Read this and immediately thought…David Foster Wallace.
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I don’t know. Maybe you can’t sniff out every consultant essay. Also kids write excellent essays. But let me give another suggestion broadly. My kid told me after he was done with admissions, that it is helpful to find a buddy before application season starts. A buddy that is applying to the same caliber of schools, but not directly to the same schools that you are applying. And he said it is very helpful to bounce off various versions of the essay with the buddy. And this runs both ways. So the three reviewers you have in the process are a) buddy, b) GC, and c) parent. And that is enough.
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Influence is a stupid way to ‘rank’ colleges. Harvard is likely by far the most ‘influential’ college in the world. Why? Front loading the college with politicians, ceos, industrialists kids. It’s easy to be influential when you’re born on 3rd base. But should this be the metric of success for universities?
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Agreed. Growth in admitted students is of great interest but I am afraid that it can be also very tough (and consistently) to measure, unfortunately.
One of my favorite topics is the internships the students can/do get while at college. Not only do such internships help with the growth of the students but they can also be critical to reconfirming areas of interest and career paths as well as opening doors.
Some colleges/alumni networks are incredibly helpful in that area.
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Normally, my skeptical self would agree with you. However, this week, 2 of my 3 teens (9th and 11th grade) asked me to look at final drafts of school essays that were due at midnight yesterday (normal due date for our school). I was impressed with how good these papers were, not just the writing, but the insight. (I have 3 in high school now; 2 are Peer Writing Center tutors). Yes, we come from a family of readers and writers, but they also seem to be getting great teaching and instruction. I don’t think it’s fair to assume that a 17-year-old can’t write a great essay.
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Wow! I didn’t know that either, but it explains a lot. I’m sure there are some bright HS kids doing advanced research that genuinely publish but I expect there wouldn’t be a whole lot out there.
But… I’m actually not surprised or disappointed that such a service exists, or that there are professors like this out there. What disappoints and upsets me is that it somehow seems to work exceedingly well in the admissions process. AOs lap it up. Of course, if they didn’t then this service wouldn’t be worth even $300. 
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Oh, I definitely think that 17 year olds can write great essays. I’ve been on a committee that looks at applications for statewide students of the year in 5th, 8th, and 12th grades, which includes an essay. I am not surprised to read essays from 17 year olds to have insights, wisdom, or a polished essay; but I do expect the author’s voice. And some of the pieces I read seemed too polished, buffed to such a degree that it didn’t feel authentic.
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I didn’t say it was good or valid. I think the use of AI to compile the extent which alumni engage with the world and produce widely referenced ideas/information is ‘interesting.’ I appreciate that they exclude super-influencers such as outliers with broad name value such as the Hilary Clinton at Wellsley, Meryl Streep at Vassar, John Green at Kenyon. In that way they reflect to what extent a more typical graduate has influenced the world.
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Academic Influence, the organization that is doing these rankings, has an interesting concept going. I’m still exploring their website and the various lists, and it’s certainly interesting reading. I’ve read a bit about its methodology with its Concentrated Influence where it looks at the number of citations from the last 10 years and then divides by the enrollment (to try and make it a more even fight between big & small colleges), but I still need to dig more.
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OK…so ‘maximalist mania’? Prodigious, random output? Genius? What’s your take?
yep. That’s why I was explicit in saying ‘I have no idea, but it sounds interesting’. I would just love for anything to put USNWR in the rearview mirror.
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Nothing so profound. Just that Amherst has a very culturally influential alum that likely accounts for their position on the rank list…check out DFW Wikipedia page under “Influence” to see what I mean. I’d think he alone would be responsible for leaving Williams in the dust…
Oh, yeah, but this group was smart enough to eliminate super-outliers like DFW, Hilary Clinton (Wellsley), Mery Streep (Vassar), Carl Sagan (Cornell). So it really does represent what a typical non-famous alums contributes information/ideas to the world.
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In order to not derail this thread further on the discussion of whether the Class of '26 is an outlier for college admissions, I have started a separate thread to discuss the Academic Intelligence rankings which can be found here: Academic Influence Rankings...Thoughts?
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One could contact Wesleyan directly to inquire about this.
TO colleges have traditionally required all students to submit test scores upon matriculation for at least two reasons: 1) they are tracking college GPA and grad rate by test submitters vs TO and 2) USNWR penalizes schools in their ranking methodology if x% of the class doesn’t report a score. Ultimately getting scores from all and reporting them to USNWR avoids this penalty.
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Also, remember that when Wesleyan and other TO colleges report their Class Profiles, the collective board scores are almost always expressed as medians. Maybe, I’m missing something, but I should think it pretty simple to keep half the class from falling below a certain level of SAT or GPA, if that’s a goal.
Typically I see scores reported in mid 50% range, not a median. That’s what the CDS asks for.
And….not all schools report TO applicant scores on the CDS, even where they ultimately collected all scores (but again I don’t think this has happened the last two cycles). That’s something one has to ask institutional reporting.
Class stats/profiles shown elsewhere on the school’s website or in the students newspaper may or may not include full set of scores (again, prior to pandemic).
I mention the Class Profile because typically that is where the confusion between “accepted students” and “matriculated students” will fuel charges that TO colleges are “inflating” their incoming student’s scores by omitting the non-submitters. Not true. Until its updated, usually in August, or until the CDS in published - usually by the middle of the year - it does not reflect who is actually matriculating.
I agree there’s often confusion between admitted and matriculated data. If one is deciding whether to submit scores, it’s better to use admitted mid-50% ranges. And what’s in the CDS may not be the same as what’s reported to IPEDS and/or USNWR.