...Is anyone else disturbed by the college application and acceptance process?
The branding and ranking of institutions creates a situation where many kids feel they have won or lost the lottery.
The timing of the different deadlines creates a situation where some kids not only have won the lottery but can coast for the last few months, while the others are forced to sweat it out.
And that's for the rich kids who have counsellors to advise them about deadlines and strategies for presenting themselves.
What about all the other kids?
I guess my point is this: knowledge is free but the brand of that knowledge is not.
It's inefficient for driving society forward, and unfair to most kids, whether poor or poor, rich.
I find most distasteful and tone deaf the social media posting celebrating the application success of your children. To high schoolers, this process can be like being on a firing line, where most are shot dead and 1 is left standing. For that parent to celebrate the life of the living seems tone deaf and wrong. Of course I am not saying that their life ends with a college rejection. But if you are in this situation you know what I mean.