<p>kwu – I don’t see that. I see a desire for affirmation that prestige is assumed to give, with entitlement a minor issue.</p>
<p>What affirmation? Affirmation hat the thousands of hours of study on weekends over the prior four years, when most students are chilling, was after all worth it. That the academic competitions, community service hours done SOLEY for the college app, lost hours of sleep, foregone social life, were after all worth it.</p>
<p>How would you expect one to feel after all those sacrifices (after all we’re talking about people who do NOT enjoy school and learning for learning’s sake) if the reward is admittance to the same school that admitted fellow classmates who hardly broke a sweat through high school? I would almost expect such a person to attempt to right that wrong as soon as possible and restore their self esteem!</p>
<p>These students are looking for affirmation that their sacrifices were justified, and that they are in fact BETTER than those attending lower ranked schools. It’s a self esteem issue at its core.</p>