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August 04, 2018 Thomas

A College Admission Revolution 

Education

Independence Day—it is a day on which we celebrate freedom from tyranny and oppression. It is an opportunity to commemorate a successful revolution and recall the importance of self-rule. It has also become a chance to take a mid-summer break and enjoy festive connection, appreciating good food and good friends. Unless of course, you are a rising high school senior, in which case, you now must confront the growing threat of college admission creep.

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Just when teenagers thought they could revel in a break from school and a sunny taste of freedom, the admission arms race strikes—colleges competing for applicants nudge earlier and earlier submission to secure students’ commitment. Young people, it is time to say, “enough.” Yes, I am talking about a revolution. Last week on the eve of July 4, a large, southern state university deployed an email blast informing students and counselors that the 2019 application is live and ready for submission. Driven by rankings, nervous governing boards and a broken business model, other colleges and universities will soon follow, promising immediate admission review and quick turnaround for decisions. Responsive applicants could be admitted to college before senior year classes even begin. From the college perspective, it’s clever marketing. From the student’s perspective, it’s simply more pressure, further erosion of the idyll of childhood and the sanctity of summer.

Remember when January and February were the important months for filing college applications? No longer is this true in a cycle that is spinning further out of control and eating away at adolescent development. Some colleges admit over half their incoming class through Early Action and Early Decision plans with October and November deadlines—all but mandating that students apply early to have the best odds of acceptance. Other universities have priority deadlines and rolling admission plans in the early fall that feed the frenzy. In fact, at many high schools, nearly all seniors submit at least one application by December 1. Is this because they are especially proactive? No, it stems from legitimate fear of being left out of the admission game. Meanwhile, adding significantly to the deterioration of summer break, the ACT and SAT have added July and August test dates. And this year, on Independence Day of all days, students could skip the fireworks and family picnics to complete their college application and get at the front of the admission queue.

 

Students are increasingly oppressed by what psychoanalyst Karen Horney termed the “tyranny of should.”


 
 

“You should apply as soon as the application is live.”

“You should start visiting colleges early in high school.”

“You should be concerned about where the colleges and universities rank.”

“You should study more for standardized tests.”

“You should join more activities and clubs.”

“You should attend the most selective college to which you can be admitted.”

“You should play one sport all year.”

“You should take more AP courses.”

“You should have a flawless and unique essay.”

“You should secure a formal leadership position.”

“You should earn A’s at all costs.”

“You should be deserving of a merit scholarship.”

“You should, you should, you should….”

Students, clearly the adults in your lives cannot shield you from this totalitarianism, so you must declare your independence. The truth is that in the admission experience, the power is yours, but you must own it. College admission should no longer tax your high school experience. It should no longer stifle your creativity. It should no longer feed anxiety and threaten your mental and physical health. It should no longer force you to do more at the expense of being more. The time has come to revolt. You must join forces in every town and every school and demand representation in a system that significantly impacts your lives. Be empowered to seek the rights of “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

 Consider this passage from the United States Declaration of Independence,

whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

How might you as young people abolish the abusive designs of college admission? You must speak truth to power and form your own union to:

  • Demand one single application deadline.
  • Boycott the ACT and SAT and put an end to high stakes testing.
  • Stage a sit-in against rankings at US News & World Report headquarters.
  • Sign a treaty limiting AP courses to two a year.
  • Refuse to play a single sport beyond its 12 week season.
  • Decline unreasonable student debt.
  • Affirm access and affordability as unalienable rights.

Better yet, design your own admission system that protects your rights—perhaps one that values character as much as achievement, balance as much as competition and the common good as much as individualism. It is your duty to secure this freedom, so declare your independence and start a college admission revolution.

I am the director of college counseling and outreach at The Derryfield School in New Hampshire and the director of college counseling at US Performance Academy, an online high school for competitive athletes.


https://www.forbes.com/sites/brennanbarnard/2018/07/10/a-college-admission-revolution/#540cc0225fc0

 


 


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