Just Say NO!

3girls3cats
Fri, 19 Apr 2013 13:17:10 +0000

I get your frustration, eyemgh. I don’t care one way or the other about the Ivies or their equivalents. I do care about the fervor they inspire. The driven pursuit of admission. The tutoring, the SAT prep, the loading up of ECs, etc. If you live in a place where the hysteria is the norm, it’s easy for the kids to get caught up in it and worry too much, way too early, about how they stack up. That’s the part I say no to and I assume that’s the point of your post.

This also stuck out for me:

“What’s more disappointing isn’t the game, but how many other institutions are signing on to try to be the same. There’s a clear strategy for doing this. Get a lot of applicants to apply so you can reject most of them and become more “selective.” Vanderbilt has been mailing him since he was in the 9th grade.”

I hate this! Even 5 and 6 years ago, when my older kids applied to college, the mail was relentless and application numbers were climbing dramatically, but the game seemed less, well, developed. It seems to get worse and worse.