Square the circle: how are acceptances harder to get than ever yet basic skills are at their lowest?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Private high school: no phones allowed in schools, no study guides provided, no retakes, no dropped scores, no grade inflation, no weighted grades, no “selection from” (full books assigned), several assigned papers a year and 8-10 pages each. Average gpa is 3.7. Average SAT is over 1500.

This is why colleges still like feeders.

Caveat, that may be your kid's private high school, but not all private schools have all these same policies.

Colleges (supposedly) consider the context of the high school in admission decisions, but be aware that this is not always the case, especially at large public universities less familiar with the particular high school. Many will just take the GPA off the transcript without considering context as much as they say they will. Just a warning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Cell phone addiction means that 98% of people have the attention span of a gnat and the writing skillz that allow them to construct sentences like this: "bruh - hmu when u hav a sec. Ima hit da gym"

For the record, I don't know what a gnat's attention span is, but I believe it's not great.

Kids show like Sesame Street are another attention killer.

[Anonymous]

Guys, it’s DEI, obviously. Do you see the affluent white/Asian kids who actually get accepted into elite schools? They are off the charts. Obviously not the ones getting tutored. It’s obviously the Pell Grant kids. Everyone is going through all kinds of contortions here to avoid this uncomfortable truth. Blaming cell phones lol. Now, it may be a worthwhile social goal to provide this education to them - for free- but let’s be clear-eyed about what is happening and which students are struggling.

[Anonymous]

all I know is the math the top math kids are doing - by that I mean the top 5000 math kids - are far ahead of what math kids were doing 10 years ago, let alone in the 90s, which was a total joke.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ok can someone please square the circle

Schools are harder to get into than ever before yet we are hearing from faculty that there is a crisis of basic competence in the student body.

What is going on?

Every generation has been saying the same thing for hundreds of years. It is just noise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Private high school: no phones allowed in schools, no study guides provided, no retakes, no dropped scores, no grade inflation, no weighted grades, no “selection from” (full books assigned), several assigned papers a year and 8-10 pages each. Average gpa is 3.7. Average SAT is over 1500.

This is why colleges still like feeders.

This is why god invented standardized tests.

[Anonymous]

The kids are more cultivated but also more distracted by devices when given freedom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a community college instructor, so I don’t usually see the sorts of students who are applying to top 20 colleges, but my colleagues & I have seen a distinct decline in students starting about 10-12 years ago.

We suspect the reasons are things like:

Obsession with mobile phones

Playing on computers in class while pretending to be listening & taking notes

Reliance on AI

High school teachers relying on multiple choice exams

High school teachers who: (1) don’t count whichever exam a student took that had lowest score, (2) allow students to re-take exams if they don’t like the grade they got, or (3) allow students to submit B.S. extra credit assignments to make up for bad exam scores. These are all safety nets that give students the idea that they don’t REALLY need to study for exams.

High school teachers who provide “study guides” for exams. These give students the wrong signal regarding paying attention to lectures, taking notes, studying, & learning.

How self-defeating. Creating my own study guide is always what helped me study for the test. In fact, I retained more from classes where we were allowed to make and use cheat sheets for some tests.

The best feeder private schools don't allow cheat sheets. Because that's, well, cheating

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Guys, it’s DEI, obviously. Do you see the affluent white/Asian kids who actually get accepted into elite schools? They are off the charts. Obviously not the ones getting tutored. It’s obviously the Pell Grant kids. Everyone is going through all kinds of contortions here to avoid this uncomfortable truth. Blaming cell phones lol. Now, it may be a worthwhile social goal to provide this education to them - for free- but let’s be clear-eyed about what is happening and which students are struggling.

No actual proof of this, obviously.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fewer kids regularly read or write for pleasure, and I'd imagine that explains some of it. Independent reading lends itself to a greater range of general knowledge, better critical thinking skills, a larger vocabulary, and better language and communication skills.

+100

I have a college Freshmen at an Ivy and he reads all of the time—always has. Recently we were in a waiting room together and adults kept commenting they were so impressed he was reading an actual book while waiting. He reads a lot of non-fiction, history, Russian lit, and he had to read a ton of novels in HS. I 100% think that’s why he scored so high on standardized tests and is excelling in courses- already won an award this year w/ $ attached. When he was home over break- he was reading —my dad was a voracious reading and when he passed away he took a lot of his books.

Sounds like your dad left quite a legacy with his grandson.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cell phone addiction means that 98% of people have the attention span of a gnat and the writing skillz that allow them to construct sentences like this: "bruh - hmu when u hav a sec. Ima hit da gym"

For the record, I don't know what a gnat's attention span is, but I believe it's not great.

Kids show like Sesame Street are another attention killer.

gonna be wild when the cocomelon generation grows up

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok can someone please square the circle

Schools are harder to get into than ever before yet we are hearing from faculty that there is a crisis of basic competence in the student body.

What is going on?

The average student is much smarter and more prepared than 30 yrs ago.

Completely false.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok can someone please square the circle

Schools are harder to get into than ever before yet we are hearing from faculty that there is a crisis of basic competence in the student body.

What is going on?

Every generation has been saying the same thing for hundreds of years. It is just noise.

We can see how US kids compare over time using PISA tests. And the evidence is clear that scores are dropping particularly in math.

https://www.axios.com/2023/12/05/us-students-pisa-global-assessment

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:grade inflation
test optional
vague, subjective scoring of essays and ECs
holistic admission
yield algorithms

Cheating. Fake stuff on applications.

Add affirmative action and DEI as other top reasons.

[Anonymous]

Schools are too busy building classes the look like America rather than seeking those who have demonstrated the potential to take advantage of higher education opportunities.

College has become a manifestation of the computer science acronym GIGO, garbage-in garbage-out.

Rampant grade inflation combined with test optional admissions and applications completed by college counselors has shown to be a recipe for disaster.