is going there. Believe that is on these companies' target list.

Also, I believe that City University in NY is a big feeder of employees to Wall Street. I bet Hunter does OK too because of location. Both I assume hire kids as interns and then extend FT offers to the kids that do well.

I think you’re missing the larger point that PP was making, which was spot on.

Nope, we now have no evidence of a quality student attending Hunter. The recruiters have more data than that PP, they avoid low end schools for a reason. They expect the college admissions process to find the exceptions.