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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]At a HS "college day", I directly asked an AO if they think it is ethical and responsible to disclose institutional priorities to prospective students. Without hesitation, the AO said no! Because then they would only get applicants with those characteristics.  For background, we as parents were given a faux case study with a fictitious college with their institutional priorities, and 3 common app applications with essays to review and discuss. At the end, we had to vote accept, reject, waitlist. The vote was pretty clear to choose the candidate that met the college institutional priority- not the strongest kid nor the more interesting candilate. The 'admitted' candidate was a male, first gen, from a rural town. I found the process both illuminating and disheartening. I do think schools have an ethical obligation to be more explicit with their goals. The high achieving girl who showed great curiosity and impact wasted her time and $. Yes, my kid has a savvy mom who reads posts, books. Podcasts, etc. - but many do not. [b]The process is NOT equitable. Wealthy applicants pay for suppport and many fgli and urm in our community have access to special free application support. However, those in the middle are without access to this helpful information which influences admission.[/b] Fyi. I am not bitter. My kid got accepted to their top choice... but we totally played the game. It was bs, but it worked. [/quote]

So you were in the middle and figured it out, right? That's what I did, too. Pretty much the definition of equitable. [/quote]
The reason I figured it out is that I am a marketing professional and could apply my experience. I also only work pt, so i had time to study the issue and act as my kid's  private counselor. School Guidance counselors are overworked, and most well-intended working parents are just following the inaccurate college admission pages and info sessions telling kids to take highest rigor and to get highest grades, etc. It's disingenuous and creates undue stress and false expectations for kids. I feel bad for high stats kids who are killing themselves and being set up for disappointment bc the things they are doing will not make a difference if shooting for a top school. I just think it would be more fair and ethical to level the playing field with transparency and honesty. College mission statements and websites say they seek kind, ethical,  and supportive community members, so having a more transparent process would be a great step to model that behavior. Just my thoughts...[/quote]

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