Anyone else thinks the whole college admission process is a total farse?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I will admit we are not happy with the results of the early rounds. And I hope anyone reading understand it is not coming from a place of bitterness but from a place of helplessness. It is hard to digest how the most venerable institutions of this country peddle and getaway with blatant lies year after year and demolish the spirits of a vast majority of kids.

I am trying to understand how any of their claims add up?

"Application are reviewed holistically & We also like receiving 50,000 applications


They never explain how they manage to read 50k+ apps and how spending 2-5 min per app allows holistic evaluation is beyond me. This is total crap!

There's got to be a better way. I don't know why no journalists have covered this. We are fighting about diversity/discrimination but the issues with college admission is more basic. The college admission first need to stop lying to the kids, period!

They love the 50k+ application fees. Lying is profitable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wish colleges would stop accepted

20 percent international students, then they could take the rural trailer park kid, urban shitty school load and the dcum privileged kid.

THIS. YES.

[Anonymous]

Its a huge money grab.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Manage your expectations.

Love all the colleges on the list.

No one is forcing you to apply to highly competitive schools.

I don’t think you understand OPs point. Read again.

[Anonymous]

Like my folks always told me, life isn’t always fair. The fact that you are comfortable and loved and healthy isn’t fair but here you are!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not really. If a kid wants to go to college they will be able to go. It may not be their first choice but that is life.

We have much bigger issues in this country than whether Larlo gets into the state flagship her parents think she deserves bc she had x EC and x stats.

This is mostly a UMC class anxiety issue.

Agreed. In other countries, if your kid does not have top test scores or is not in the top of the class, they don’t go to college. Period. Americans are so lucky they live in a country where even an average student can go to college.

BS. They just don't go to the top college. They do get to go to *a* college.

Wrong, they don’t go to “a college”, they go to “no college”. That’s how it works in most other countries. Only the top students go to college. Everyone else chooses either trade school, work or some kind of apprenticeship. Again, we are very lucky in this country. There are so many things we take for granted and college is one of them.

We send more people to college than we should. The quality of work has gone down and many are not only not academically prepared, but not intellectually able to meet standards of the past. Then we graduate too many people in soft majors and they can't find a job to pay back their loans.

[Anonymous]

Holistic review is a great idea but its only a cover for supporting institutional interests.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP Here. It is sad to see how we all predictably veered towards arguing about affirmative action, privilege, discrimination etc. etc. This is probably why we are all in this mess.

Frankly, all those issues exist and are valid. However what we are missing is the discussion on the institutions that are supposed to teach our kids to build a better and just society are misleading and lying to everyone form all backgrounds and walks of life. The whole process of admission instead of healing is creating division, and making kids and parents fight each other as if it is the hunger games.

I don't think this is the fault of the universities. This is the product of the increase in numbers of the UMC population and their desire for their progeny to remain there. The truly affluent don't need the pedigree of top schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I will admit we are not happy with the results of the early rounds. And I hope anyone reading understand it is not coming from a place of bitterness but from a place of helplessness. It is hard to digest how the most venerable institutions of this country peddle and getaway with blatant lies year after year and demolish the spirits of a vast majority of kids.

I am trying to understand how any of their claims add up?

"Application are reviewed holistically & We also like receiving 50,000 applications


They never explain how they manage to read 50k+ apps and how spending 2-5 min per app allows holistic evaluation is beyond me. This is total crap!

There's got to be a better way. I don't know why no journalists have covered this. We are fighting about diversity/discrimination but the issues with college admission is more basic. The college admission first need to stop lying to the kids, period!

They love the 50k+ application fees. Lying is profitable.

Spend 5 minutes and do the math in your head and tell me how colleges make a profit on applications.

And before you respond think it though because I promise you they don't and yes I can show my work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Holistic review is a great idea but its only a cover for supporting institutional interests.

How, exactly, is it a "cover"? They admit freely that they build a class that supports their mission, they always have and they always will. It's not a race where the top 2,000 scores get admissions offers. A competitive college can't, and won't, function that way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I totally agree. Although it seems rough, I think countries that base it all on one exam have a system that makes more sense. Set a lower threshold for kids from below a certain income level to ensure parity.

Except in those countries cheating is rampant and the wealthy get to skip the test entirely.

Don't fool yourself that anyone has really figured it out.

But it is much much worse than it was 15 or 20 years ago. There was a semblance of merit and college decisions made sense. It was never surprising who got into Harvard. Now it feels completely random and out of control. Our universities are shooting themselves in the foot. Their prestige and credibility are suffering.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yep. 100%

The amount of lying and marketing oneself and trying to show you have some trauma or special adversity or belong to some outlier group so you can curry favor to Admin officers. It's gross.

And the fake non-profits and the no standards at times with overinflated gpas and no test results.

It's really gotten so out of hand given the sheer volume of applicants universities now face.

I swear it should be changed to this:




Everyone that meets certain requirements all get put in the hat and then they pull out admits like a lottery. At some point it's just too much.

+1 to app of the posts above

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I totally agree. Although it seems rough, I think countries that base it all on one exam have a system that makes more sense. Set a lower threshold for kids from below a certain income level to ensure parity.

Except in those countries cheating is rampant and the wealthy get to skip the test entirely.

Don't fool yourself that anyone has really figured it out.

But it is much much worse than it was 15 or 20 years ago. There was a semblance of merit and college decisions made sense. It was never surprising who got into Harvard. Now it feels completely random and out of control. Our universities are shooting themselves in the foot. Their prestige and credibility are suffering.

There were fewer students to choose from. Now there are more. And the UMC striver lifestyle has created this increased demand. It is not that complicated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I totally agree. Although it seems rough, I think countries that base it all on one exam have a system that makes more sense. Set a lower threshold for kids from below a certain income level to ensure parity.

Except in those countries cheating is rampant and the wealthy get to skip the test entirely.

Don't fool yourself that anyone has really figured it out.

But it is much much worse than it was 15 or 20 years ago. There was a semblance of merit and college decisions made sense. It was never surprising who got into Harvard. Now it feels completely random and out of control. Our universities are shooting themselves in the foot. Their prestige and credibility are suffering.

There were fewer students to choose from. Now there are more. And the UMC striver lifestyle has created this increased demand. It is not that complicated.

It’s much more complicated. There are many more variables — URM, first gen, geographic, test optional. A fair amount of lying to fit into some box. Yes, some variables were there before, but not like this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I totally agree. Although it seems rough, I think countries that base it all on one exam have a system that makes more sense. Set a lower threshold for kids from below a certain income level to ensure parity.

Except in those countries cheating is rampant and the wealthy get to skip the test entirely.

Don't fool yourself that anyone has really figured it out.

But it is much much worse than it was 15 or 20 years ago. There was a semblance of merit and college decisions made sense. It was never surprising who got into Harvard. Now it feels completely random and out of control. Our universities are shooting themselves in the foot. Their prestige and credibility are suffering.

Must disagree with all points:

- If anything, colleges worked less on merit than in the past (although you can argue what "merit' is).
- It's always been surprising when someone gets into Harvard. At least since WWII.
- Just because it feels random and out of control TO YOU doesn't mean it is either thing.
- The last one is the most comical, as applications at elite universities and their desirability are at an all time high with no sign of subsiding. You're basically saying "nobody goes there anymore, it's too crowded".