College Admissions Anxiety

It's college acceptance time, and it appears that we are in the midst of perhaps the most competitive college admissions year in history. Williams accepted its lowest percentage of applicants ever (I think it is safe to say that dcat would likely no longer be welcome in the Purple Valley as a student were he 18 again) and almost every elite college reports the same phenomenon. The higher standards and tougher competition naturally create anxiety, which allows a certain category of awful parents and manipulative profiteers to benefit from this anxiety.

I want to steer you to a gloriously eviscerating review of what sounds like a book worthy of nothing but contempt. The review comes from a blog by a former admissions officer at Amherst (Boo! Hiss!) and now college admissions advisor at a prestigious high school in Chicago.

The elite colleges are wonderful. You can get an unsurpassed education in the most intellectually rivetting environment imaginable. A degree from one of the elite universities or liberal arts colleges can open many doors. But those schools are not the be-all and end-all. There are lots and lots of good schools out there. And parents who convince their kids that they must go to the Ivies or the Little Three or bust do their kids a tremendous disservice.

Hat Tip to Ned, one of the true good guys in the college admissions rat race.