College game is still rigged

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One of the easiest ways to fix college admissions is to limit the number of times one can take the SAT/ACT. That would vastly reduce the number of 1500+ applicant pool. But college board makes money off of SAT so that is not going to happen. Its all about the money people..

Or just get rid of super scoring.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Article in Ny times.. by Jeff Selingo


“That mind-set makes acceptance to a highly selective college feel like a game. The rules are set by colleges, then carried out by admissions offices, and are stacked against the vast majority of teenagers. Fewer than a tenth of applicants win that prize of getting into one of the nation’s most selective colleges. If that weren’t enough, every year elite colleges move the goal line with new rules for getting across it.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/22/opinion/college-admissions-seniors-stats.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare


I doubt most people will learn anything from his book or article. We keep playing this game and colleges keep winning..

Selingo says in this article you can’t do anything about the rules set by colleges. It’s called legislation. Abolish ED.

Nonsense, they are private institutions. People can choose to apply or not to apply but private schools have every right to create an admissions process that works for their interests.

It is a simple act of Congress. Or Mass can do it at the state level to get it started. Or enforce existing anti-trust law.

While we are at it, limit waitlists to some reasonable number — not in the thousands.

"A simple act of Congress."

Are you in the DMV and writing that without sarcasm? That's amazing.

[Anonymous]

ED is not going to help a merely good student get admitted to a very selective institution.
ED is exploitative and rewards universities who can persuade rich families to apply to their institution as a target, not a reach.

The alternative is to create an academic meritocracy based on nationally-normed exams, which is what most countries do. In Europe and Canada and Latin America, it's going pretty well.

In East Asia, they took it to extremes. Over decades, it led to the worst suicide risk in the word for Japanese teens, and the development of an entire industry of prep schools after normal school. In Korea, Kindergartners go to prep school after their regular school day. Legislation had to be passed so that prep schools would end at 11pm, because parents were being persuaded to enroll their kids in stuff that continued beyond that.

There is no win-win in a society that prizes only the top outcomes above all else.
It's the East Asian mindset that needs to change to accept a wide variety of educational experiences. I feel the USA and Europe are not in danger of going too far in that direction, because they do not have the demographic, economic and cultural pressures that Japan and Korea have. Please remember that it's only a small subset of US families that are willing participants in the race to the Ivies. Most families aren't thinking like this at all!

- Japanese

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Applying to colleges should not be as stressful as it has become. Colleges shouldn’t be as expensive as they are now. High school students shouldn’t be expected to win national awards, present themselves as prodigies, professional athletes etc. They are just teens beginning their lives. They might not know what they want to do in college and yet they already expected to have achieved so much success in various fields. Its insane! They should instead be allowed to make mistakes and learn from them, which in the current system is not allowed. Imagine the stress when KIDS are not allowed to make mistakes. Cause one mistake (one B or C) can mean no chance at the elite schools.
Then we wonder why our kids are anxious and stressed.

+ 1000. Get rid of the whole industry that enables this with coaches, consultants, tutors.

I agree that a lot is broken, including inconsistent educational standards nationally, a teacher shortage, a bureaucratic and corrupt testing system etc etc.

For admissions, I think that there should be a federal requirement for all accredited schools to participate in the common data set disclosures, and update them within a specified timeframe, and I believe each round should be required to disclosed with admission stats. (ED1, ed2, etc) The greater the transparency, the less likely schools can play games and the better informed the applicant. It's appalling that T25 schools fail to participate in the process, hide round numbers, and/or are years behind in disclosing the data.

I agree with this as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Article in Ny times.. by Jeff Selingo


“That mind-set makes acceptance to a highly selective college feel like a game. The rules are set by colleges, then carried out by admissions offices, and are stacked against the vast majority of teenagers. Fewer than a tenth of applicants win that prize of getting into one of the nation’s most selective colleges. If that weren’t enough, every year elite colleges move the goal line with new rules for getting across it.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/22/opinion/college-admissions-seniors-stats.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare


I doubt most people will learn anything from his book or article. We keep playing this game and colleges keep winning..

Selingo says in this article you can’t do anything about the rules set by colleges. It’s called legislation. Abolish ED.

Nonsense, they are private institutions. People can choose to apply or not to apply but private schools have every right to create an admissions process that works for their interests.

It is a simple act of Congress. Or Mass can do it at the state level to get it started. Or enforce existing anti-trust law.

While we are at it, limit waitlists to some reasonable number — not in the thousands.

"A simple act of Congress."

Are you in the DMV and writing that without sarcasm? That's amazing.

A “simple act of Congress” just taxed endowments, with huge budget implications. A “no ED requirement” is not an unfunded mandate; it costs nothing. As would limiting waitlists to — I don’t know — 1/4 the size of the previous years fall freshman class?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Applying to colleges should not be as stressful as it has become. Colleges shouldn’t be as expensive as they are now. High school students shouldn’t be expected to win national awards, present themselves as prodigies, professional athletes etc. They are just teens beginning their lives. They might not know what they want to do in college and yet they already expected to have achieved so much success in various fields. Its insane! They should instead be allowed to make mistakes and learn from them, which in the current system is not allowed. Imagine the stress when KIDS are not allowed to make mistakes. Cause one mistake (one B or C) can mean no chance at the elite schools.
Then we wonder why our kids are anxious and stressed.

This. Honestly, the influx of highly educated Asians has poisoned the system. The cheating and willingness to do anything to appease the tiger parents has destroyed academic integrity and learning environment. These aren’t inherently bad kids but they are molded into obedient jerks who will lie, claw and cheat their way through the system.

At a couple of test prep centers in the DMV, on their walls are pennets of only ivy league schools. Should anyone coming in to test prep to help increase their ACT or SAT scores be targeting only Ivies?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Applying to colleges should not be as stressful as it has become. Colleges shouldn’t be as expensive as they are now. High school students shouldn’t be expected to win national awards, present themselves as prodigies, professional athletes etc. They are just teens beginning their lives. They might not know what they want to do in college and yet they already expected to have achieved so much success in various fields. Its insane! They should instead be allowed to make mistakes and learn from them, which in the current system is not allowed. Imagine the stress when KIDS are not allowed to make mistakes. Cause one mistake (one B or C) can mean no chance at the elite schools.
Then we wonder why our kids are anxious and stressed.

This. Honestly, the influx of highly educated Asians has poisoned the system. The cheating and willingness to do anything to appease the tiger parents has destroyed academic integrity and learning environment. These aren’t inherently bad kids but they are molded into obedient jerks who will lie, claw and cheat their way through the system.

Wow. The biggest cheats at my kid’s schools are white. Both male and female. Kids who have no conscience and don’t think twice of copying someone’s answers, using a stolen test, or coordinating cheating schemes among friends. Just as counter point!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Applying to colleges should not be as stressful as it has become. Colleges shouldn’t be as expensive as they are now. High school students shouldn’t be expected to win national awards, present themselves as prodigies, professional athletes etc. They are just teens beginning their lives. They might not know what they want to do in college and yet they already expected to have achieved so much success in various fields. Its insane! They should instead be allowed to make mistakes and learn from them, which in the current system is not allowed. Imagine the stress when KIDS are not allowed to make mistakes. Cause one mistake (one B or C) can mean no chance at the elite schools.
Then we wonder why our kids are anxious and stressed.

My oldest is a senior and now that we’re here, I don’t find this very stressful at all. And she doesn’t have any national awards, nor is she an athlete. She is who she is and she’s wonderful, and she’ll go to college somewhere and it will either be wonderful or just fine or terrible. But that’s how life works. No guarantees.

This is the experience that most of us had and out kids will have. The idea that a small number of schools should have to change their systems to the benefit of a small group of families is crazy.

+1000

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Article in Ny times.. by Jeff Selingo


“That mind-set makes acceptance to a highly selective college feel like a game. The rules are set by colleges, then carried out by admissions offices, and are stacked against the vast majority of teenagers. Fewer than a tenth of applicants win that prize of getting into one of the nation’s most selective colleges. If that weren’t enough, every year elite colleges move the goal line with new rules for getting across it.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/22/opinion/college-admissions-seniors-stats.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare


I doubt most people will learn anything from his book or article. We keep playing this game and colleges keep winning..

If a kid is that awesome, they will do fine wherever they go to college.

[Anonymous]

Greater transparency, i.e. what is the 50th/ 75th% SAT/ GPA of the non athlete admittees? What percent of the ED admits are legacy, what percent are recruited athletes how many are "dean's interest," i.e donors? It would be useful to know how many spots at the T20 privates are really "available" for unhooked applicants?
But in the end that info won't change that there are only a few spots.
That scarcity is what makes this all so fraught and I don't see how any legislation can fix that

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Applying to colleges should not be as stressful as it has become. Colleges shouldn’t be as expensive as they are now. High school students shouldn’t be expected to win national awards, present themselves as prodigies, professional athletes etc. They are just teens beginning their lives. They might not know what they want to do in college and yet they already expected to have achieved so much success in various fields. Its insane! They should instead be allowed to make mistakes and learn from them, which in the current system is not allowed. Imagine the stress when KIDS are not allowed to make mistakes. Cause one mistake (one B or C) can mean no chance at the elite schools.
Then we wonder why our kids are anxious and stressed.

This. Honestly, the influx of highly educated Asians has poisoned the system. The cheating and willingness to do anything to appease the tiger parents has destroyed academic integrity and learning environment. These aren’t inherently bad kids but they are molded into obedient jerks who will lie, claw and cheat their way through the system.

Wow. The biggest cheats at my kid’s schools are white. Both male and female. Kids who have no conscience and don’t think twice of copying someone’s answers, using a stolen test, or coordinating cheating schemes among friends. Just as counter point!

The cheating is rampant at my kids’ Catholic schools. I was surprised by this; it was not the case at my Catholic school in the 90s. No idea what changed but even the top of the class cheats. It’s a bummer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Stop the obsession with top-ranked colleges—or rankings altogether—and the problem goes away.

This!

Plenty of successful people didn’t graduate from top 100 schools, and plenty of others who graduated from top 10s are struggling. Life is what you make of it, whether you go to college or not.

[Anonymous]

This misery is self-imposed. If you have a high stats kid who seeks rigor (is not pushed by you) and you’re confident they won’t be stressed by playing the game, throw a hat in the ring. But even these kids should be mentally prepared for the fact admission is unlikely. They need to hear the message loud and clear that they are not defined by the name of the school they attend. Send the message early and often that your kids are loved not just for their achievements but because they are unique individuals who are kind, creative, hardworking, etc. Let them know you love them whether they end up at Harvard or community college. I have seen so many kids who struggle with the rejection. It feels like they’ve been set up for failure by parents and a community with unrealistic expectations, that sends the toxic message that the college they attend equates to their worth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One of the easiest ways to fix college admissions is to limit the number of times one can take the SAT/ACT. That would vastly reduce the number of 1500+ applicant pool. But college board makes money off of SAT so that is not going to happen. Its all about the money people..

The entire testing industry from students taking exams for GT identification, private school or magnet school admissions, or for college and grad school is such a racket.

I wasn’t willing to invest the money, but many parents spends thousands of dollars prepping their kid. My kid took the ACT one time and spent a weekend looking over the practice exams provided. I wonder if schools knew he only took it once, but he was admitted to several top 20s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Applying to colleges should not be as stressful as it has become. Colleges shouldn’t be as expensive as they are now. High school students shouldn’t be expected to win national awards, present themselves as prodigies, professional athletes etc. They are just teens beginning their lives. They might not know what they want to do in college and yet they already expected to have achieved so much success in various fields. Its insane! They should instead be allowed to make mistakes and learn from them, which in the current system is not allowed. Imagine the stress when KIDS are not allowed to make mistakes. Cause one mistake (one B or C) can mean no chance at the elite schools.
Then we wonder why our kids are anxious and stressed.

This. Honestly, the influx of highly educated Asians has poisoned the system. The cheating and willingness to do anything to appease the tiger parents has destroyed academic integrity and learning environment. These aren’t inherently bad kids but they are molded into obedient jerks who will lie, claw and cheat their way through the system.

Wow. The biggest cheats at my kid’s schools are white. Both male and female. Kids who have no conscience and don’t think twice of copying someone’s answers, using a stolen test, or coordinating cheating schemes among friends. Just as counter point!

How would you know, Tiger Mom?