<p>Every website whose content remotely resembles college counseling or test prep (CC being a prime example, but PhysicsGRE.com also) seem to attract a clientele that seems to be more skewed towards the higher end of the academic talent scale. Yet, not-that-great students, while they would certainly benefit from what, say, CC has to offer, do not seem that eager to use the resources provided by these websites.</p>
<p>Any reason why?</p>
<p>Because the higher achieving students are more likely to look up college counseling resources and post on those websites.</p>
<p>Based on my experience, a lot of not-so-great students are putting their energies elsewhere. </p>
<p>I know that was the case with my son, who chose his college based on athletics rather than academics. He was tracking what D1 team was looking at what O-lineman, whose Rivals rankings were moving up or down, and what the 40-times for linemen were at the key college combines. He took the ACT because he had to, and prepped a total of about 30 minutes for it. He wanted nothing to do with AP courses or SAT2 tests. CC and similar websites were completely off the radar. </p>
<p>If D hadn’t found a course she wanted to take at CTY and decided to take the ACT in 7th grade so she could qualify, she and I would probably be lurking on the “Dance Moms” sites. (Yes, there are lots of those, too.) </p>
<p>Probably many reasons, but I can think of 2 big ones ones. </p>
<ul>
<li><p>High stats kids have good chance of merit scholarship, so families have financial incentives to do thorough research. (My original reason)</p></li>
<li><p>Ivy and tippy top colleges have very low acceptance rates, so some families want to learn how to leverage the resume. Over time many of them come to realize that fit is more important than prestige. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>I think the first response in this thread is very accurate.</p>
<p>People trying to get the most out of their education do just that. Others do not.</p>
<p>Yet, fit is important not only for those aiming for the very top but also for these not-that-great students, too…</p>
<p>What reason would I have to Google “college admissions” if I didn’t care about school?</p>
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<p>The “just ok” students may also be less picky – i.e. their notion of “fit” may be just any school that has what they want to study, and does not cost too much. They may also not have as many choices due to finding fewer schools willing to admit them with an affordable price, so they cannot afford to be picky. However, some could still benefit from the forums by learning about schools that they may otherwise not know about that would fit in their academic, admissions, and financial parameters.</p>
<p>I’d also point out that CC in particular would be very intimidating and tend to scare off student who don’t have high stats or Ivy aspirations. I have seen posters be extremely cruel and insulting in their comments directed to both parents and student who have weaker grades & test scores and are looking at regional (“directional”) schools or CTCL (“colleges that change lives”) type schools. The B+ student with an ACT of 23 isn’t going to find all that much help here, unfortunately. There are a handful who managed to brave this environment on their journey to gain a spot at Sonoma State or Knox College… but I would never recommend this site to a parent of a kid who fits that profile. I’d gladly provide other resources --but not here.</p>
<p>I do think that guidance counselors at public high schools do a reasonably good job of knowing the admission requirements for their in-state public colleges and universities, so in many cases the students might not need to go looking for outside advice, as admission requirements are far more transparent for less selective colleges. </p>
<p>They care. AND have the motivation to do something about it. The same attitude that got them the grades and test scores also prompts them to take action to better their chances.</p>
<p>Same is true of athletes and the sites they frequent. The same drive that got them to the top of a sport gets them to those sites.</p>
<p>The vast majority of kids don’t care about anything, or only care which schools are party schools, which ones have hot girls/guys, etc. Why would they want to do a lot of WORK to get into a selective school?</p>
<p>You can’t be serious. The obvious answer is that people who care less about X don’t spend their time learning more about X. </p>
<p>Based on recent invasions of this board, I’d question the premise that we’re getting the bright kids here. </p>
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<p>And even if they didn’t get into selective colleges, their hard work may pay off as a full ride or a full-tuition scholarship at much less selective colleges…</p>
<p>Definitely agree that the high-scoring students have the incentive to look for such services. </p>
<p>On top of that, those services are going to advertise their best clients! </p>
<p>@Catria I don’t think anyone’s arguing that lower stats kids or kids with less knowledge about or less ambition towards college admissions wouldn’t benefit just as much if not moreso from these websites. But that wasn’t your question. Your question was why do these websites tend to attract better students, and that’s probably because of self selection. Students who don’t care as much about school or college or who don’t think about the admissions process as much are less likely to know about websites like this and are much less likely to post on them.</p>
<p>Because being a high-achieving student is evidence of caring about college, and often “living for the future.” The advice in planning that CC offers will attract those students. This should be obvious.</p>
<p>There are other high-achieving kids that do not care about college either… and a few “average Joes” that do.</p>
<p>I don’t think it has anything to do with “caring” or “not caring”…I just don’t think the vast majority of kids do an all-out national search for a college and are primarily concerned with doing what they need to do to get into their first choice college which in most cases is in their region and generally a known commodity. Now if your first choice college happens to be this decades “darling” where everyone is applying then you have to work alittle harder. If you live in Michigan and you aspire to UofM or live in Minnesota and aspire to Carleton you already know what you have to do. If you live in California and have your sights on a UC…you know what you need to do and so on and so on for example. </p>
<p>I do think the comments about “caring” are part of the dynamic that I cited that make this environment so intimidating to students who don’t have super-high stats or aspire to top ranked colleges. </p>
<p>Certainly in a state like NC, with a flagship state U that is very desirable, the focus of many top students is only on “how do I get admitted to Chapel Hill” and they’re not necessarily looking beyond that. Even though many could do very well financially at other schools, as momofthreeboys said, if you’re in NC, you know what you need to do. At D’s private school, some 70-75% of kids every year go to NC state-funded universities, and that’s because (at least for now) the state U’s are great values.</p>