Would you prefer European-style admissions?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don’t most European countries have a highly centralized, national high school curriculum so the differences in grading and courses is largely eliminated? It seems a necessary predicate to that kind of admissions system

US has APs.

Not nearly the same thing.

+1.we regularly hear that applicants to elite schools must have 4 years of all core subjects, including math science and foreign language even if the student has no intention of majoring in said subject. That doesn’t occur in the European system as much because by age 16, you start specializing much more

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No. Why should we change our ways to better suit immigrants? If it worked best wherever they came from they wouldn't have come here.

We have changed our ways quite a lot to better suit elite private colleges’ craving for ever-lower acceptance rates.

Stop applying. These schools are getting so far out in the weeds that they will only serve the very poor and the very rich. Everyone else will just go somewhere else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don’t most European countries have a highly centralized, national high school curriculum so the differences in grading and courses is largely eliminated? It seems a necessary predicate to that kind of admissions system

US has APs.

Not nearly the same thing.

Many UK universities treat AP Subject exam results the same as UK A-levels. So those colleges, at least, would say they are close enough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No. Why should we change our ways to better suit immigrants? If it worked best wherever they came from they wouldn't have come here.

Because immigrants are good for university communities and for the United States.

[Anonymous]

I don’t this this is about changing the system to “better suit immigrants”. Immigrants also complain about how the current college system takes away from kids’ childhoods, family life, and emphasizes things that aren’t real or permanent or reliable(narratives, hooks, convenient nonprofits, club sports). It’s about giving all kids a real childhood that’s not built around college admissions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:European way, at least in the UK, is also somewhat holistic. Academic proficiency matters more there, though, and I think they consider the right mix of holistic and academic qualifications.

Not sure their system would work in the US unless we also switched to making kids lock in their majors when they enter college. For example, great math and physics test scores are going to matter if you want to major in physics, but not so much history.

+1 Europeans lock in much earlier to their course of study as teens. And most European colleges are much more focused on that course of study too---definitely not as many electives that are not related to their primary focus (i.e. major). More practical I guess, but I prefer the American way which allows a bit more freedom for a teenager to change their mind about what to do.

Except that nowadays they need to be locked into a “narrative” from the age of 14 to get into one of these elite colleges. If you think teens should have the freedom to explore their interests you should hate everything about the current American admissions process.

1000 times yes. The American approach makes all four years miserable. Also, scrap funding and tax breaks for elite institutions that haven't expanded in forty years but have billion dollar endowment funds.

[Anonymous]

No, but I do wish it were more like it was in the 90s. Somewhat holistic but also test required. Lest emphasis on made-up ECs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the US way is fine. It is the anxiety around it that is not fine and makes it seem much worse than it is.

the anxiety is due to the opaque US style of admissions.

The way other countries do it, it's pretty clear cut.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No.
I think we need a limit on apps or to abolish the common app or something. The process now is broken compared to when most of us applied.

But the Asian approach of high stakes testing sounds miserable for kids and I want no part of that. I think we would end up closer to that version then the European model if we went to tests only.

Limiting common app hurts lower income kids the most.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No. Why should we change our ways to better suit immigrants? If it worked best wherever they came from they wouldn't have come here.

Because immigrants are good for university communities and for the United States.

That wasn’t the question.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:European way, at least in the UK, is also somewhat holistic. Academic proficiency matters more there, though, and I think they consider the right mix of holistic and academic qualifications.

Not sure their system would work in the US unless we also switched to making kids lock in their majors when they enter college. For example, great math and physics test scores are going to matter if you want to major in physics, but not so much history.

Top U.K. schools practice hardcore DEI to ensure that they are not completely dominated by private school kids.

The DEI that they use is mostly by income and location. IMO, that's fine. Also, UK schools mostly look at your test scores. They don't really care that much about your extra curriculars, so their students aren't

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the US way is fine. It is the anxiety around it that is not fine and makes it seem much worse than it is.

the anxiety is due to the opaque US style of admissions.

The way other countries do it, it's pretty clear cut.

Then why do they try to send so many students here?

[Anonymous]

^ (dang trackpad hit enter).. cultivating their pointiness or well roundedness starting at the age of 14.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don’t most European countries have a highly centralized, national high school curriculum so the differences in grading and courses is largely eliminated? It seems a necessary predicate to that kind of admissions system

US has APs.

Not nearly the same thing.

Many UK universities treat AP Subject exam results the same as UK A-levels. So those colleges, at least, would say they are close enough.

Yes, but US schools look at GPAs, and that is subjective based on the teacher and curriculum.

[Anonymous]

The US system is superior and the colleges are superior this is demonstrated by the vast number of international students applying to US colleges every year, Europe doesn’t even come close. European schools do too much gatekeeping on students who would benefit from a college experience.