Originally Posted by HowlerKarma
See, that is what bothers me about the US system, to some extent-- that there is this schizophrenic mentality that "well-roundedness" is good, but at the same time, students are expected to have a singular passion well-developed at 17 years of age. So being pointy is in some ways disproportionately rewarded by a system that CLAIMS to value polymaths, but punishes them for being polymaths.
When was the last time when a well-rounded individual was considered desirable for college? My nephew was accepted to a HYPSM about 8 years ago, and even then people were saying that colleges were looking for "pointy people", that when put together made a well-rounded class.