Reply to Fascinating article from the WSJ re the methods of an "elite" college counseling firm

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]This article should tell you how fake everything is.. from what activities to choose to what classes etc to take. Everything is curated. What a way to kill your innate passion and creativity.. 11 year olds already on this path to get into an Ivy.

From the article..

One of her students has 23 tutors helping her on academic subjects and test preparation. The student is also writing a novel, editing an essay for a competitive journal and working on a research paper that looks at the linguistic patterns in Taylor Swift songs.

[/quote]
I'm happy my kids had a happy childhood (actual childhood) and got to choose their activities because they enjoyed them.

BTW, one attended their top choice the other attended their 2nd choice (top was a T10, 2nd was a T40 and in reality a better fit for them and they are thriving there).

Best part, my kids got to grow up as they should and were not trying to write a novel in HS or do research as a 12 yo.

The one at a T40 is majoring in one of the hardest engineering (Chem Eng) and has all As in every Chem Eng Course.  The kid thinks Thermo and Heat&Mass transfer is easy and fun.  They have a bright future ahead and most importantly are healthy and happy!
[/quote]

There are kids at T10, in ChemE or similarly hard fields, who also are healthy and thriving there, who got there after a healthy childhood with no novel writing or middle school research or founding nonprofits or 23 tutors. We are parents to 2 and have another like yours where t30-40 is going to be the better fit—they likely won’t apply to T10 knowing how well it suits the others and that environment is not where they will thrive. It is a false dichotomy to suggest that being at a T10 means you either faked your way in or did not have a healthy happy childhood. Those schools are a wonderful fit and the right environment for many who are there. These crimson kids are not the norm at these schools. [/quote]

I'm PP:  Yes, I know there are plenty who are happy and thriving at those schools.  The ones who are are exactly as you described---kids who got there thru their own work and motivation and drive.  Those are the ones who will go on to excel in life, because it's 100% their own work and drive.  
[b]Those who got there with $50K+ college counselors will eventually have to learn to do things themselves[/b].

[/quote]

But they do.
I can tell a lot of you guys either (1) aren't affluent and haven't paid for this type of scaffolding or support (so haven't seen when it falls away how the kids do or (2) don't even have kids at T20.
These kids do figure it out - or find shortcuts. I mean I found shortcuts in college and in life, and I had no help at all getting there.
You guys are all freaking out about nothing - or really the "unfairness" of it all.
Life is unfair.
Deal with the cards you are dealt and make the most of it.[/quote]

Shortcuts is an interesting way of saying paying smarter people to take tests and write essays (also rampant at t10s) [/quote]

you have a chip on your shoulder and need to let it go. venting here does nothing except make you look a little sad.

Ppl have been finding ways into Ivies since the beginning - its just that its not longer just legacies and WASPs, its anyone who has that will to start planning in 8th grade and pay a shit $$$.

My shortcuts didn't include "cheating" - just weird study habits (lots of memorization), getting the old tests from my sorority's "test files" at my (now) T10 college back in the 1990s, kissing as* with professors, networking like crazy and being really socially and politically savvy to figure out who could help me get where I wanted to go.
It worked.

Get over your resentment. And if you actually have college aged kids, connect with them, give them real life skills to succeed. That all starts at home.
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