<p>How about this…we have the normal system, but upon graduation, you only get to put “University” on your resume’ with no indication of where you went to school.</p>
<p>I don’t think the system is broken. If anything is broken it’s allowing a small percentage of kids to apply to more than a handful of schools and then saying that we need a college matching system.</p>
<p>I personally think what is “broken” is the existance of the Common App. I admit to having whined a bit myself about a couple of schools that are not on it when D1 applied, but as I look at the system I think it is the biggest enabler of the “overapplication” issue. It just seems like there is no way for colleges to look hard at every applicant when the volumes coming in are so high. U of Chicago and their huge jump in application volumes after going to the Common App is a perfect example.</p>
<p>We don’t need a matching system… but we do need some way to stop students from just chucking out tons of applications because it is relatively easy to do so.</p>
<p>Perhaps a college match system would be nice. But I think the bigger need is resources to help students refine their most-likely-major preferences… which will then help in college hunting.</p>
<p>It will never happen, even though it’s a pretty good idea. The people in charge of the “elite college” admissions game have no incentive to increase transparency. They keep it all very opaque so they can price selectively, or even discriminatorily (like airlines), write stupid “how to” admissions books for paranoid parents, become college admissions consultants and shake down alumni for contributions. It’s a cottage industry.</p>
<p>Saying the process is opaque because you can’t predict it with a model is rather like saying the process for deciding who you are going to fall in love with / marry is opaque because you can’t predict it with a model. Opaque implies hidden, cover-up, secretive goings-on. That’s not the case here. The process is what it is, and it’s been described ad nauseum in various books and articles. It is simply something that unfolds holistically and in the moment, subject to the vagaries of human whim.</p>
<p>You might decide upfront that you only want to date blondes who are over 5’9" and who like jazz music, and then you might be really attracted to the petite redhead who loves country music. And that doesn’t make the process opaque, or “unfair” to the tall blondes who would have made you a great wife, too. Because there are things in human nature and attraction that are unpredictable. I don’t see why this is so hard.</p>
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Amen!! There is nothing in the college application process that’s even in the ballpark of being as bad as the NYC public high school process. There are a significant number of kids who get matched nowhere or who are matched to something that is completely inappropriate by way of a glitch in the system. More choices are better than less choices. Just the thought of a matching system makes me ill.</p>
<p>My family was talking over the weekend about how sad I am that all my babies are growing up and the one thing I could say with complete joy is that I never, ever, ever have to go through the NYC high school application process again!</p>