Originally Posted by Val
In reading through this thread again, I'm still deeply bothered by the college admissions process. The IQ thing is only a small part of it.

Specifically, why all this focus on achievement (past grades and test scores) as a requirement to get into college? Isn't achievement supposed to be what you're shooting for as a grownup, after you've finished college or whatever training you need to get there? confused

When we expect 17-year-olds to have won prizes, completed hundreds of hours of "volunteer" work, captained a team, and also excelled highly in an additional area, we're forcing them into a role that (IMO) the vast majority aren't ready for. We're also teaching them that you do the volunteer work because it will help you, not because it might actually help others. And of course, because it's required, it's not truly volunteer work. Not to mention summer "experiences" chosen for application essay appeal?

It all seems so...shallow and false. Why is this the message we've chosen to send to our kids?

Is there a clearly superior alternative? Admitting students to college based on a single exam, as some countries do, concentrates the stress but may not reduce its quantity.

I think the largest factor fueling the college admissions arms race is supply and demand. The class sizes of the top ten universities have not expanded, but the population is growing, and with lower transportation and communication costs (e.g. cell phones), and rising incomes (measured over a long enough time span :)) the college market has become nationalized. In 1970 there probably were not that many California kids aspiring to Harvard or Massachusetts kids aspiring to Stanford (or Illinois kids aspiring to either), but regional preferences have dissipated. Not only that, the college admission market has become international. Very few Chinese or Indians could afford to send their kids abroad in 1990. Now a much larger fraction can (even if the fraction is still small in absolute terms). Need-based financial aid has opened selective schools to the middle class.

Tom Friedman wrote a book called "The World is Flat". The leveling that has occurred in college admissions increases competition. It is stressful for students aspiring to the most selective colleges, but I don't think it is a bad thing overall.