Penn State news

soozievt
Fri, 02 Mar 2007 14:29:39 +0000

HH, I know you were not talking about me personally. I simply shared my personal experience as I can’t claim as to why others read or participate on CC though in my observations, a majority of posts do not discuss rankings, though there are some that do.

As far as CC’s “mission” or “purpose”…it is not about rankings either. The fact that you mention there is an Ivy Guaranteed College Counseling Package, doesn’t imply that the site is about rankings. It so happens that a great many clientele are seeking highly selective college admissions. That is not so odd. Some very qualified candidates want to go to some very challenging and selective schools. That doesn’t necessarily follow that they or the site cares about rankings. For instance, I have two kids who are excellent students. One of mine only wanted to apply to BFA schools which is its own process (and I learned a great deal initially on CC about that ahead of the time she actually started her process). But my other kid did not care one bit about rankings, has never even read a list of rankings, couldn’t even tell you where her own college ranked, could not relate to the posts of students on CC who are obssessed with rankings (there are some indeed), but who wanted to go to a very challenging selective school in general. Where each school ranked mattered not. Like I said, she preferred some schools on her list over an Ivy school to which she was admitted and was chosen as a scholar to, in fact. She cared about fit with her preferences only. But within that context, ONE of her college preferences was to be in a challenging learning environment with other students who were equally motivated and the coursework challenging. Often this means more selective colleges, not to say you can’t do well in a less challenging learning environment. Such students, however, who seek very selective colleges, are not doing so due to prestige or rankings. They simply want a college that suits their level of learning and motivation. Where each school ranks in that grouping matters not. My daughter ended up choosing Brown because it fit so many things she was looking for in a college, and prestige was never one of them. As far as challenge, she did want a selective challenging environment, just like when she picked HS classes, she was only content to take the hardest classes as she didn’t like easy classes. But she had other criteria in picking a school from wanting a ski team, to wanting an architecture major in a liberal arts setting, to size, location, etc. Prestige was never a factor in her choosing schools.

Back to CC…CC for one thing is run by college counselors. There is a great demand for counseling for those seeking elite colleges and so that is one “niche” of their clientele. However, as a college counselor myself, I can tell you that I have had and still continue to work with students who have quite low academic qualifications and would never be considered for more selective colleges academically. So, those families also use college counselors to assist with their college selection and admissions process and also read and participate on CC.

Besides college counseling, CC provides a wealth of resources…articles, free Ask the Dean column, and information about the college admissions process. It also provides a free discussion board which deals with a wide range of college related topics (and even non related topics that you post about in the Cafe). The Ivy League is not the only topic at all on these forums. There is a niche of people who are seeking elite colleges and in many cases, they are excellent students and that makes sense. Are there posters who are obssessed with prestige? Sure thing. In fact, I learned so much reading here that such an attitude even exists as it is not the way in my community or with my own kids. I have seen students post on CC who have a college list that contains all 8 Ivy league schools (which are SO different) and then tack on their state U. So, yes, there are some who care only about rankings. But CC is not ALL about rankings (a simple perusal of the forums would reveal that) and not every poster here reads/participates with an interest in rankings at all. People discuss all sorts of things…paying for college, college visits, SATs, college searches, essays, and on and on. CC is clearly NOT all about rankings. For those seeking elite college admissions because they are excellent students for which such schools are appropriate, it doesn’t then follow that the reason is about rankings. Surely wasn’t for my kids or a lot of kids I know. Maybe for some. But not ALL as you stated. That is not why most read CC, in my opinion. Some, perhaps.

The home page to CC says the following:



Welcome to the best source of college information on the Web! Here you’ll find hundreds of pages of articles about choosing a college, getting into the college you want, how to pay for it, and much more. You’ll also find professional college consulting services, and the Web’s busiest discussion community related to college admissions!



That is what CC is about.