Professional Help

In the midst of pondering the usual ponderances of life (i.e. "Why are Oxonians so obsessed with oompa-loompas?"), I came across an article that addressed an issue I've been thinking about for a long time: getting into the right university.

I have a few issues with the whole way people go about choosing and applying to universities these days, primarily because they involve a whole bunch of extra people who will ultimately have nothing to do with how the student does when s/he actually gets there. It's really quite a waste of time, energy and emotion, if you ask me. Here are some of the things that really annoy me:

Legacies. Just because your parents or your grandparents went there, it doesn't mean you should go there too. And just because that school was really good in 1956, it doesn't mean it's still good in 2006. On a similar note, just because Daddy is an advertising executive, it doesn't mean that you'll be good at advertising too. In this latter issue, I've found out that it doesn't even really matter what you end up doing, or how well you do, because Daddy will just use his connections to get you an interview at the top advertising agency in the country. This is primarily true of the wealthy sorority girls who went to my undergrad university.

Parents who run the whole search process. I've worked at many recruitment sessions at the University of Hartford, and I've seen far too many parents who go around asking the questions while the student stands there, dumbfounded. Sometimes, I'm not even sure if it's the kid or the parent who will be taking the classes. "We're interested in psychology." Ummm, who's we??? Will you and your son be taking the classes together??? I've also heard professors talking on the phone and saying things like, "If your son wants to do this, he needs to take..." Personally, I think that if the student can't work up the effort to make the call or ask the questions, can we really be sure that that is what the kid wants to do???

SAT and application coaches. If the kid has crap grades throughout high school, won't an excellent SAT score be a little suspicious? The same is true for padding the kid's CV out with extracurricular activities and Habitat for Humanity trips to Guatemala at the 11th hour. I feel like this is setting the kid up for failure. There are all these stories about students who want to get into Oxbridge, so they go to these coaches who tell them to choose these obscure programs because they're particularly desperate for applicants. I'm sure the same is true for Ivies. I wonder how many hardworking, talented students who do extracurriculars on their own but don't have much money lose places at top universities to students who are not so bright but have a highly expensive coaching team behind them?

Choosing brand-name universities or prestigious majors. I think the whole problem with the university search is that students grow up hearing specific brand-name universities (known either for their academic or their athletic prestige) and reject anything else just because they've never seen those schools play in March Madness. But just because the nearby state university has been the NCAA basketball champions for the past five years, it doesn't mean that their sociology program is right for you. I've had people say to me, "Why did you choose the University of Hartford? I mean, they don't even have a football team!" Umm, I don't know if you've noticed, but I don't play football (American or otherwise, but I'm referring to American here). I don't even like to watch football. But they did offer me a nice scholarship, and they had a good foreign language major at the time. So that's why I chose it. I think students have to give the obscure schools a chance, and rely on their gut instincts. If you visit some teeny place like Mitchell College (New London, CT - never heard of it until I had a friend who went there) and you like the grounds and the faculty and the social life, go for it.

On a similar note, I have a problem with people who choose a specific major just because it's popular or it's where the money is right now. If you major in something and you're not good at it, then you're not going to get a job, then it's a whole waste. And what's the point if you don't even enjoy it? I know that a job as a humanities professor isn't going to bring me piles of wealth and riches, but I love what I do, so I think that's what counts.

One of the things I really agreed with in the article was the suggestion that students try out the smaller schools first for their undergraduate degrees, and if they want to go to grad school, then they can try for the top-tier research institutions. In a smaller university, particularly one that is focused on undergraduate education, students have more of an opportunity to get involved academically and socially. Your intro classes are taught by actual professors, not by graduate students who don't speak English. I cannot overstate the benefits of getting to know professors early on. I always feel sorry for undergraduates who need recommendations for scholarships and the only person they know well is the grad TA who they saw once a week.

And once you find your way through the small university, I think you end up better prepared for the bigger-name institutions. By then, you have a rough idea of what you want to do with your life, you have some maturity and life experience under your belt, and you know what you do well. The smaller name places leave you better prepared for that, since you end up with better access to faculty and resources. You don't have to pay an extra $30,000 for coaches who don't know you - you're already there, and these people already know what you're like. (Speaking of money, these smaller universities often end up with better scholarships to give to students, since they actually need to make more of an effort to attract the good students' attention.)

Well, this was a bit of a longish rant, but it is something that has been bugging me for many years. I think it annoys me because the helicopter parents and the coaches are the ones doing all the work - and they don't even have to take the classes. It's such a waste.