<p>Seriously, this is beyond ridiculous, people.</p>
<p>All of this “HYPM” or “top school” garbage really makes me want to vomit… No seriously, vomit…</p>
<p>These poor kids! Once they get into these “top” schools after all this grooming, they better hope they find “top” jobs when they enter the world because they’re going to need “top” dollars to support their licit (psych-drugs or psychotherapists), quasi-licit (alcoholism) or illicit (god knows) crutches to lean on while they struggle to sort out who they are.</p>
<p>Does it really benefit society to psychologically damage the next generation before it even enters the world? Does it really benefit society to instill in the next generation that above all, the most important tenet in life is researching expectations and fulfilling them?</p>
<p>Society is running up against some very serious problems and the intensity will only increase as the years pass. Are we succeeding at equipping the next generation with the skills and techniques needed for the dissection and resolution of these problems, or are we merely teaching them how to follow predefined directions?</p>
<p>If I see another “Which ECs should my kid look into to get into xx” post, I’m going to vomit.</p>
<p>The CC population is to the vast majority of college applicants as climbing K2 is to day hikers. Most applicants to most colleges will be accepted without all this angst. (A friend of mine, for example, recently told me her son’s dream school is Binghamton.)</p>
<p>CC kids and parents live up where the air is rare, so nausea is not unexpected. I advise a return to sea level for you. The rest of us are acclimatizing.</p>
<p>Most of the parents here are sane and supportive, and are no doubt preparing their kids to succeed in more ways then one. Read a little more before posting, next time?</p>
<p>Many of us do not have kids at the upper echelons of the H.S. student population. The college admissions stress level in our house is practically nonexistent because my D decided not to waste her time applying to any “super reach” schools. So far she has been accepted at 3 out of 3 rolling admissions schools, each of which she’d be happy to attend. As a result, I predict she will not need therapy before she graduates from High School.</p>
<p>Wonderful metaphor, HeliMom! Just a quick word about Binghamton - it’s becoming more selective all the time. SAT 25/75 percentiles were 1160-1350 last year, with almost half the freshman class coming from the top 10 percent of their graduating class, and 87 percent from the top quarter.</p>
<p>I agree that there are absurdities in the admissions process, but this is a discussion board for parents who want to help their kids obtain the best possible college education, taking into account qualifications, finances, interests, fit, etc. So we’re going to, um, discuss that stuff.</p>
<p>So why are you focusing on Columbia then? It’s certainly a “top school.” Shouldn’t you be looking solely at your local state U or some other less nauseating option?</p>
<p>I’ve got a pair of sons 2 years apart. They differ in temperament, motivation, abilities, and interests. My older son would not have been happy unless he was at a school that recognized the academic leaps he took in high school and challenged him to go even further. I came here for the first time after he’d been accepted early to MIT, and I had no clue what that might mean for him and for our family. It scared me, honestly, and I wanted to learn more. While there were plenty of students (and not as many parents) here looking to groom themselves for that HYPSM admission, there were also many who were thoughtful and inquisitive, and genuinely open to finding the right fit among thousands of possibilities. Their comments, and the first-hand knowledge of others, augmented what we already knew and helped me get my footing back.</p>
<p>And so I’ve stuck around to follow the process with my second son, who is applying to colleges this year. Through CC, I learned about rolling admissions, and alerted him to the benefits. He’s already been accepted at what for him would be a fantastic fit school, and although he’ll apply to 2 or 3 other schools, he feels really good about having an excellent program in hand. It isn’t an HYPSM school, and he was never going to aspire to such. But CC was still reassuring and a source of information that we wouldn’t have had otherwise.</p>
<p>I’m not here to push my kids somewhere they don’t belong. I’m here to learn from others who’ve been through the process before and to expand my network of knowledge to include others whose personal experiences can augment our own. And now that I’ve lived through two years of parenting a kid who was accepted and matriculated at MIT, I am offering comments from our own experiences to provide sanity and help others ground themselves. This community has many positive aspects, and helped <em>me</em> “return to sea level”. </p>
<p>“You take what you need, and you leave the rest.” And on Thanksgiving, let me turn this into an even more positive thread and thank everyone for being part of that. You know who you are. :)</p>
<p>Happy Thanksgiving to all! – There is a ton of info here, you can focus on what you want a-dub, but there has been plenty of good advice/information offered here for those of us with kids not aiming for the most selective schools.</p>
<p>*Seriously, this is beyond ridiculous, people.</p>
<p>All of this “HYPM” or “top school” garbage really makes me want to vomit… No seriously, vomit…*</p>
<p>seriously, with less than 5 posts
you need to get out more- sure if you stay in the-* what ECs should I do to get into HYPCDUPBSM* thread you are going to get a distorted view but I am sure a perceptive guy like you already knows that ;)</p>
<p>I think I understand, but you may be taking things out of context.</p>
<p>Look, there’s nothing wrong with striving to go to a great school. CC is a great resource to going about admissions. But there is more to life than college and most people understand that. CC isn’t in the “there’s more to life than college” business. It is up to us as individuals to live our lives.</p>
<p>If you went to fly-fishing website, all they would be taking about on their discussion board is fishing. That doesn’t mean that the people on the board are obsessed with nothing but fishing, it means they really like fishing or at least very interested in fishing. Regardless, you won’t find many threads about religion or politics, I bet.</p>
<p>When I read a-dub’s post, I don’t see it as a slam against parents taking a heavy interest in their kids’ educations. I think what the OP is focusing on is the common sentiment expressed here that the list of colleges that aren’t a disgrace to go to is extremely short. The hypsm-or-bust folks and the Ivy-or-I’ll-die students and parents seem to think that if junior ends up at the U of Rochester, Indiana, Clark U., Santa Clara, or Colorado, he will not learn much, he’ll be a social outcast, and he will be lucky to reach the rank of asst. manager at Wendy’s.</p>
<p>All of which creates a snapshot of reality that 1) isn’t true, and 2) puts undue pressure on teenage students who are wrestling with all sorts of issues. I think the OP is suggesting that the message parents too often give their kids is “Don’t disgrace yourself or your family by failing to get into this very short list of schools,” and is suggesting something like, “You should always do your best, and we’ll do anything to help you succeed in your college hunt; but even if you don’t get in the gold-medal schools, there are some intriguing options at the silver and bronze levels.”</p>
<p>Actually, I recommend that the OP read the “stats” of the students on this thread. You can see from our posts that we are genuinely driven and passionate, and it’s not necessarily grooming. Please read:</p>
But that sentiment ain’t common here, at least not on the Parents Forum (I rarely go wandering in the other areas). Read the Acceptances thread and then the Celebration thread.</p>
<p>a-dud, you may indeed need to find a different forum if you are sickened by some kids concerned about admissions into top schools. You may also be happier somewhere else if you don’t believe in the value of researching expectations and fulfilling them. Most of the kids and parents of kids on this forum have a pattern of setting goals and trying to fulfill them. Trying to select colleges and gain admission is just part of the pattern we view as success. If you are not interested, why remain on this forum?</p>
<p>Yes, I was not attempting to slam you guys; my wording may have been a bit strong and I apologize if it came off as a slam. I understand that the reason why you’re here is because you want the best for your kids and I praise you for that.</p>
<p>My point is, I don’t think all this hyper-competitiveness is working. In fact, I think it’s doing us as a society a great disservice. For example, I remember a number of months ago there was an article from the MIT news office about some kids who had “wired” their dorm room. Upon close inspection, it appears that they had done nothing more than what $60 will get you from x10.com. Mind you, this appeared as a spotlight story on MIT’s homepage. You know, the school with the reputation for being the best engineering/science school in the country. </p>
<p>When I saw that I thought: Wow, has true inventiveness and creativity left the building at our top schools? And then, when I came on here for the first time, I got an insight into what these kids are doing to make themselves competitive for these top schools. I asked myself: Wow, is this why?</p>
No. It hasn’t left. It is all over the place. And yes (gasp!), even at MIT!</p>
<p>Have you followed the escapades of [The</a> Howe & Ser Moving Co.](<a href=“http://www.mitcannon.com/]The”>www.mitcannon.com/) and the trans-continental heist of the Fleming cannon from Caltech last spring? Did you notice the firetruck poised on the top of the Great Dome on 9/11 this year? Did you look further than the wired dorm room (which you’ll find most students agree with you is a dull thing to have highlighted) back to the disco dance floor from IAP 2005? And while you’re at it, you might like to look into the “One Laptop Per Child”/“$100 Laptop” project, or the Energy Research Council, or the Silent Aircraft Initiative, or the [New</a> Media Literacies](<a href=“http://www.projectnml.org/]New”>www.projectnml.org/) project, or I could go on but I won’t. MIT has better advocates than I, and won’t be harmed by your doubts.</p>
<p>Inventiveness, creativity, and applications thereof abound, at many schools including the “top schools” which look for creative, hard-working, accomplished participants in their ongoing creative endeavors. I can understand why some students strive so hard to be admitted to some of these schools, but I also know there will be no shortage of creative opportunities for them at any school they end up at. They bring their true creative selves with them.</p>
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