This is the time of year in St. Louis when the morning gives us sleet and snow and 24 hours later we have sunshine and 70 degree temperatures! A time when students (and teachers) look forward to spring break, spring training, and March Madness! Everything in March definitely starts to change!
But this is also the season for something much more important and often stressful for a population of our students and their parents--college admission season.
By now, anybody with a high school junior or senior has probably read Frank Bruni’s March 2015 New York Times column “How to Survive the College Admissions Madness.” In this piece Bruni shares stories of a few talented young men and women who first survive and then later thrive after getting turned down at elite colleges. One underlying problem, he says, is that many of our students have come to equate their self-worth with admission into these highly selective universities. Whereas, many of us working in education like to think we are a part of a much longer end game: to help foster healthy and happy adults. The paths to that outcome are MANY..
What our students are up against is often referred to as a madness or a mania. I think this is fair, because it also implies that even the most healthy and well adjusted can get caught up. By now, the story is fairly well known. A small and well-publicized number of elite schools are now competing globally for students, making the marketplace more competitive than ever. In addition, helpful tools like the Common Application are making it easier for students to apply to many more schools than ever before. According to the National Association of College Admissions Counseling, only 9 percent of students applied to seven or more colleges in 1990. By 2011, that number was 29 percent. Students who apply to more than 20 colleges are not uncommon. This leads to ever shrinking acceptance ratios that are under 10% and approaching 5% at the most elite schools.
This can’t help but create a potentially unhealthy environment for our students, feeling they have to do more and more to beat the odds. Sites like College Confidential at first seemed to open up the admissions process, but now seems only to add to the sense of competitive frenzy.
More and more students are feeling pressure to craft resumes in high school that don’t really reflect true passions or interests, and as a result are matriculating to college with significant health issues.
So what to do?
Bruni highlights the healthy way in which the parents of one particular young man kept perspective throughout the process. Their letter of support to their son on the eve of admission notification reassured him that he is not the product of the decisions of an overwhelmed admissions committee.
I’d also add the importance of being a part of a healthy school and community environment. Schools have many subtle and not-so-subtle ways of increasing the stress and competitive environment, from starting college counseling in middle school, to encouraging underclassmen to take multiple AP exams, to ranking students by their GPA(practices Vianney does NOT do). The answer to the college admissions madness is not to double down and go even more mad.
In the end, college counselors can demystify this process and help our students see that there are absolutely fabulous options beyond the top 10 lists that dominate the popular press and social media. When we help our students understand themselves as learners and as people, then they can see themselves as happy and successful in many different places.
Despite the craziness of the application process, this is exactly what colleges are also saying they want from our students. I recently read a post from the National Association of Independent Schools Conference featuring the leaders of four universities. They said they were looking for graduates who:
- can interact in a community,
- have perseverance,
- have good writing and quantitative skills,
- have a healthy and balanced lifestyle,
- have the ability to self-reflect and self-assess,
- and can navigate new situations and act independently.
Thankfully, I do believe that we’ve got the right balance here at Vianney. I’ve found myself on more than one occasion describing our school as “healthy.” Our approach to developing young men spiritually, academically, and personally in the Catholic, Marianist tradition is an important perspective on this topic. To educate the whole person values their uniqueness and maximizes their potential!
Thank you for entrusting your son to our care and for partnering us on this holistic journey to becoming Men of Character & Accomplishment!
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