Refreshing piece on college admissions

[Anonymous]

Given how often the "admitted colleges" list comes up when discussing public middle and high schools on these boards, I thought I'd share this refreshing piece about college admissions. It seems to me that we should be looking at the success of our students along with their middle and high schools in a similar manner:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2016/04/26/college-counselor-im-sick-of-reading-about-golden-kids-getting-into-harvard-heres-the-story-i-want-to-see/?wpmm=1&wpisrc=nl_most

[Anonymous]

The premise of this piece is that it doesn't matter where you go to college. Plenty of people seem to feel pretty strongly otherwise. So go ahead and act like college admissions isn't worth it, my kid will take your kid's place at Yale.

What the article ignores is the collective action nature of the problem. Until people can collectively opt out of the madness the madness will continue.

[Anonymous]

Colleges that change lives? Since when is this an acronym-worthy thing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The premise of this piece is that it doesn't matter where you go to college. Plenty of people seem to feel pretty strongly otherwise. So go ahead and act like college admissions isn't worth it, my kid will take your kid's place at Yale.

What the article ignores is the collective action nature of the problem. Until people can collectively opt out of the madness the madness will continue.

And plenty agree with that premise. I have several friends who are top executives in their fields and not one of them went to an Ivy. And just as many who don't think a high-powered career is the key to happiness in life.

[Anonymous]

Ivies confer special opportunities, but are hardly the be and end all for undergraduates. I learned this in a PhD program where the best and most enthusiastic students, dear classmates for seven years, didn't attend elite colleges. I'm loyal to my Ivy for having given me boatloads of financial aid that I may or may not have deserved, but if I could go back, I'd have attended a small liberal arts college instead. Pope makes some good points, as does this article.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Colleges that change lives? Since when is this an acronym-worthy thing?

It's a popular book and non-profit organization that many people find helpful...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The premise of this piece is that it doesn't matter where you go to college. Plenty of people seem to feel pretty strongly otherwise. So go ahead and act like college admissions isn't worth it, my kid will take your kid's place at Yale.

What the article ignores is the collective action nature of the problem. Until people can collectively opt out of the madness the madness will continue.

Yale turned itself into a joke last Fall. Princeton, Harvard, Stanford, Duke, MIT all still fine though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Given how often the "admitted colleges" list comes up when discussing public middle and high schools on these boards, I thought I'd share this refreshing piece about college admissions. It seems to me that we should be looking at the success of our students along with their middle and high schools in a similar manner:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2016/04/26/college-counselor-im-sick-of-reading-about-golden-kids-getting-into-harvard-heres-the-story-i-want-to-see/?wpmm=1&wpisrc=nl_most

I'm glad you posted this. I thought of this forum when I read it.

[Anonymous]

I went to one of the "CTCL" mentioned in the article (I knew about the book, but this is the first I've heard of the acronym). I had an amazing experience, received a great education, and am absolutely a different person because of it. People from my college have won Academy Awards, done an amazing array of scientific research, written all kinds of fiction and non-fiction books, play in or conduct orchestras around the world, teach at schools and universities all across the country. They live all over the world. It is really neat to see all the of various life paths that my classmates have taken.

That said, I'm not sure how I feel about my kids going to the same school. Now that I'm old enough to be hired for my experience rather than my choice of undergrad, selling myself is easier. But when I was younger, it was definitely harder to fight the narrow views of many in D.C. People I knew who went to "name" schools more readily obtained interviews and jobs. It made me work harder and learn to hustle more, but I also lost out on some good opportunities because of it.

I think most of us just want our kids to have things a little bit easier than we did. My kids are too young to know what would be a good fit for them, and I will try to keep an open mind. But I can't say that I wouldn't want them to go to a more name brand school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The premise of this piece is that it doesn't matter where you go to college. Plenty of people seem to feel pretty strongly otherwise. So go ahead and act like college admissions isn't worth it, my kid will take your kid's place at Yale.

What the article ignores is the collective action nature of the problem. Until people can collectively opt out of the madness the madness will continue.

Yale turned itself into a joke last Fall. Princeton, Harvard, Stanford, Duke, MIT all still fine though.

I'm sorry your kid got waitlisted at Yale...

(It's a joke, people.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I went to one of the "CTCL" mentioned in the article (I knew about the book, but this is the first I've heard of the acronym). I had an amazing experience, received a great education, and am absolutely a different person because of it. People from my college have won Academy Awards, done an amazing array of scientific research, written all kinds of fiction and non-fiction books, play in or conduct orchestras around the world, teach at schools and universities all across the country. They live all over the world. It is really neat to see all the of various life paths that my classmates have taken.

That said, I'm not sure how I feel about my kids going to the same school. Now that I'm old enough to be hired for my experience rather than my choice of undergrad, selling myself is easier. But when I was younger, it was definitely harder to fight the narrow views of many in D.C. People I knew who went to "name" schools more readily obtained interviews and jobs. It made me work harder and learn to hustle more, but I also lost out on some good opportunities because of it.

I think most of us just want our kids to have things a little bit easier than we did. My kids are too young to know what would be a good fit for them, and I will try to keep an open mind. But I can't say that I wouldn't want them to go to a more name brand school.

Thanks for this honest and insightful post, PP. I went to a name school, which I don't exactly regret, but feel like I lost out on some good opportunities for having shouldered a crushing student loan burden to finance my undergraduate education. I worked at various jobs I disliked to make ends meet without falling behind on student loan payments. My alma mater is much kinder to lower middle-class families like mine these days, 20 years after the Ivy League financial aid cartel was broken up by the courts. But I can't see how we could afford my "name brand" school even if my children were to be admitted, unless we were willing to make payments on Stafford Plus Loans in our 80s. It's complicated.