I started reading posts on CC to help my son with his college search but, man, I can’t believe some of the insanity I’ve read on here. I don’t blame any of the kids who post – I blame their parents and schools for creating such anxiety and, dare I say, self-hatred. I happen to work in academia and am shocked by some of the stupidity I see here regarding “rankings” and “prestige.” It’s especially bad on the Ivy threads, where people debate which are the “lesser” Ivies and act like Cornell is just one step up from community college. Any kid who gets into Cornell should jump for joy because it’s without question one of the best universities in the world (I am not a Cornell alum, btw), but reading these threads would likely make a kid who “only” got into Cornell feel like crap. In fact, so many of these threads are so demeaning to any school not in the top 5 that I can only imagine the blow to a kid’s self-esteem if he/she reads that he/she is going to a “third-rate safety school” or a school where “everyone wishes they’d gotten into” HYPS. And the perception of individual schools is often so warped that I wonder where people are getting their info. I mean, some of it is so off the mark that I wonder if the posters are admissions officers from rival schools just talking smack. It seems that even when talking about institutions of higher learning, the “Interwebs” rears its ugly, anonymous head. I’m glad my son doesn’t have to rely on site like this one for his information. Wow. Just wow.
I’d urge you to read a little further before you jump to this conclusion. This forum is actually full of helpful information from posters who regularly urge kids to focus on fit and cost rather than prestige. Also tons of help on finding schools with the best merit aid (which are never the most selective schools). When my D was a junior, I found lots of helpful information in the SAT/AP prep forums that helped my D prep on her own for those tests. After a while you learn to sift through the prestige stuff and look for the actually useful information.
In the few months that I have been reading posts at this site I have learned so much. I’d suggest you poke around a little more. There is a lot of very good advice and information for those who are patient enough to look beyond just “chance me” threads.
So, OP, you join, read a “few” posts, slam, with a rather condescending smackdown, the many many many posters here who have had a very different experience than you seem to have in your brief tenure here, yet it seems your comments to others are really not all that different, as noted here:
Sure there is a lot of junk and bad advice here, but its interspersed with some very sage and useful info, written by thoughtful and wise people. Learn to separate the wheat from the chaff and you might find helpful info. If you care to, welcome to cc.
This site has been extremely helpful to me as well. Just filter out chance me and similar.
Look at the financial aid forum, parent forum, college selection, graduate school, etc before passing judgement. When I recommend CC to people, I tell them to stay away from the Ivy forums and Chances – there be dragons!
Stay out of the CC cafe too! The parents cafe is fine, the kids cafe can be a scary place (though one of the funniest threads I ever read, about essay topics, was in that forum). Just don’t come into a new community with guns ablazin’ or with a know it all attitude. Most likely it won’t go over well.
It’s typical of a forum, so with tens of thousands of users in a public discussion, there must be a good number of them saying really wrong/exaggerated stuff.
<<<<
I tell them to stay away from the Ivy forums and Chances – there be dragons!
<<<
The ivy forums are filled with boilerplated resumed kids…16 APs, 4.0 UW/5.8 W, violin concert mistress/master, Intel ISEF, 2380-2400 SAT single sittings, 800s on all subject SATs, and so forth.
When the spring results are in, many will find that those ivies found them to be a dime a dozen and skipped over them while picking some kids who didn’t look like they came from the cookie-cutter west coast or east coast.
The Chances forums are just the blind leading the blind. Rarely is affordability discussed. A bunch of 17 year olds using crystal balls and tea leaves.
The problem may be that some posters use certain schools as a type of enthusiasm-dampening currency exchange when writing about other schools. Comments like this are typical:
“Tufts has long been considering a catch basin for Ivy runoff.”
– posted by @shockthemonkey on 9/14/15 in the Wesleyan forum
Ah… trip-trap, trip- trap.
I agree with intparent, there just may be something under the bridge.
Well I wouldn’t start with the Ivies forum, necessarily. But if that’s your main focus, best to get acquainted with the intensity that goes along with that application process.
Good luck!
???
Why would @shockthemonkey make a thread about the stupidity of rankings, prestige, and hurting students’ self-esteem, but then write:
<<
“Tufts has long been considering a catch basin for Ivy runoff.”
– posted by @shockthemonkey on 9/14/15 in the Wesleyan forum
<<
How are the Tufts attendees supposed to feel after reading the above?
CC has become the mainstay of my internet time - love it!
Are there some annoying, silly, dumb, and/or depressing things floating around? Yes. But there is also some incredibly valuable, helpful info, and some funny, entertaining, uplifting stuff too.
Take what you like, leave the rest. Do unto others . . .
This site is helpful but it also makes people insecure. But I’ve been telling them it doesn’t reflect real life.
[Concern ■■■■■](Concern ■■■■■ - RationalWiki) is concerned.
I started reading this post but, man, I can’t believe some of the insanity I’ve read on here. I don’t blame the parent who posted – I blame his or her upbringing for creating such passive-aggressiveness and, dare I say, sanctimoniousness. I happen to work in academia and am shocked by some of the stupidity I see here regarding “stupidity” and “self-hatred.” It’s especially bad in this post, where the poster condescends to explain why other people’s priorities, goals, and expectations are misguided. Any teenager entering the hyper-competitive world of college preparation and applications naturally feels some anxiety because it is without question one of the defining moments of one’s life, but reading this post would make a kid who feels “stressed out” feel like crap. In fact, this post is so demeaning to any kid not preternaturally calm and self-possessed that I can only imagine the blow to a kid’s self-esteem if he/she reads that he/she is full of “self-hatred.” And this post’s perception of CC participants in general is so warped that I wonder where he or she is getting his or her info. I mean, some of it is so off the mark that I wonder if the poster is the parent of a rival applicant just talking smack. It seems that even when talking about earnest, hard-working, ambitious teenagers, the “Interwebs” rears its ugly, anonymous head. I’m glad my students don’t have to rely on an adult like this poster for their motivation and guidance. Wow. Just wow.
If anything, there’s a disproportionate number of people here worried about cost and recommending state schools and lesser-known private schools.
Who cares about proportion? Is there any real reason a website’s userbase should somehow match real-world population demographics?
Pretty sure we don’t. 