<p>if it’s this hard to get into yale now, what about our kids? what do you think applying to colleges will be like in twenty years?</p>
<p>…Let’s worry about ourselves first…</p>
<p>^
Completely agree.</p>
<p>In twenty years, your kids will probably be in elementary school or middle school, not applying to college. Don’t rush things!</p>
<p>Can no one here see the lighter side of things? </p>
<p>It is meant to be a fun discussion: pointless, yes, but fun.</p>
<p>In the next generation, they’ll just buy an implant with a pre-loaded college education.</p>
<p>^And whoever bids the highest gets the implant with the Yale education embedded in it. First come first serve, running low on biochemistry majors in aisle 1! XD</p>
<p>And very soon, we’ll have the cracked version for free download on the internet - with a slight error in the Sophomore year education.</p>
<p>As the population expands, there are more and more qualified candidates for the top schools, and more and more of them have to be turned away. These students then attend supposedly Tier-2 schools, and these “lesser” schools see a boost in prestige. So I would posit that the “trickle-down” of lots of talented students will enhance the prestige of many non-Ivys–>to the level of MIT, Stanford, etc, maybe. And Yale et all will no longer be the be-all-end-all.</p>
<p>"And Yale et al will no longer be the be-all-end-all. "</p>
<p>The truth is it’s not even now. People just feel it is – and this perception is sometimes very important – but I posit that it’s artificial.</p>
<p>Being an alum who loved his time there, I’m amazed at some of the misconceptions of Yale that exist. It was a highlight of my life but not the only one.</p>
<p>Will my straight A, super athletic, super involved daughter be accepted to Yale in 4 years? Who knows? Will I be sad if not? No cuz I know the numbers are against her. I know she’ll do fine wherever she goes to college, has a great character and work ethic. That’s what’s important. Not the college that confers a diploma to you.</p>
<p>In the next generation it won’t be substantially harder for our children to get into Yale. Maybe count 10 generations from now, if colleges at the top DO NOT expand their class size, and the population of the US remains growing at tihs pace, then… that would be interesting. It won’t be uncommon to see <5% accept rates.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>This is certainly true if you consider the education per se, as, I suppose, there are literally tens of schools in the US delivering an excellent quality education.
But denying that the name of the institution is an important or even decisive part of the package is like saying that having money isn’t important in life: we all know it helps a lot and that you stand a better chance of success getting started in life coming from a wealthy family than a poor one.</p>
<p>luceverita: I’m not naive as to the real power & influence a “named” school confers to some people. However, I’ve consciously chosen to ensure that my kids’ measure of success isn’t wealth or (gasp) even financial security.</p>
<p>Then again, I’m pretty certain they’ll be “successful” in the world’s eye and therefore can exercise my utopian mores to them…</p>
<p>I’m not saying my way is superior to others’ thinking. It’s just the road we’ve chosen to travel upon…</p>
<p>T26E4:Yes, fortunately there isn’t just one way of measuring success in life, and yours will probably lead to a happier life than that of someone who do not take the time of thinking about this.
I happen to have only two friends on Facebook (can you believe this?) and the other day we had a discussion on what the meaning of a successful or failed life was. One of the students came out with the following definition: a failed llife is when you have less than 5 friends on facebook!</p>
<p>Think about it this way: if we get in… then it more than triples the chance that our kids will get in.</p>
<p>Guys relax 2012 is coming, there’s really no need to worry about a future… 
I can’t even believe some people live with that mentality and then they’ll be crushed when armageddon doesn’t come haha.</p>