<p>can anyone readmy essay?</p>
<p>Start another thread kiddo.</p>
<p>This has been one disturbing thread on so many levels. First when I saw the intensity of not just college-prep but college-applying-prep exhibited on the OP’s public school’s site. Sure it’s a math-science HS but with the resources and commitment to the application process they exhibit, it’s a wonder any “normal” kids ever get into college. One contributor asked about learning for the sake of actually learning something. That may have been the school’s goal at some point but the overarching goal now seems to be to get kids into the “best” college.</p>
<p>Second, the emphasis here and at the OP’s school seems to be so much on getting into the highest-ranked schools that it took nearly a dozen pages of this thread to even get to ECs or the reason to even go to college. I found it particularly disturbing that there was nearly zero discussion of why one school was a better fit for this student than another outside stat-matching and, in one case, an assumption of racial makeup. Match, as a definition, should include something about why one school is more appropriate for a specific student, beyond the stats. The whole “scattergram” thing is scary. People actually base their futures on that stuff? Frightening.</p>
<p>The fact that the OP comes into the thread (in the Parents Forum of CC at that) with no knowledge of how to choose a school (or sixteen schools) and yet by page ten seems to have GC resources out the yin-yang, and access to stats that would have ensured Cass and Birnbaum’s success into the new millennium, strikes me as odd. The thought of “scam” even crossed my mind. I’ll ignore that to say I have no love lost for public-school college counseling. I find they have their boxes and never go out of them. In my experience (two kids from a rural pubic HS in out-of-state private LACs on need and merit scholarships), you must make your own choices and find your own help, and don’t limit yourself. For that I commend the OP for asking those questions here and those who passed along such good advice. </p>
<p>Still, the overwhelming input and response to questions here is/was based on stats; reach, match, safety. Very little to do with interests, the person, and what schools would feel right for this kidand Math/Science H.S. or not, these are just kids! And all kids should have a childhood. CC has an abundance of smart parent-contributors with knowledge of the college application process. And maybe we just have to assume by the point at which people come here for help that it’s too late to change either the parents’ or the kids’ lives, goals, or interests. But it just seems sad that a kid, even a kid who may have always wanted to be “a doctor”, now has their future prospects distilled to a scattergram. Certainly my kids may not become the next cancer researcher to save humanity, or the next hedge-fund profiteer, but I’m still letting them work on becoming the type of human beings they want to be before asking them what work they want to pursue the rest of their lives. And the college choices they made, with no lack of prejudicial commentary on my part, have been directed at broadening their perspectives, helping them to appreciate many facets of the human experience, and enjoying the diversity that comes from the student body their schools chose. Stats don’t do it all. And what better time than undergraduate college to find out what you’re truly passionate about? </p>
<p>No, I don’t want to start a new thread. Hopefully others will wade through this one and see that not everyone here is asking, “What grades will I need to make this last semester in high-school to get into Princeton.” Does no one else find this patently absurd? Shouldn’t kids just do the best they can, in the courses they want? And isn’t a demonstrated passion for something other than getting into HYP really what should matter? To schools, parents, kids, and college counselors? </p>
<p>Rant off! ;)</p>
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<p>?? …</p>