I get this question a lot, from parent's coworkers, family friends, teachers, and basically anyone who I engage in a conversation with. Sure, I'm highly interested in searching for colleges, and I've been on the site "Naviance" more times than I can count, but I'm a JUNIOR. For fear of judgement, and maybe to raise my confidence, I always answer with a polite, "I'm still searching for colleges, I don't quite know what I'm interested in yet." It's almost as if college defines who we are, and as New Trier students, it's expected that we go to elite, prestigious universities.
I read an article just today about the lowering acceptance rates of Ivy Leagues, the lowest being Harvard with a staggering 5.9% accepted out of all that apply; this tends to be about 35,000 students. That's only 2,065 accepted! One of the comments on the article states, "I borrowed a friends Harvard sweatshirt after a sailing regatta and I received three job offers during that day, a phone number and a request for a date as well as two parents who wanted me to mentor their kids. It's shocking how much weight those seven letters carry (Bendgoat)." Do people deserve such high respect when attending an Ivy League? But more importantly, should college be such a defining factor of our lives?
Hey Tricia! I think that you bring up a couple of pretty interesting points here. I do agree with you that acceptance rates for these 'selective colleges' are significantly low, but they are so because of there higher standards in education. I think in general its pretty rare that three job offers would spring from a single sweatshirt your'e wearing (I wish that were true), and I think you should focus your main points on a fact other than that, since it would be extremely rare.
ReplyDeleteBut besides for that I completely agree with you. Colleges should not determine the amount of respect you receive in life, a single school can't define who you are and how smart you are as a person.
Nice Article!