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What I was observing, I later discovered, was a common phenomenon among the families of college-bound students of a certain social class, one aptly described by the psychologist Michael Thompson in a justly famous 1990 essay titled "College Admissions as a Failed Rite of Passage. College admissions, Thompson wrote, "can make normal people act nutty, and nutty people act quite crazy."
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<p>It's a shame that the Atlantic Monthly is no longer covering college admissions as they used to.</p>
<p>At least some of the Atlantics' editorial staff is so misogynistic that they probably decided to stop covering college admissions when women were allowed in college.</p>
<p>Such a great article.</p>
<p>Wow,</p>
<p>Well written.</p>
<p>Nice find!</p>
<p>Nice article. Thanks for the link:-)
One impression - after reading many posts here on CC I know that Univeristy of Chicago is truly a great school! Thanks CC!</p>
<p>Excellent article! My college guidance counselor could have written it; he, too, was a happy English teacher at a private school when suddenly he was promoted to college counselor and had to deal with all the crazed parents and students and insult them by suggesting their kid apply to Kenyon or Carleton.</p>
<p>Very well done. Almost nostalgic, though, looking at a time when admissions angst was an affliction of the uppercrust rather than the trickle-down frenzy we've all been experiencing. Keep in mind this 2001 article came out when the admission rate to H and Y was still well into the double digits rather than hovering near a single digit. </p>
<p>LOL moment: the author bemoans that so few of her students want to apply to UChicago, shunned as too intellectual and an* unfashionable* place to go to college. No more, obviously.</p>
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At least some of the Atlantics' editorial staff is so misogynistic that they probably decided to stop covering college admissions when women were allowed in college.
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<p>I never noticed this slant. What did they exactly do? Start telling the truth about Bryn Mawr, Smith, or Wellesley? </p>
<p>Oh, by the way, I-dad, nice to see your comments outside the Swarthmore forum. Have faith, there is always Texas and Ohio for your favorite politico.</p>
<p>Wonderful article. I especially loved the close:</p>
<p>Powerful emotions get mixed up in the college-admissions process. Michael Thompson wrote in "College Admission as a Failed Rite of Passage" that central to this experience is "the most important and most difficult transition in all of life: the end of childhood and the late-adolescent separation and individuation from parents." He continued,</p>
<p>The frantic involvement of many parents in the process is, from my perspective, a cover for this profound parental anxiety: Did I do a good job with this child? Did I do everything I needed to do for this child? Is this child prepared? Is this child going to have a good life? ... Such fears about letting go of an unfinished child exist in all families. How can we let go of a child who is still so young in so many ways?</p>
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Have faith, there is always Texas and Ohio for your favorite politico.
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<p>Looks like I'll probaby have to vote for McCain.</p>
<p>I liked that article!</p>
<p>The author went to University of Virginia. I didn't notice that UVA was mentioned in the article? Did she regret her decision to go there?</p>
<p>From article: "If a demonstrably superior academic environment is important, again, why not the University of Chicago? If the atmosphere there is too relentlessly intellectual, what about the world-class University of Michigan or California; or the first-rate University of Texas, Washington, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Iowa, or Illinois; or the University of Pittsburgh or Carnegie Mellon? They boast extraordinary faculties and also offer students thriving social lives. "</p>
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From article: "If a demonstrably superior academic environment is important, again, why not the University of Chicago? If the atmosphere there is too relentlessly intellectual, what about the world-class University of Michigan or California; or the first-rate University of Texas, Washington, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Iowa, or Illinois; or the University of Pittsburgh or Carnegie Mellon? They boast extraordinary faculties and also offer students thriving social lives. "
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<p>Because they're sooo... pedestrian. <rolls eyes=""></rolls></p>
<p>D1 was thrilled to get into Illinois, which is no mean feat even for Illinois residents. UIUC rejected schoolmates who had 4.0 unweighted GPA's, 8+ AP Courses, and ACT scores over 30.</p>
<p>it is a shame that so much pressure has been put on everyone from the parents that have to pay for expensive prep courses to the student that works himself to death to get accepted to the counselor that bears the brunt to a class of good admissions sats or bad.</p>
<p>Experienced both from the same school and it is a world of difference. my first got a counselor that was so overworked, and so lacking in personality and care. this counselor told kids that they might as well go to a community college and after spending thousands on outside counseling, they got into fairly good schools. he just did not go that extra mile for but a few.</p>
<p>Second time around, college counselor was amazing. She emailed us back on New Year's Day to give us feedback. She called the college, advised us and helped give us the needed direction. If second kid gets into first choice, it will be because of her. If nothing else, she gave my child the added boost of attention and encouragement. IT MAKES ALL THE DIFFERENCE IN THE WORLD.</p>
<p>That is one huge benefit I felt we got from our son's prep boarding school (Interlochen, too, for daughter, but that is a different deal). His counselor was NOT just interested in his own "track record" of getting kids into elite schools. He worked for the best fit. He was the one who insisted that my son would be better off NOT in Wharton at Penn (my son didn't believe it) and he was right. He spent as much time on getting kids positioned for Gettysburg and Delaware as he did Princeton and Williams. He was honest and the packets that were put together on each kid were simply amazing.
The biggest problem he faced was the parents. As he told me, "When parents have spent $30,000 a year on boarding school, they have trouble hearing that their kid is NOT going to Harvard!" I watched his hair turn more grey even during S's two years at the school!</p>
<p>Great article.</p>
<p>I feel so fortunate that I never had to subject myself or DS to this admissions rate race pressure. Being from a small rural school where no one had even heard of the University of Chicago (is that an Illinois state school?) left us free to sort out college options free of this kind of pressure. Ironically, the only pressure we ever felt was from posters on CC - lol.</p>
<p>Hey, who's running down my Gettysburg and Delaware??!!!??? Gettysburg just happens to be the alma mater of my favorite Nobel Laureate (in Medicine no less) and anyone who thinks Delaware is an easy place to be hasn't tried Chemical Engineering there!!!</p>
<p>Just kidding folks. As MomofWildChild suggests, Princeton and Williams aren't for everyone. It's great whenever a GC considers the student. My kids GCs didn't do that, but I had CC and that made everything all right!</p>
<p>Really good article. I especially loved the mention of the kids who are "rather lousy high school students" who are "very often readers." That's my son to a T. He is what he is. I tell myself that there is some good college out there that will love that he devoured Dante's Inferno at the age of 15 and doesn't mind that he bombed AP Bio.</p>