<p>I wrote this in the other thread about this artcle:</p>
<p>The admissions article felt like one I’d read a thousand times before. You can usually read between the lines and realize the stories aren’t so astonishing as they seem (like that kid Win–whatever happened that caused him to leave the private school seemed likely to affect his admissions, to me.)</p>
<p>But I am continually surprised by what kids and families in communities like Bronxville will do to try to get themselves into colleges. I’m again reminded that our rough n ready school system probably honed my kids in a more natural way than these hothouse places; even though I am sure there are a lot of things they missed out on (all kinds of advanced classes, summer programs, etc) they developed into themselves in a genuine way which sounds like it was much less stressful. Those kids in the article just sounded so tired!</p>
<p>And, I agree about the shoes!!! Also, for a family that can’t afford college, they sure spent a ton of money on pricey summer programs and Saturday classes!</p>
<p>The valedictorian of my daughter’s school got into Harvard and Princeton. It was her and her single mother’s dream come true. Ever since 9th grade everything was about getting into HYP. Unfortunately at the end of senior year she came down with a mysterious disease where she couldn’t get out of the bed. After all the blood tests, CAT scan, etc. they still couldn’t find the cause. I personally think she is just burned out. She is taking a year off before she starts at Harvard.</p>
<p>Living not far from Bronxville, we sometimes wondered if we were depriving our kids of their wonderful school system. We couldn’t afford those taxes or the house prices however. However even a couple of towns away things seem much saner.</p>
<p>But the story of the kid who wanted to go to Princeton, but had been thrown out of a prep school a year or two earlier was a reminder that you can’t make any mistakes. I thought also of the girl in The Gatekeepers who had admitted to tasting a hash brownie and then got rejected from almost all the colleges she applied to.</p>