Finding the Right College

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/24/opinion/sunday/finding-the-right-college.html

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Readers discuss how to make college admissions less stressful and ensure a good match.

To the Editor:

I read with interest your April 12 article about college selectivity and the increased pressure to apply to lots of very selective schools (“Common Application Saturates the College Admission Market, Critics Say,” nytimes.com).

As someone who’s worked in college admissions for more than 35 years, I can attest that getting into college has never been more competitive than it is now. The reason? Increasing numbers of students are applying to the most selective institutions.

When students apply to all the most selective schools, many of which are very different, is it about fit? Or is it only about prestige?

The admission frenzy will stop only when colleges, students and, frankly, parents refuse to play the game anymore — when we admit that more doesn’t equal better. Parents — and colleges — need to encourage students to approach the college search in a thoughtful, intentional way, with fit and match as the goal.

With great respect I say to all parents, “Relax.”

Students have many options. Focusing on the narrow list of so-called top colleges ignores the rich diversity of the nation’s higher education choices — including community colleges, online courses, residential colleges and large research universities.

Students often combine study at different types of colleges and accrue credit for all of these varied experiences. Remember, “highly selective” doesn’t necessarily mean better for a student — it just means more selective.

When I talk to prospective students and parents, I often quote Frank Sachs, former president of the National Association for College Admission Counseling: “College is a match to be made, not a prize to be won.” The ideal pairs a student with the school that best fulfills that student’s academic, social and aspirational needs.

The best fit is where a student will thrive and be happy.

DEB SHAVER

Dean of Admission, Smith College

Northampton, Mass.

I have just concluded the college admissions process with the last of my three kids. No, Dean Shaver, the “admissions frenzy” has little to do with “fit,” and will not stop only when we “refuse to play the game anymore.” Rather, a few real changes will be necessary, like an economy in which opportunities are sufficiently plentiful so that which school one attends ceases to be the dog-eat-dog effort that now often begins in pre-K, and employers (and graduate and professional schools) cease filtering out applicants based upon the outdated reputations of the schools they have attended, rather than the talents of the applicants themselves.

More immediately, colleges must stop accepting the Common App, and the “just another click” ease that it has brought to applying to multiple schools. Finally, colleges must stop trying to have it both ways: Quit selling yourselves to the applicant pool with unending mailings, glossy brochures, slick websites and other promotional efforts, while simultaneously bemoaning how “overwhelming” the odds against admission have become. Indeed, stop promoting yourselves based on those ridiculous selectivity numbers you yourselves bemoan.

Require that applicants answer, in their own handwriting, a few questions you’ve thoughtfully developed, unique to your school’s own “ethic” or “culture” — the kind designed to learn what you really care about in deciding whether applicants are “right” for your institution. Then, give the applicants themselves an opportunity to tell you about themselves, without any “prompts.” Both you and the applicant will have a much better idea of what you each are offering.

ERIC M. NELSON

New York

I am a freshman at a top liberal arts college, one of the nation’s most selective institutions. I should be ecstatic; I did it. I somehow “won” in the game that we call college admissions. But when I pack up in two short weeks, it’s for indefinitely.

Though the college I currently attend is vast in both its educational and extracurricular offerings, the feeling that I am not where I am supposed to be has been strong over the past year. The broad liberal arts curriculum, despite its numerous benefits, means that I cannot study in a program more specialized toward my true interests.

Raised in a generation where acceptance to a selective college is every parent’s wish and child’s goal, the idea of walking away from my spot at one is almost unheard-of. With the semester coming to an end, the most common question I am asked is, “Do you think you’ll regret it?” My answer is always the same: “Maybe, I can’t tell you yet.” I ask myself that question a lot, too, but the decision that I made is the one that is truest to me and my values, and that’s what matters most.

SOPHIA ZUPANC

Wellesley, Mass.

While less anxiety for students applying to college would be a good thing, the advice to relax is not. Where you go to college can matter. Citing the rich diversity of the nation’s higher education choices suggests that all choices are good substitutes for one another. Yet selective, prestigious colleges are selective and prestigious in large part because they have more resources to spend on each student. That translates into a wider array of programs and opportunities for students. And, greater spending on students contributes to higher graduation rates and access to postgraduation options.

There are many paths to success, and where you go to college is only one of many factors. It is indeed a wonderful characteristic of American higher education that there are many paths to getting a college education. But I worry that advice to relax and not aim for a selective college will suggest to talented lower-income and first-generation students, who are underrepresented at these schools, that they shouldn’t worry about aspiring to this when there are significant benefits to doing so, from greater need-based financial aid to higher graduation rates and access to great graduate schools and job opportunities.

CATHARINE HILL

Poughkeepsie, N.Y.

The writer is president of Vassar College and a professor of economics there.

This escalating and incredibly wasteful cycle — in which students send out increasing numbers of applications while colleges accept decreasing proportions of applicants — could easily be stopped if college admissions were based on a ranked matching system. Students would prepare one application along with a ranked preference list of perhaps three to five schools. Then the schools would take their turns evaluating those applicants who selected them, starting with the students who ranked them highest and continuing downward until their incoming classes were full. This sort of system has produced optimal and efficient matchings for medical residency programs for years.

STEPHEN J. HAGEN

Gainesville, Fla.

As the mother of two students who survived the frenzy and a third who will enter the fray soon, I appreciate Dean Shaver’s admonition to relax. But that is both unlikely and unreasonable. When a high school student is focused on elite colleges, the admissions season is the time to gear up, not ease up. (Why would anyone relax a few yards from the finish line?)

Elite colleges must recognize that they tacitly condone the hysteria and be the ones to lead the change. How? Boycott the rankings surveys, curtail the marketing mailings, be frank about how institutions differ, offer prequalification assessments, encourage high school counselors to entice the underrepresented students to apply, pull back the curtain on how decisions are made, and collaborate among yourselves to shift the process in favor of the applicants who are, ultimately, your entire reason for being.

H.E. BALLARD-GARDNER

Tucson

As a senior at one of the most competitive high schools in the nation, I can attest to the toxic environment that increasingly competitive college admissions has created. At my school, the college you choose to attend becomes your sole identifier, and students are pushed by whatever means necessary in order to get into a “bumper sticker” college. In my case, it was 14 Advanced Placement classes, a score of 35 (out of a possible 36) on the ACT, multiple executive board positions, a congressional internship and a heart-wrenching essay about a personal loss. And I was still considered mediocre.

The only way out of this cycle is to stay grounded: Focus on your work (even during second semester), figure out what you want and need from a school, be nice to your parents and friends (you’ve got only a year left with them), and don’t forget to write thank you notes to your interviewers.

CONSTANCE DU

Vernon Hills, Ill.

The writer was admitted to Vanderbilt University’s class of 2020.

Deb Shaver and Frank Sachs, whom she quotes, are wrong: Admission to an elite university is a prize to be won. Students who have distinguished themselves from their peers deserve the recognition and, yes, prestige that comes with the opportunity to study with other similarly talented and accomplished young people. It is undoubtably true that the disappointed rejectees will do just fine in the long run, but it is insensitive and disingenuous to console them by insisting the whole game is about finding a match when the gatekeepers employ highly subjective criteria in making their decisions. The qualified kids who are turned away know that the system is unfair.

BLAKE MAGNUSON

Evanston, Ill.

It is such a relief for me, as a high school teacher these past 20 years, to read Deb Shaver, a college admissions dean, advising everyone to relax the frenzy around college application and admission. The students lose much of what their high school experience could be by worrying about and preparing for their educational future when there is so much learning and growth to be done between the ages of 14 and 18.

At this point in the year, one senior after another leaves class to attend “accepted student days” and orientations, scheduled by the colleges without regard to the fact that the high schools are still in session, and we are still doing important work with their future students. The frenzy could be mitigated if due value were placed on the high school years as formative and enriching in their own right, and not solely as a steppingstone.

JOAN CALDARERA

San Francisco

When more colleges offer better need-based financial aid for middle-class students, maybe then students and their families will “relax,” focus on fit and apply to a wider range of schools. At the moment, it is mostly the elite colleges that offer sufficient need-based aid to prevent middle-class students from going deep into debt. Economic realities are driving much of what the press loves to call “the admissions frenzy.”

MONA MOLARSKY

New York

The writer is an independent college counselor.

While the Common Application does make it possible for students to submit multiple applications with the click of a button or icon, colleges also have to take the blame for making it easier to apply. A growing number of institutions in recent years have waived fees for all applicants (regardless of financial means) and have eliminated their supplemental essay questions, allowing students to submit the same information to multiple colleges.

At Colorado College, we happily waive the application fee if the amount represents a hardship for families, but we have resisted doing so for all students. Furthermore, we remain committed to our two supplemental essay questions. The first of which simply asks “why Colorado College?” and can be answered in a paragraph or more. The second question asks students to be more reflective and to design a class.

While we know that we likely lose hundreds of applications a year from students who are unwilling to answer these two prompts, we also believe that students should be able to articulate why our institution (or another) may serve their intellectual needs. It’s a delicate balancing act in which we don’t want our application to be overly burdensome but we also believe that students must be reflective in explaining why they are choosing to apply to Colorado College.

MARK J. HATCH

Vice President for Enrollment, Colorado College

Colorado Springs

As Deb Shaver states, “The admission frenzy will stop only when colleges, students and, frankly, parents refuse to play the game anymore.” We absolutely take this sentiment to heart.

My daughter, a freshman in high school, will not be spending her summers in a third-world country building schools. She is probably not going to simultaneously be a 5.0 G.P.A. student and get a perfect score on the SAT while winning athletic and musical competitions, developing an effervescent personality and solving world hunger and homelessness. Of course I am being facetious, but not that far from the truth of what we expect from college-bound teenagers these days.

She will be spending summers out-of-state with family, sleeping in and doing what she wants to do. I will encourage her to pursue activities she enjoys, spend time with just a handful of good friends and go dancing. Did I mention lying on the grass and staring at the sky?

I already have an amazing, intelligent, poised child. Why would I want to turn her into a stressed-out, dysfunctional, crazed young adult all in the pursuit of “prestige”?

J. ATHANIKAR

Ann Arbor, Mich.

No doubt economics plays a role in the college admission frenzy. As Mr. Nelson points out, our current economy lacks sufficient opportunities for college graduates. However, in his book “Where You Go Is Not Who You’ll Be,” Frank Bruni, the Times columnist, catalogs an impressive list of chief executives, MacArthur “genius grant” winners, Pulitzer Prize winners and entrepreneurs who didn’t attend the elite colleges. While elite institutions have resources to offer greater opportunities, it’s what you do in college that matters most.

As a former first-generation, low-income student, I, too, am deeply committed to access. As Ms. Hill notes, most of the elites are doing a poor job of enrolling and supporting first-generation students, with Smith and Vassar two notable exceptions. However, I’m not suggesting that students shouldn’t aim high. In my bid to reduce stress on students, it’s important to recognize that the stressors for first-generation students are very different. Their stressors are economic, family circumstances and underresourced high schools — not the prize-grabbing frenzy described in your April 21 article “ ‘Selective’ College Race Has Students Run Ragged.” Colleges can and must develop transparent policies that encourage quality over quantity inside and outside the classroom; that acknowledge students’ deep engagement as a form of leadership; and that truly value school-life balance.

I’m most struck by the palpable anxiety from Ms. Du and Ms. Zupanc, two students in the thick of the frenzy. What are we doing to our children? Less than 1 percent of four-year colleges admit less than 10 percent of their applicants, and yet we spend 99 percent of our time talking about those schools. It’s time to broaden the conversation.

DEB SHAVER

Northampton, Mass.