College Admissions--Finding a Land to Inhabit & Till

January is coming to a close and that means there are many exciting events ahead of us both as a school and as individuals.  Soon The Night of the Griffin Auction will provide a fabulous venue where our donors and our mission meet.

The Super Bowl will provide entertainment as the epic struggle of "old" Peyton Manning meets the "new" in Cam Newton. Not long after that will come the crack of the bats, spring training and Opening Day! 

Many of our students no doubt are already peeking ahead to Spring break, Easter, Junior Ring, Prom and Graduation! 

While all these things have value and bring excitement and enthusiasm to our lives, work, and school, I know there is another group of students engaged in much more deliberate and perhaps more difficult conversations and decisions.

Our seniors have been receiving and will continue to receive their acceptance letters from colleges and universities all over the country--the world! And in the coming weeks and months they will need to make a life-altering decision by selecting the school of their choice.

As the principal of Vianney college-admissions and acceptance is understandably an important topic in our college-preparatory high school.  As one who has benefited mightily from a college education I'm an obvious proponent of how it can change a person's life for the better.  Having progressed through an undergrad, masters, and doctoral program I have seen many sides of this issue, learned a lot in my life about the process, and have many opinions to share. With college decisions looming on the minds of our students January seems like an appropriate time to share a little more freely than usual.

Not long ago I read a provocative book by Frank Bruni’s titled, Where You Go Is Not Who You’ll Be: An Antidote to the College Admissions Mania. In it an important question arises as to what university and college are for. There is no question that a post-secondary experience is an important step on the path our young men venture along. We, as a school, value the university experience greatly and work with our students to prepare them for it and for life beyond it. 

Where the tension can arise is understanding what it is that our students and their parents are looking for in an undergraduate degree, and whether that first post-secondary experience is any better at one school than another- be it Ivy League, SEC, or not. Too often students and families are lured to undergraduate programs because of superior marketing.  Packed football/basketball stadiums, commercials touting prestigious alumni, promises of Greek life, and the peer pressure of friends often lead to students choosing a school that does not offer the programs of study they are passionate about, the environment & support systems they need to be successful, or the financial support to escape without a lifetime of debt.  

I realize that in writing this, as the Principal of a National School of Excellence and one that touts our academic program and who serves as the chief cheerleader who prides himself in 100% university placement for our students, I risk backlash. I should be espousing the ‘best’ schools for our young men. The reality is that we do- and must- work together with our parents, students and counselors to define what ‘best’ means for each of our Griffins and not be confined to magazine rankings, social status badges, and other unreliable markers of success.

I was taken with Bruni’s comment about undergraduate experiences. He says of one’s first degree, “College (or university) is a singular opportunity to rummage through and luxuriate in ideas, to give your brain a vigorous workout and your soul a thorough investigation, to realize how very large the world is and to contemplate your desired place in it. And that’s being lost in the admission mania which sends the message that college is a sanctum to be breached- a border to be crossed- rather than a land to be inhabited and tilled for all that it’s worth.” I couldn’t agree more.

At Vianney we talk a lot about the best path rarely being a straight line. We learn so much  from variety and turns- both those that life throws us and those we have the courage to choose. We are adamant that our young men choose the best for themselves- and that it be grounded in who they are, what they are passionate about and how they learn best. This is the key to finding a land “to inhabit and till.”