<p>Celloguy, you linking of your reservations about merit aid and the "Admissions Revolution" thread/the Thacker book, "College Unranked: Ending the College Admissions Frenzy" leaves me somewhat confused.</p>
<p>Yes there is an admissions frenzy in higher education today, and I would add an unhealthy one at that, one I have posted about many times here. However it is largely restricted to the most highly selective institutions, those which can, because of their endowments, afford to offer only need bases finaid. Because of their brand name they have the luxury to eschew merit aid altogether.</p>
<p>I will give you a very personal example. Our son would have been a viable candidate at colleges like Cornell, Swarthmore, Columbia SEAS, etc. However, with an EFC of $83000(and one which I have no complaint about) we had a family choice to make very early on, like freshman year in high school. We chose to not embark on the frenzy of elite admissions which require course scheduling and ec selection with a wary eye on how those choices would be view by a Princeton adcom. As a result our son was able to have a very enjoyable hs experience, forming his own band rather than spending countless hours of practice to make the all state or local symphonic orchestra which would impress an adcom. Feeling free opt out of Spanish 3 and 4 to take courses like CompProg AP, Music Theory, Madrigal Chorus.</p>
<p>The result was that durng senior year he had a totally stress free college application experience. He did not have to stress out wondering if he would be one of the lucky ones to get the thick envelope from an Amherst or Dartmouth, he didn't feel pressed to choose one college and apply ED to maximize his chances. He didnt feel the need to spend endless hours prepping for the SAT and to take that infernal test 3, 4 or 5 times and he didnt feel the need to take any SAT 2's either. He wasn't compelled to spend countless evenings writing and honing multiple personal essays. He did his in a couple of hours one evening and, because he used the CommonApp he only had to do that one. In short he took the SAT once his senior year, completed 5 of his 6 applications in one weekend(the exception being his flagship state u app) and was unconcerned about being accepted to any college he applied to. The only question was how much merit aid would college see fit to offer him. However I should add that he did spend much time researching colleges which he would enjoy and might offer him some merit aid.</p>
<p>In short we avoided all the "horror stories" noted in your citations. To wit, he had a wonderful time in hs where choosing to hangout with friends had a higher priority than participating in appropriate ec's to pad a resume, he didn't need to stress over testing scores or application decisions out of his control, and he didnt feel compelled to enter the high stress elite college sweepstakes because we allowed him to opt out of it 4 years earlier.</p>
<p>In the end he was accepted to every college he applied to, was fortunate to receive merit aid offers totalling $370,000+ and was able to choose to attend fine colleges like Case, Oberlin and Rensselaer. Not among the big bad brand names but on a par with them academically I would submit. And haviing spent my entire adult life in academe, I believe I have enough first hand experience to make that statement.</p>