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The admissions committees aren't made up of people who would see things that way. You would think that working on the admissions committee would be a rotating gig filled by professors. But it isn't. A couple of books and something else I read recently showed that admissions is an entry-level job that tends to be filled by...people with...degrees in subjects like...education.

This book, which was written by the former Director of Admissions at Dartmouth, discusses the issue. Click on the page that starts with "Since they did not attend highly selective colleges themselves...."

It's all a bit of a very sick joke, yet people take it all very seriously. It honestly boggles my mind that super intelligent, accomplished, highly capable applicants applying to our "best" universities are being advised to dumb down their essays so that the people on the admissions committee can understand them and not miss nuances.

Still no alternative. This is a perfect time to come up with a different way of parsing the pile of perfect scores.

Make admissions tests HARDER. MUCH harder.

And then-- make them surprising. That eliminates the ability to game the system by 'coaching' for them in the first place. In fact, you know what? LET COLLEGES WRITE THEM. Not for-profit test production companies. Pick a college out of the hat every year, and hey, presto-- they get to write next year's SAT.

Everyone gets ONE shot for free. Everyone. But-- only one chance, mind.

Also-- do something about grade inflation. Seriously. Straight A students didn't use to be incapable of writing a coherent essay at a college level upon graduation from high school. This is a problem. Many college educators now regard "I'm in the honors program" as shorthand for "special snowflake syndrome" rather than actual high ability. Nobody flunks STEM classes like those honors students, though-- and nobody looks more amazed that it is happening to them, either. {sigh}


Then-- have students complete college essays under proctored conditions. Two sessions-- that's fine. Time enough to write and revise. Excellent.

Voila-- meritocracy restored.

What Val said? Absolutely true-- which is why a good many departments have-- long since, in fact-- said "you know what, suuuuuuure, you got into Prestigious University all right, but you know, I just don't think that you're right for Highly Difficult Subject College within our institution. Maybe you should try Easy Fluff Major and see if they'll take you on as a student."

Just getting IN to the larger institution isn't anything like getting into your major, where the real expert admissions screens take place.

Also-- the SAT essay works exactly the same ridiculous, formulaic way. Needs to be 300-400 words, probably, for a "6" score... oh, and don't be NUANCED. My goodness no. Pick a strong position and remember that this is persuasive writing, and that you have just 25 minutes.

I've already flatly told DD that she is to consider this an opportunity to lie without compunction. If she needs to manufacture a cute/warm anecdote to pull off what she needs... OF COURSE she should do that.

Oh, and also remember that the people grading it will spend about 22 minutes less than that grading it.

"Holistically" I mean. Which is fine, except that it's not at all clear that the individuals DOING that grading are very well suited to that task, since it's so unrestricted as to topic and writing style and all. Whatever.

Bravo, HK - you hit the nail squarely on the head in those last two posts.

I wouldn't even be thinking about Ivy's if it weren't for the nose drive that academic standards have taken. It used to be that only the brightest went to university. Now almost everyone gets to go. Did primary and secondary education miraculously improve? Heck no! Instead the bar was lowered so that all but the dimmest could make it.

I have just about given up (and compared to many children associated with this site, my DD is dim) on my DD having mental peers before college. A real college that is and the closest thing to that these days appears to still be an Ivy simply because they are so selective. Lord alone knows what parents of kids 160+ are thinking!

Unfortunately, even the Ivy selection criteria does not bear scrutiny. But the Ivys do still seem to be the best of a bad bunch - I could sent DD to Europe though so all is not lost. Germany, at least doesn't appear to have completely changed its academic stripes.

The ethical question of conning people that will never, ever in a decade of Sundays graduate even from the lowest calibre universities into borrowing insane amounts of money just boggles my mind. I hope that Hell exists purely so that there be a special place for those that have stooped this low.

So its back to the salt mine for me - 300K will probably be 3Mil in 10 years time...

Yes

Yes

YesYesyesyesyes.

Actually, from what I hear, they've been systematically de-funding the universities for years; departments are closing, there's overcrowding and little access to faculty, and time to degree remains appalling. I wouldn't think this is a great option...

DeeDee

Germany in specific. I have little experience elsewhere in Europe.

DeeDee

The main thing that I like about the modern German education system as opposed to the older one is this. Once upon a time, you either went to the 'brainy' high school aka 'gymnasium' and then went to university or you didn't and if still relatively bright you were put on the apprenticeship track. That pretty stark choice and route to higher education was it. Now, you still get the above but those that didn't go to gymnasium still have a track to get into a good university. Firstly, they have to take classes that 'ramp' them up to university entrance level and those that do not make the cut do not get to go the university. Adopting this approach means that the standards at university are maintained and meritocracy is strengthened not diluted.

I have no research to back the following home spun theory up but I cannot help thinking that the (misguided) notion that EVERYONE can go to university regardless of academic merit has been a major contributor to the insane rise in costs for students in this country.

How so? Well, the needless expansion has led to a construction boom on many college campuses - how is this financed? By taking on debt. How is the debt serviced? By raising tuition and raising admissions which means yet more construction is needed ...

I missed this before. But adding the essay question was suppose to differentiate and still perfect scores.

And didn't they just redo the SAT, maybe not for this year.

And more and more kids are taking the AP courses.

I think you are just getting too many kids that can do well on strictly an academic basis.

It was similar for Hunter high school. The test to get in used to be just scores. But too many good scores. So the cut-off on the score got you to the essay. And the essay became the key. But that could eliminate all these STEM PGs that aren't the greatest at essay writing.

I think making the test harder is being tried. But you just get the greater majority of kids hitting the target coming from India and China.