Reply to a final warning to high school students in the college admissions game

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote]A Princeton degree can open a lot of doors without a student devoting their undergraduate years to networking with the wealthiest students at the school. The wealthiest students often are not as academically motivated as the kids from public schools and/or less wealthy families that have something left to prove. There are also many rewarding careers besides working in a STEM field or for a quant fund.

So much of this feels like Pogo - "we have met the enemy and it is us."[/quote]
Either way, "rigor" and Greek Life(eating clubs) are still central to the student experience. The kinds of people who typically get into Princeton are "hoop jumpers". When presented with the new hoops of intensely rigorous courses and Greek Life, they'll naturally rush to start jumping through the hoops and if they don't do it well it can break their sense of self. Some schools like to set the hoops higher than others and Princeton is one of them.

The hyper-focus on the hoop jumping can cause people to lose touch with the more "human" aspects of themselves like the need for close relationships or the desire to be a caring and compassionate person. Also, I think the compulsion to jump through hoops is stronger in Gen Z than in prior generations. Not entirely sure why, but for what it's worth, I suspect social media and the shrinking middle class could be key causes. Ubiquitous social comparisons and the gap between rich and poor create an extremely strong urgency to make money, and the economy tends to reward successful hoop jumping generously.

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Agree with that.

I remember starting Princeton and being so enthusiastic about the opportunities available.  It didn't feel like hoops, just opportunities to pursue so many different academic paths.  I'd read the course catalog over the summer and agonized over which classes might be the most interesting.

On the other hand, if you start with your gas tank already half-empty because you've already worked so hard to get there, or feel like there's only a few "right" majors or ways to distinguish oneself, it could be an ordeal.

As noted before, it might be a good time for Eisgruber to step aside and for the university to find a leader who is more accessible and a bit less of a meritocrat/technocrat.  [/quote]

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