More Human College Admissions
This week my husband and I filled out our “college counseling questionnaire” for our son – a high school junior – in preparation for our first meeting with his school counselor. I had mixed feelings. The first was gratitude that we were already halfway through 11th grade before we were having this conversation. Any earlier and I would have balked. But the mere idea of entering the college admissions process put me in a funk.
In my most cynical moments, I feel like the whole college admissions operation is a dehumanizing experience for students and their families. And because the college admissions process is a profit focused industry – from test prep to marketing to expensive college counseling organizations – time, money, and connections favor the privileged. Sure, the Varsity Blues scandal made headlines, but that was just the tip of the iceberg.
More and more, the college admissions process feels to me like a series of lies we tell students: One lie is that if they play the game, they can win when, in reality, college admissions are increasingly a roll of the dice. The lie that where they go to college is somehow a reflection of who they are as a person or of who they will be in the future. The lie that the more selective a college they go to the better their experience will be. And the lie that the college rankings are a valid way to distinguish between colleges, when they are really a collection of data points that don't necessarily connect to student experience.
Schools proudly share their college lists with prospective families which is another kind of lie (or exaggeration) about their influence in the outcome.
It makes me wonder whose dreams and fantasies we are trying to fulfill. Is it really the students'? It’s really no wonder that so many young people arrive at college and feel let down when college just feels like four more years of hard work.
Many of the problems with the college industry in this country are out of our control in high schools. But not all of them. While K-12 schools often feel held captive to college admissions, the truth is we have agency. We can be a disruptive force for good.
What would it look like for a school to intentionally design a more human college application experience? One that is centered on the student? One that actually helps students prioritize the things they can control:- being curious learners, building relationships, and following interests and passions.
Here are four hacks towards a more human college admissions process:
Ditch AP Courses and Offer the “IC” Program instead - Fundamentally, the Advanced Placement Program is one of The College Board’s most lucrative products and it is a way for colleges and universities to easily assess the college readiness of those students who take the AP Exams. But the AP courses are not by any stretch of the imagination the most intellectually engaging or challenging course offerings out there. Consider dropping them entirely and replacing them with the IC program - a selection of courses by your very own faculty and staff that foster “Intellectual Curiosity.” This program includes opportunities for student voice and choice and for depth over breadth. Students who take IC classes graduate with a special mark on their transcript that designates them as the most curious students in the school.
Rebrand and Renovate the College Counseling Office - What if we didn’t have a “college counseling office,” but rather an Office of Time Travel and Future Endeavors? Here, we could help students imagine different opportunities and pathways for their future - college as one possible step, but not the only possibility. Instead of an office flanked by college pennants bearing the names of the US News and World Report top 20, the office might hang the vision boards of students as they plot out possible adventures, careers, or interests they want to pursue. The office helps match students with alumni pursuing careers or shared hobbies and also helps students find internships, job, trips, or projects that they can do in the summers. College is just part of the story.
Publish and Distribute a Student Project List Instead of the College Admissions List - One of the greatest turn-offs for my daughter when she was applying to high schools was the schools that prominently featured their college lists in application materials. She would sigh and say,”I’m not even in high school yet. Can’t I just enjoy the high school experience?” What would it look like to publish a list of the culminating or capstone projects your students are working on at school or the independent study challenges they are working on? Isn’t what they are actually doing more important than where they are going?
Celebrate New Talents instead of College Decisions - Many schools around the country encourage students to wear their college sweatshirts and celebrate their final commitment to their college of choice on May 1 - "College Decision Day." Given that many colleges have gone test optional this year (and in CA the prestigious UC system won’t even accept standardized tests anymore), consider hosting a challenge to seniors that encourages them to devote the time they would have used to prepare for the SAT/ACT – easily 35-50 hours for many – to develop a new skill or talent. Then on May 1 have a teach-in where students share their learnings with their classmates - maybe even sporting t-shirts that share their new-found interests rather than a college - “Songwriter” “Archer” “Chess Master”. Imagine what a better use of time that would be.
Just thinking of these hacks gets me out of my funk and I can’t wait to meet with my son’s college counselor and share this all with her – right after I write the check for that SAT Prep class the school is offering.
The status quo is a mighty force, but I believe we do have some agency, as schools and as parents, to change how our young people experience the college selection process and to make it kinder, gentler and more what it should be: a way to learn about oneself and get curious about the future in front of them.
