As you all probably know already, it’s time to start applying for colleges and finalizing your college lists. I feel like I’ve been doing nonstop research for weeks now about where I want to go, how to improve my stats, and how to write the best college essays. I have literally spent hours each day doing more and more college research, but I’ve come to the realization that college is kind of ridiculous.
Take Stanford for example. How is a 5.1% acceptance rate possible? I know there is plenty of kids who have the stats to get in but so many incredibly intelligent students still can’t even get in. College is becoming so competitive that some students who are really smart and have the grades can’t even get in to a good school. I also don’t find it fair how students can get in by legacy, paying a lot of money, or just knowing someone on the inside.
My college stats aren’t amazing, and I know that, but I feel like I shouldn’t even apply to my dream schools because of how twisted and ridiculous this system is becoming. Don’t even get me started on the costs.
The Ivy Leagues as well are becoming such a machine. If you want to get into one, you had better start preparing since birth. At least this the way we are heading. I can’t even imagine how anyone will be able to attend college 10 years from now.
I’m just thinking out loud, but does anyone else feel this way? Is college competitiveness becoming way too out of hand?
First of all, college is not ridiculous, it is an amazing opportunity and a privilege in our fine country. The application process is what is challenging, and technologies such as the Common Application and other online applications have made it easier for applicants to apply to many schools. This drives the number of students applying to any given school up for the same number of seats which makes the given school more selective percentage wise. However, you do not have to go to a top 20 college to get a great education. A great education can come from a much lower ranked school since what you get out of the school has more to do with what you do while you are there. Too much focus is put on a relatively small number of highly ranked schools on this website. There are many more schools to consider and these will be better for you.
It’s not colleges’ faults that they are having to be increasingly selective. When you have thousands of applicants for only x number of spots, of course many will be rejected, even those with perfect scores.
CC is mainly fixed on the more elite colleges, but there are literally hundreds if not thousands of colleges to choose from, and most are not so competitive.
You are in a season of life where most people you know are highly focused on the next step - college. So that probably makes it seem “bigger” and more important than it actually is.
Also, if you hang out on college confidential regularly - I could see where that would affect someone’s confidence too. There are some super-star students on here. I read chance-me threads and think - “my goodness, what has my younger son been doing the last 3 years?”
Bottom line - no external stat or validation can ever capture the essence of who and what you are. Only you can do that. This is an exciting time in your life, where most of the chapters unwritten. You are the author! (sorry, I know that’s cheesy). College is one means to an end - not the end itself.
My oldest son did not go to college, and it took me a year or two to come to peace with it (sounds silly doesn’t it?). He is happy working, and has done so well for himself, that it embarrasses me now that I used to feel that way. I can remember cringing when other parents of kids in his class asked me what he was doing. But it didn’t take me long to get over it, especially when I saw where he went with his life.
He taught me the best lesson, and that is that success on anyone else’s terms but your own is failure.
Wishing all the best to you, and the class of 2016 (my youngest is one!).
I’m not saying it happens crazy often, but it’s present. I know a girl who got into Stanford University last year who had very average grades (3.4 GPA) because her parents both attended. She didn’t work half as hard as most kids who apply to Stanford, yet got in over someone who deserve it more because she had a legacy.
As for paying money, I mean the donor situation. It is well known that kids whose parents are big donors at a school will have the upperhand on getting into a school.
There will always be people who have more, have an advantage, etc. You don’t know their journey. Focus on your journey. You don’t have any control over that stuff anyway.
Could you be mistaken about why she got admitted? At Stanford, legacy status gets you a second read, and that’s all. There are thousands more legacies rejected than are admitted.
My son’s math tutor knew of another student who got into Stanford with very high stats, graduated at the top of her class, etc. Her parents were thrilled. She was miserable there last year. The academics are intense.
Yes. It is quite scary. But you have to blame everybody else. The number of applicants ONLY increases each year (admissions cycle). It has evolved into this system where you truly have to stand out. Either that or it’s luck. There are some benefits. For example, it’s easier to weed out the applicants that are clearly interested in nothing but brand;so these colleges are someway doing these lost young men and women a favor.
Also, there is another benefit. If you just think of the common sense of things, this competitive system is only driving more competition. In a way, a meritocracy becomes possible. You may think that legacy is a big deal, but it really is not going to get a kid into college anymore. There are simply TOO many outstanding applicants. These schools have nothing to lose by rejecting or wait listing a few legacies. They will always get more money because they are the best and usually have the best students. Because of their selectivity, these schools will always have an it factor that drive us to them. They will never stop making money because we make them so popular.
Yes… Because you don’t want to be the social stand out in a popular group of friends that picks the low tier school.
I’m a top 2% student attending a low tier school. You might get talked about behind your back, prejudged, and so on because competitive students like to think they’re better than you… And sometimes, they’ll even pridefully shove it in your face. --I’m rank x<5, I’m taking all AP classes, I’ve gotten into this school, and I’m now president of x club. I told someone I wish I had taken more computer and engineering classes in high school instead of APs, but he said it’ll hurt his GPA. And yes, people are too obsessed with how to look pretty on their college applications, but I don’t know, what else could someone possibly strive for in high school? Have some fun. If you want to be competitive, go beat some people up in a science competition that you enjoy.
The admissions stats are discouraging, the growing college list a dizzying affair, unpleasant loans likely contributing to premature forehead creases, and the creative thought process to massaging your stats and essays probably keeping you up at night.
Even the strongest weight lifters have their limits, so I think it’s nice that your voicing your frustration.
Looking back, it was a tough time for me as well and I had no idea how I got through the process. The whole application process may seem unfair or a total random crapshoot; but don’t lose hope.
Perhaps try dividing up the problems causing you stress into two categories:
Those you can do something about: improvement of stats, college essay, realistic college list.
Those you have no control over: 2016 Stanford’s admission %, high-achieving peer’s performance and forecast, annual adjusted college tuition fees.
Work on the problem that you can manage and carry out. Take it one day at a time. Focus on one thing at a time.
I feel like I’m not allowed to talk here because I have legacy at USC (dad graduated in '88), and am just a tad above average at my school (avg UW GPA is 3.5, mine is 3.75). But I will put my two cents into it.
Rarely, college acceptance rates will rise from year to year. It just doesn’t happen. UC Berkeley used to be the butt of the joke around 10 years back in my area, with people mocking the school, saying that Stanford was so much better and that UCB was a school trying really hard to fit in with the “big kid” private schools. Now, people can’t get their mitts off Berkeley. People who get rejected from my school post rants all the time about the unfairness of college admissions there. What you have to realize is that there’s a growing number of applicants (because baby boomers and internet and questbridge, you get the point), but really, the amount of people schools accept is literally the same (+/- 250, but usually). Acceptance rates are inversely proportional to the applicant pool, and the number admitted is virtually the same, so like a constant. As the applicant pool grows, the acceptance rate decreases in coordination with the growing applicant pool. And yes. Legacy plays a role in it too. I’m not exactly sure how much it helps, but the whole thing with legacy is kind of family connections and prestige you know? Affirmative action also monitors “diversity”, making sure people who are qualified for the school, get it. It sucks for some, but I would easily give up my spot in a college to someone I feel like deserved it more. UCs are also doing the “qualification window” in which overqualified applicants can get rejected or waitlisted, as the UCs believe they will get into much better colleges (UCB has ~50% yield rate, so it’s reasonable). Underqualified applicants, are of course, rejected. It’s a rat race. Imagine setting 90k+ kids down and saying: “You’re going to run a race. If you come in 1-5000, you don’t get in. However, kids who place 5000-12000 will get in. Everyone else, rejected.” Kind of crazy when it’s put into a scenario like this huh? But really, no one knows your story. Be yourself, fill out the college app, submit it, and keep calm and wait for March (or December, whatever). If you get rejected, it’s probably because you weren’t the right fit for the school, but there’s at least one out there that will absolutely love you.
I said this in another thread, but it’s relevant here too:
Overall, I feel lucky to live in the time and place where I’m living. You might feel shortchanged by legacy admissions, but people without “pedigrees” hardly went to college at all in the past. (As a girl, I’m especially conscious of the fact that I would have been more constrained in my mother’s time than I am in my own. I grew up in the same rural area as my mother, but I’ve had more opportunities because my adolescence featured the Internet and a lot less sexism.)
