PB,

I think that I fully appreciate that a completely personalityless sideshow freak-geek wouldn't be the optimal student for a university (but I think if they can push the boundaries of knowledge that a university is still the optimal place for them).

Universities want people that are bright, articulate and driven and also applicants that have a strong sense of who they are. So ECs, at a time that is now in the past, probably were an appropriate measure of balance; evidence that the applicant was not a hothoused 'monomath'.

But the college admissions process appears to have morphed into an arms race that has become so extreme that EC's have become just another grindstone for Tiger parents to push their offsprings' collective noses to. This reality then completely undermines their entire raison d'être as a factor that indicates 'balance'.

Last edited by madeinuk; 07/22/13 05:22 AM.
Become what you are