@Dustyfeathers - I am also disheartened that so many people liked your post. My son is currently working as a student mentor for a company that does standardized test prep at his school. Over the summer he worked for the same company helping to develop practice material for the PSAT, SAT and ACT prep classes. He really really really likes his job.
He likes that he works at a job that provides a service that helps people achieve their goals. His work as a student mentor puts him in contact with younger students who have the same anxieties about the testing process as he did. He likes that he will have something to show for his work. He also liked developing practice material over the summer. He enjoyed analyzing the tests that College Board has released to figure out what kind of texts would be good practice for students and how to figure out the right questions to ask.
The person who runs the company is very smart. I don’t know if he went to an elite school or not. It isn’t important. The truth is that standardized test prep is a service that is desired by many and helps some students achieve their goals. I’m not sure why you don’t consider it an acceptable occupation.
I read The Gatekeepers many years ago. I found it somewhat eye-opening at the time. I had the impression that things remained pretty much the same in 2007/8 when S applied to college. (He didn’t apply to Wes.)
It would be interesting to have some insight into the deliberations around students who don’t submit scores at scores-optional schools. Clearly, students with excellent scores submit them.
What’s been eyeopening me as a parent is how the schools compete for/woo kids. So much focus, especially here on CC, but really everywhere is How do I get colleges to notice me/my kid?, when colleges also have the issue of How do we get kids/parents to notice (and eventually choose) us?
I had to read this, so I did, today. (I am annoyed though, as I downloaded it on the kindle, and it doesn’t seem to have the update by the author, ten years on, though there was an epilogue. Not sure what I missed.)
What really struck me above all else, is that not much really seems to have changed, as far as I can tell. If I had to pick one overriding theme, it would be the desire to diversify elite colleges. And the emphasis on extra curriculars was present then as now, though I imagine it is even more cutthroat these days. I was quite unaware of the active courting of top students that goes in in private high schools. I wonder if the same happens in public high schools.
Also am thinking that the mail room bulging with applications is probably a thing of the past. If there has been a noticeable change, and I am no expert, it’s that it might be even more difficult than it used to be to decide who gets in and who doesn’t. Or perhaps the AO of today just has to be brutally ruthless in the culling process. If there is an AO reading this, do give us some insight, please!
I am filled with new appreciation for just how fortunate my daughter (she of “average” excellent fame) was to be admitted to nine fanatstic LACs, especially when two of them were from WL. I guess she is more excellent than average, after all:-)
This brings to mind an interesting conundrum we’re facing with my senior this year. How many schools that are reaching out to her like her Really Really Like Her (in a sally field kind of way) and how many are playing the admit to deny game?
For instance, Swarthmore is really trying to get her into bed with them, but I’m super suspicious they won’t call her in the morning.
@MotherOfDragons Things I see as a good sign: invitations to visit campus on the school’s dime, fee waivers from a rep, personal meetings with admissions reps, special invitation only dinners at expensive restaurants, and lots of personal phone calls. We ignore the rest as impersonal recruiting.
Eta: D also has one school where the department head emails her regularly to inform her of things D might be interested in.
Read this book many years ago and the insight that I got was how much these colleges work the admissions process to create market demand and the fiction of being special. Wesleyan is a fine university, but there are a lot of great universities in this country and I hope no one loses sleep about not getting in there. This is not a comment on Wesleyan but about most universities and colleges in this country. Another takeaway was the documentation about how some good universities are just not the right fit for certain highly capable students – or to put that another way, one university’s recruitment for diversity is a potential bad experience for a “diverse” student.
Slightly off-topic, @ucbalumnus, thanks for posting that Berkeley study. It is the first window into UC admissions I have seen (other than people who share impressions or personal experiences), and I wonder if there are any more.
Regarding being courted…I recall an old-time poster here whose D received a personal note from the adcom who read her application (to Grinnell, IIRC, or maybe it was Pomona) complimenting her on her application and essay. Then they rejected her!
Lots of people think that when their S or D receives an invitation to apply–or even an actual application, in the old days-- in the mail from Harvard or Yale that the school really, really wants their kid. Um, no.
In days of yore, WUSTL was notorious for bombarding anyone who evinced the slightest interest with mailings. Do they still do that?
article has SPOILERS for the book, in case you haven’t read or finished it (like me).