<p>Hey CC buddies! I'm writing a paper for my anthropology class about hysteria and elite college admissions and how its become a sort of cultural phenomenon. So far I have thought of the examples of </p>
<p>-testing and test prep (dumping hundreds and wasting time for that 2400)
-hiring private councilors
-lying and cheating
-applying to 8+ schools</p>
<p>to show how college admissions has gone mad! Any body else have any ideas?</p>
<p>This site .</p>
<p>haha i know!</p>
<p>Agree completely with the above poster</p>
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applying to 8+ schools
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<p>I would take that off of your list. Many people apply to 4 to 6 reaches and have several matches and safety schools as well. I don't think that applying to 8+ schools is an example of "hysteria"; is it simply caution.</p>
<p>I would say 13+ schools. </p>
<p>But definitely put something about this site. There's a mother on there who asked if two 770's were too low!</p>
<p>Kids taking alot of EC's and community service, not for enjoyment or passion but to make their resume look better.</p>
<p>Dumb ass kids who commit suicide because they didn't get into HYPS when they had more than prestigious saftey schools.</p>
<p>Kids who sacrifice their fun in HS to study.</p>
<p>^Olympiads are fun, so that's not entirely valid.</p>
<p>But yeah, people visiting 123124 colleges and taking 234123423 prep courses are insane. I always tell people to relax and let everything come naturally, but they never listen LOL!</p>
<p>Depression and other mental health issues.
I guess that coincides with California-Bolt's comment about suicide.</p>
<p>People stressing about getting into Ivies when it's just a sports conference</p>
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I would take that off of your list. Many people apply to 4 to 6 reaches and have several matches and safety schools as well. I don't think that applying to 8+ schools is an example of "hysteria"; is it simply caution.
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<p>No, it is part of the hysteria. The average is still only about 3-4 schools, only a small percentage (CC-ish people) of people apply to 8 or more.</p>
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No, it is part of the hysteria. The average is still only about 3-4 schools, only a small percentage (CC-ish people) of people apply to 8 or more.
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<p>If you apply to 4 or 5 schools with low acceptance rates [in many cases it is more than 4 or 5 - which, I guess, you could say is part of the hysteria, unless the student believed that each of those schools was a fit for him or her], you will [should] also apply to schools with much higher acceptance rates - "safeties". However, after the top 100 or so schools, the acceptance rates are generally higher, thus reducing the need to apply to more schools. This eliminates the safeties, thereby reducing the total number of colleges the student applies to. In some cases, applying to many schools is just a precautionary measure.</p>
<p>If my school forces me to apply to more than 5 colleges...oh man.</p>
<p>T_T</p>
<p>How much some parents have become caught up in college admissions when it's their children who should be doing most of the work. Something to that effect.</p>
<p>^What I was thinking. Today I overheard some parents talking to each other about what classes their sons were going to take the next year. One mom says to the other "when do we find out what classes WE got into?"</p>
<p>you could write..</p>
<p>how many students are doing things to pad their application. summers with trips to the beach & kickin it with friends are replaced with internships, volunteering, or SAT prep. basically everything they are doing = to try & look good on a college app.</p>
<p>you could also use examples of forged identity.. like azia kim (stanford)! haha. :) can't think of anything else noww.</p>
<p>but yea, going back to what i said earlier, you could also use CC as an example like others said. you could write how people are making topics and asking things like, "should i retake the sat? i got a 2350.." or "cheerleading? this? that? will this look good to colleges?" basically, people are limiting themselves to what they think will look good to colleges.</p>
<p>What about the opposite? Kids think they're going to get into an Ivy League, but don't think they actually have to do any work. There's a girl in my study hall that is constantly debating which Ivy League she wants to go to (she's managed to narrow it down to Harvard and Yale), but has a GPA around 3.2, very low SAT scores, and as far as I know, no extra curricular activities. It's never occurred to her that she might not get in.</p>
<p>^I know a girl just like that. She's really nice, but she has a normal GPA and no ECs. She "really wants to go to Harvard". She doesn't realize what she has to do to stand out from 20,000 other people.</p>