LOL. Lots of people work hard toward goals and find balance along the way. So what are the complaints really about?
I always wonder why we push kids to win or advance in so many other ways, but stop hard about certain college goals. We accept that much in life takes focus and some sacrifice. I could give so many examples. So many on CC, eg, have their kids in sports, with long hours, physical exhaustion. It can limit social life and hang time. They’re proud of that and their academic wins.
You can teach them balance.
So if the real complaint is that lack of balance and perspective, why not point to that, not the desire to aim high?
for 90% of those admitted to top 10 or 20 schools, they work hard and are smart but have luck as well. I knew a student got over 15 AP courses with mostly 5s still can’t get in one of those school. Not to mentioned great EC and high GPAs. How do we justify the wait list on Stanford is not as good as the median who get in Stanford? If you don’t believe in luck,here’s another word for you, predestination! Don’t get me wrong, you still need to work hard and be a smart student at first place. But don’t feel bad when you don’t get into the school you want. Those schools never be sorry about not getting you in. Don’t attach too much on those schools.
There is more than just hard work to get into these schools, a strategy is important also, and yes a little bit of luck that the AO looking at your package finds it interesting. The other thing applicants miss out on is the top LAC’s out there. They tend to focus on research universities. Solid applicants should choose a few top universities, a few top LAC’s and a variety of in state publics to cover their bases, of course this has been beat to death here on CC (but many don’t even look at top LAC’s).
^that’s often because the bragging rights for LACs aren’t so great. Not that I particularly cared, but when my contractor asked where my son was going to school (Swarthmore) he just mumbled, never heard of it. You get that a lot. Way nicer to say a school they’ve heard of, even if it’s just for basketball or football /sarcasm
Your contractor isn’t your target market, lol. Does he know top 50 colleges?
I agree. @CU123 . But not all kids find their fit at a variety of sizes and shapes. Some want the smaller environment, some the larger. Or big fish in a smaller pond vs smaller fish in the big one.
@lookingforward yes, but 20,000 fully qualified applicants aren’t going to get into their (idealized dream school that only accepts 2000), so they should at least visit a LAC, even if its a local one to get a feel for what they are about. After that they might think that its better than what they thought.
Visit, sure. But, eg, early on, mine decided with absolute certainty that a large U was not her place, after visiting BU and our flagship. Our solution would have been to expand her list of LACs. You know, a 10% admit rate is tough, but so is a 20%.
I don’t believe in the mania. But I do know many top students are capable of both the hard work and living their lives. What they need is a realistic atitude about chances.