- Amanda Rigby's blog

Why the best schools can’t pick the best kids and vise versa.
The LA Times article regarding the college admissions process was written by a professor of psychology who believes the stress of getting into the ‘big name’ university is too overwhelming. I definitely agree with his claims and his thesis overall. Schwartz notes that many of those that apply to the school are indeed good enough to succeed in the school but only one in ten will actually get the chance. A school is unable to tell just how intelligent or talented a student is by the transcripts they receive until the student is accepted and enrolled in their school. It is only then where they tend to realize the intense competition to create the nicest resume or transcript took place. Students tend to chose classes where they know they will succeed, rather than those they may be interested in or could learn something new. In this instance, they sacrifice taking a risk and learning/expanding their intellect for a simple way to pass, or to look best on paper.
Such competition undermines a student for who they are. They get caught up in the competition and placing their best foot forward that they no longer seek to learn or understand. Schwartz backs up this claim with the findings from Harvard, UCLA, or Stanford that shows those accepted proving to be less inspired after enrolling. I both agree and disagree with Schwartz when he notes that the competition to get accepted into a ‘big name’ school is “completely pointless”. In one instance, I agree with him that the process is extremely and unnecessarily stressful for a student, as well as their parents. But on the other hand, I believe ‘big name’ schools need to maintain their reputation by accepting those who excel. Then again, Schwartz makes the point that those accepted are those that beef up their resumes and almost slide through simpler classes to reveal flawless transcripts. He proposes an experiment to put half of the applicants that are considered “good enough” into a ‘hat’ and draw from there at random, instead of thoroughly leafing through them to pick ‘the best’. This would relieve stress from students, parents, and allow students to be able to go back to being interested in school and not fighting their way to reach the top spot. In this way, they would be trying their best and being noted for it in a fair drawing.
Overall, I believe the university and its name isn’t what defines a student. The student can succeed and reach their potential in any school, no matter the name, if they set their mind to it. A ‘big name’ won’t necessarily change their attitude or feelings towards school.

Amanda Rigby's blog

04/13/2011

1 Comment

Amanda Rigby

Search

Recent Comments