<p>I moved this from the end of another thread in the hopes of generating discussion about it. What do you think?</p>
<p>This is going to be an unpopular stance but I hope you will consider it. I do not agree that getting into college is an accomplishment.</p>
<p>It is wonderful to hear about so many students getting into schools that they want to attend. People are congratulating students and talking about what a great achievement it is. I disagree that this is an accomplishment/achievement. Further, I think viewing it that way is destructive and fueling the college application craziness. This idea of being admitted as an accomplishment is fairly new.</p>
<p>Applying to college is an accomplishment because it requires a lot of effort. So getting your applications in on time is an accomplishment. Getting good grades, doing good work, winning competitions, creating things, being able to play musical instruments...those are all accomplishments. Your accomplishments may increase the odds that you will be offered a spot in the college you want-although not always. Sometimes great credentials can lower your chances of an acceptance-when the admissions committee doubts you will come because your credentials are out of line with those typical of those that enroll in their school.</p>
<p>Getting into a college will give you opportunities to achieve. That is a good thing. But getting into a college isn't an achievement/accomplishment-if you are using those terms to mean roughly the same thing. This is not just a matter of semantics. It represents a conceptual confusion that is fueling the college admissions angst. If getting is an accomplish than being rejected is a failure. But that is not true either. People are rejected for all kinds of reasons. Sometimes their credentials are too strong; Other times they may not provide the school with what the school is looking for. And, sometimes people getting in are able to gain entry because of factors they had nothing to do with. You don't accomplish getting into school. Graduating, from high school or college...that is an achievement. </p>
<p>If you don't consider getting in as an accomplishment, not getting in to the school that was your first choice is not a personal failure..it is just a fact. It is under the control of someone else and does not reflect your effort or anything else about you. It reflects the efforts of the admissions committee. So perhaps it is their accomplishment but it is not yours. Getting good grades and doing the things that may help you get into that college...those are the accomplishments. And they stand whether or not you get into the college you want. So congratulations for getting great grades and doing great things and good luck getting into college! (and I'd say this about getting into Harvard or Madison Community College).</p>
<p>What do you think? Does seeing getting in as an accomplishment lead to more angst about the entire process. Consider that notion compared to the idea that everything you have done (completing classes, learning things, making things) are accomplishments. The outcome was under your control. If you succeeded you accomplished something. But getting into college is not really under your control. You can control a few aspects of the process but not the outcome. so if you can't control it, the outcome is not your accomplishment. So you don't have to be quite so upset if you don't get in since it is not a failure either. It is just a fact. Now you will apply elsewhere.</p>
<p>Most of the angst is because people use acceptances to “gauge” their accomplishments, when a lot of the time they shouldn’t.
Example - would you consider a student to be more accomplished if they got accepted into Yale, or if they got accepted to Madison Community College? Obviously Yale - simply because the baseline admission to Ivies generally involves extremely good test scores. While it certainly isn’t a failure if you are rejected from a school, being accepted into a highly ranked school shows that you have put in a lot of time and effort into getting there (and thus, accomplishments).</p>
<p>Isn’t it possible that and admittee to Madison Community College could have the same stats/accomplishments as a Yale admittee? Yes. There may be factors that prevent that individual from going to Yale but it doesn’t mean they aren’t accomplished. Does Madison Community College accept students with lower stats than Yale? Most likely. But where an individual attends college does not make one’s accomplishments immediately evident. Sadly, it is not easy to convince many seventeen year old applicants of this fact. </p>
<p>Of course, getting rejected from Yale is not indicative of whether the applicant was accomplished or not. However, getting admitted is.
Convincing students that rejection = failure is hard, but possible. I don’t think you could convince almost anyone that acceptance =/ accomplishments though. </p>
<p>Acceptance is the result of accomplishments. It is being granted the opportunity to study at a particular institution. What you do with that opportunity becomes the next set of accomplishments. Some will embrace the opportunity and thrive, and some, despite the incredible privilege and high graduation rates (with all the support that implies) will squander it and fail. Deferral or rejection is not the failure point in this process. </p>
<p>Of course getting in is an accomplishment. </p>
<p>It means:
"I’m Good Enough,
I’m Smart Enough,
and Doggone It, People Like Me!"</p>
<p>I think you may have it backwards. Getting accepted is an achievement. It means the student chose the schools on her list well (not overshootimg is often a difficult thing to do). But rejection is not the same as failure. As others pointed out, there are so many reasons colleges reject students, the main one being there are just not enough seats. Being rejected by Yale if the child has the stats and EC means chance does play a large part in the admissions process. </p>
<p>Well I suppose I can understand why so many students are devastated when they don’t get into the college they want and why they shoot for the few colleges on the top of most lists if people view getting in as an accomplishment.Their parents have probably been talking about getting into college as being an achievement their entire life-so a rejection from Ivy X is justifiably devastating because they have truly failed in the eyes of their parents. </p>
<p>I don’t view it that way. That is not to say that I don’t think some colleges are objectively better institutions than other ones. But because they are objectively better institutions does not mean they are better places for any particular student. It does mean that when it comes to generating new knowledge, disseminating knowledge and serving the intellectual needs of society, they are better. It does not mean that little Johnny should go to Institution X. I think Cornell, for example is a better university than, say, Argosy University because of how well it accomplishes its mission. But not everyone should be at an intellectual powerhouse like Cornell, for instance. Some students will do better at a small less competitive and more nurturing environment, and society is better served when those who stand to gain and contribute the most (from any given institution) are matched to the right institution. And, certain students can make better use of a place like Cornell than others. </p>
<p>So I’m not saying that the most intellectually oriented students who will make the best use of a school like Cornell should not aspire to be at Cornell. But I can’t think of one institution where there is even close to a direct association between a student’s achievements and the acceptances to that institution. In other words, actual achievements sometimes play no role whatsoever. And sometimes they do. And if that is so, how can getting into a college be a student achievement. I will say that it is an achievement of the admissions board when they are able to collect a class of students that is a good match to the institution. But as long as parents believe that the college acceptances are an achievement (and if you have a sticker on your car promoting your child’s college, I’m guessing you are one of those) then the craziness that currently characterizes the admissions process will continue. Those same parents should not be so quick then to say things like “It’s not a reflection of you” when a student is rejected. You can’t have it both ways. Either it is or it isn’t regardless of the outcome for one particular student.</p>
<p>Though not equivalent, there is a similarity to winning at the roulette wheel, and one gets congratulated for that “acheivement” too. I know what you are saying. Don’t know how choice of words would help the feeling the kids I know who were deferred or turned down are having. Dashed expectations are very painful. </p>
<p>Thanks for your reply cptofthehouse. In the current climate the words may not matter. But thinking about the sentiment behind the words could result in a change in climate for future students. After hearing about getting into a “good school” as an achievement for a decade, a few words won’t make a difference. The hope is that parents start thinking about and talking about college in a different way. If the conversation changes, maybe fewer students will go into the process thinking that the outcome is a measure of how strong a student he/she is. </p>