<p>Yes*</p>
<p>*It's designed and run by humans, of course it is flawed. It is flawed because everybody including applicants and schools are encouraged to pretend they are more than they really are. Humble honest people sometimes are rejected because someone with a padded resume got their spot. Schools play fierce games with numbers to move themselves up the totem pole of prestige.</p>
<p>If you bring in the financial aid considerations things get even worse. Colleges front line their aid to make it generous for the first year and then pile up the loans after they got you. Parents declare vacations business trips to reduce their family contribution. Lets give every high school graduate a college education or a General Motors car...that would improve the economy.</p>
<p>Then it is flawed because its a bureaucratic mess with an overdependence on private standardized test and application companies. </p>
<p>How would I change it. I would have college applications done in part, on line at central sites like a local college. Students would be given several hours to answer their essays on line without benefit of outside coaching.</p>
<p>No child left behind is leading us to a federal education system, why not a federal high school exit exam to replace the private system. An optional section could be aptitude.</p>
<p>Colleges brag about how good they are by talking about who comes into their school. Lets have a reality check on value added when they leave school, and how long it takes to leave the school.</p>
<p>That was a yes.</p>