Reply to America's Top Colleges Have a Rich-Kid Problem

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]AN A- average in a school in a low-SES area often doesn't mean the same as an A- somewhere in Westchester.  The best predictor of college success is rigor of high school courseload.

Also, the most selective colleges look for serious extracurriculars, with leadership and initiative. Poor kids are disadvantaged in some subtle ways here.  Colleges usually don't hold it against kids who have to work.  However, if kids are stuck in cul-de-sacs because they don't have a car of their own, and their parent have to work, they can't go to all of the rehearsals, practices and meetings that a serious extracurricular commitment requires.

They also aren't necessarily raised to take initiative; they are raised to toe the line.  Thus, they don't start clubs at school, or do independent research projects.   I've been an Ivy interviewer for a while.  The upper middle class kids chatter confidently with me about their lives.  Some of the middle middle class kids have trouble looking me in the eye.[/quote]

Please. This is insulting. Reminds me of when I arrived at my top 30 college on a scholarship and my roommate (daughter of a Republican Senator) mentioned that "Private colleges are for people who can afford them, for everyone else there are state schools."

Your comments are disturbing. [/quote]

I'm the 5:16 p.m. poster. OP, thanks for your later message clarifying your intent and your perspective.

Here's what bothers me the most. Why is it that colleges value extracurriculars over work experience? Hasn't anyone made a correlation between the "work ethic" problems of recent college grads and the fact that kids no longer grow up with paper routes, jobs at the local diner, or other typical summer jobs? I'm NOT impressed with the kids from Bethesda  who go on exotic "summer study" trips.  All that tells me is that Mumsy and Daddy could afford the fees.

When hiring for my small business, I took the kid who started his own business. I'd much rather find a kid who has put in a real work day and understands the value of a dollar. Working minimum wage jobs taught me to value my college education. Yes, of course there is a fine line, and some degree of extracurricular participation is valuable,  but it seems that today's kids no longer deign to do mundane work. Try to find a high school babysitter! They're all too busy with extracurriculars. My kids protest because we make them help us with yard work. Everyone else in our neighborhood has a yard service. But what does this teach our kids? So many of my friends - with yard services - lament the fact that THEY cut the grass when they were kids, yet their kids aren't asked to do the same.

Sorry for going a bit off tangent here, but my point is that colleges should also value the kids who work after school and can write meaningful essays about the value of that work. A work ethic is what made this country strong.  [/quote]

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