Best and Brightest Not Accepted / Why Harvard Doesn't Love Me

Parents Forum
1

<p>LA Times: seniors are all trying to cram through the same small college doors.</p>

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[quote]
IN THE LAST few weeks, the anxiety of high school seniors awaiting news of their college fates seems to have spilled over into the general population. It's easy to see why. UCLA received more than 50,000 applications, more than any other university in the country, and accepted just 11,837 of them. Harvard turned down 91% of about 23,000 hopefuls, 1,100 of whom had perfect SAT math scores. Acceptance rates for Stanford, Yale and Columbia were 10.3%, 9.6%, and 8.9%, respectively. That means thousands of valedictorians and people with grade-point averages of 4.0 or higher were passed over in favor of whatever form of superhuman DNA now constitutes a worthy Ivy Leaguer....</p>

<p>An applicant can have perfect grades and scores, be a star athlete, perform community service and exhibit dazzling talents in the extracurricular arena and still be rejected by colleges that, a decade ago, less capable students would have considered safety schools...</p>

<p>What's the point of forking over private school tuition or the astronomical taxes and housing prices in towns that have exceptional public schools when the level of competition within those schools creates zombified students and all but cancels out any one student's ability to win the prize?</p>

<p>I called Jeff Brenzel, dean of undergraduate admissions at Yale, and asked him that very question. He admitted that there is fierce competition within certain high schools but emphasized that if you're in a position to even apply to longshot institutions, you're ahead of the game. The glut of applications to a tiny fraction of colleges, he said, is the result of an artificial hierarchy created by the college-ranking system, most notably U.S. News & World Report's annual "best colleges" report.</p>

<p>"Before the rankings systems, [the process] was much more regionalized," Brenzel said. Now because of the rankings, " you have kids from Texas trying to get into a school in Maine...."</p>

<p><a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-daum9apr09,0,7910373.column?coll=la-opinion-columnists%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-daum9apr09,0,7910373.column?coll=la-opinion-columnists&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

2

<p>Maybe my viewpoint is wrong, but I think we'll see other excellent schools begin to become more widely recognized. And FWIW, I think it's a great thing.</p>

3

<p>Good summary of the issue I think--when I was a high school student, back when US News was still published on clay tablets and did not have college rankings, it was almost unheard of to leave our region for college. There wasn't as much money around either, so the best and brightest tended to go no further than the state university.</p>

4

<p>Harvard doesnt like you because there is too much cash flying around and you are not rich enough to be likeable. But I like you.</p>

5

<p>Interesting data culled from UCLA's Cooperative Institutional Research Program Freshmen Survey:</p>

<p>
[quote]
The percentage of students applying to more than three colleges has almost tripled since 1967, to 56.5 percent. But it might not be as out of hand as popular media reports suggest: only 2.2 percent last year applied to 12 or more colleges.</p>

<p>The importance of going to a college with a high reputation has remained virtually unchanged since 1983, according to responses, but rankings have factored in as increasingly important in making that determination. Still, only 16.4 percent of respondents found rankings to be very important in their overall decision.

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</p>

<p><a href="http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/04/09/cirp%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/04/09/cirp&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>There is a problem if those 12 or more colleges are all the same ones...</p>

6

<p>Article on this issue came out recently.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.nacacnet.org/MemberPortal/News/newsfeed/newsarticle.htm?id=I294135026%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.nacacnet.org/MemberPortal/News/newsfeed/newsarticle.htm?id=I294135026&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>I guess one must resolve oneself to the fact that the idiosyncratic admissions world has imperfections. And, if child is accepted: because he or she deserved it. And, if child not accepted: that was because of the imperfect world of admissions. Of course there are exceptions.</p>

7

<p>I'm not sure I agree with the idea that the best and the brightest "deserve" admissions but somehow slip through the cracks. I think the statement that certain people "deserve" to be "rewarded" for their efforts through admission deifies a process that is simply a game/politics. It's not just imperfect or idiosyncratic; it never intended to be perfect or to reward the "best and brightest" at all.
Thanks for posting the article, though. It was very true, especially this part, which is tough to come to terms with.

[quote]
An applicant can have perfect grades and scores, be a star athlete, perform community service and exhibit dazzling talents in the extracurricular arena and still be rejected by colleges that, a decade ago, less capable students would have considered safety schools.

[/quote]
</p>

8

<p>Ah, another article bemoaning the USNews rankings by spokesmen from colleges who continue to participate in the charade.</p>

<p>Wouldn't it be refreshing if all the top 25 LAC's and Research U's decided to opt out! What would USNews do then!</p>

9

<p>Actually, I think the USNWR ratings help to stimulate some applications to schools outside of the geographic area. I know when my D was selecting colleges, she checked the USNWR rankings, SATs and class rank for admitted students and found additional schools to consider.</p>

<p>Maybe we should not judge a school by how many applicants are denied, but we certainly want to consider the caliber of the admitted students as part of the selection process. The competition and example of other students helps to stimulate individual effort. Teachers must teach to the level of the students.</p>

10

<p>Edad, the article did mention the broader geographical mix of applicants as a result of the USNews "ranking". And our son did also used the USNews data for screening purposes. It was nice to have all that CDS info consolidated in one place.</p>

<p>Now if they would only end the ranking charade and post the CDS data by listing the colleges alphabetically.</p>

11

<p>Please note that I have merged two threads discussing the same article, though the article came from different sources. One thread had been titled, "Why Harvard Doesn't Love Me" and the other titled, "Best and Brightest Not Accepted." Carry on...</p>

12

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<p>They would probably simply adjust their ranking criteria to make input from the schools less important or not needed at all and then keep right on ranking. </p>

<p>USN&WR hit a gold mine when they started ranking colleges. Does anyone think for one minute they plan to stop? The crazy thing is that nearly every newspaper or magazine article or thread on CC where people are seeking to reform the admissions process almost always recommends getting rid of the rankings, since they are a major cause of the current frenzy. The reason why getting rid of the rankings is a crazy idea is because IT CANNOT BE DONE. The Constitution guarantees freedom of the press, so USN&WR, and anyone else who wants to, can rank away to their hearts' content. And that's not going to change any time soon. So we're going to have to think of some other, more feasible, approach to reform.</p>