I think it’s the current zeitgeist. As soon as you step off that track, you see that there are so many more paths in life.
So many more paths.
They also seem a lot happier, potentially more fulfilling paths.
But parents and their children (and the schools seem to be caught up in this too) have the same sort of group-think. An apparent terror of Not Going To The Right School.
Our family got off this path awhile ago because one of my kids just couldn’t do it. Once that happened, I sat back in wonder at what weird world I’d been in, and watched the other families around me hyperventilate, nostrils quiver with fright about the slightest slip in grades, competing, racing, drugging their kids – for what?
Other than a handful of extremely “competitive” schools, the vast majority of schools are grateful to get enough students. 70% of colleges each year in the US do not fill.
- That means you can get admitted with the minimum requirements.
- Most schools offer a decent education.
- People who break the mold usually make the real changes in the world, not the people in the mold.
- Studies show that it's the person not the school that makes the real difference in how much he or she succeeds.
- Often it's the major not the school that determines your income level. Nurse anesthetists, for example, make a boatload of money. You'd never think "nursing" and "money" but hey there you go.
- And some of the "lower tier" colleges have better career outcomes (SUNY Maritime; SD Mines and Tech) than the Ivies and offer super cool programs that are really and truly interesting, and they don't suffer under that shadow of competitive-for-the-sake-of-being-competitive.
- The amazing art glass program at Centre College for example--unique. One of a kind. https://www.centre.edu/academics/majors-minors/art-studio/ You know, you're a history major who can blow glass.
- The only undergrad nanotechnology school in the country--http://www.sunycnse.com/Home.aspx
- The only glass engineering program in the country -- http://engineering.alfred.edu/undergrad/ges/
- Explosives technologies/ research at SD Mines and Tech, or New Mexico Tech where they blow up a car like every Tuesday. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cgJtVXGZLQ
There are a lot more cool programs like that out there . . . .
And then there’s the extended “gap” before college. Why rush to college? There doesn’t seem to be a reason for it. If you do your exploring and intern around the world (workaway.info; or student conservation association; or volunteer.gov; or coolworks) before college, then you don’t have the pressure of student loans, for example. And many colleges welcome “nontraditional” students with open arms. They even have special programs for them.
I advise: get off the track and discover the world while you can.