Cuts in Acceptances Undermine Success
For any high school senior,
May 1st marks
the day that will most likely decide the next 4 years of their life. It is the
last day students accept, decline, but most importantly decide on the
university they will be attending. However, due to a drop in acceptance rates and an increase in tuition - even at state colleges - many students
have been taking several years in community college in order to transfer into a
university to then work towards their bachelors. Ultimately, if prospective high school graduates
are not legacies nor privileged in a high socioeconomic standing, the current
educational system has and will continue undermining the success of millions of
students with college’s year-to-year reductions in the number of acceptances.
Just recently, information regarding the acceptance rates of UCs
and private universities has showed a drop for mostly all 4-year institutions. Consequently, many students who have graduated this year have not
been admitted to many of the colleges they applied, two of my friends included.
Stephanie Reyes, a senior in Torrance High School, currently has a 3.9 GPA and
was not accepted to any UCs or Cal States. The same situation occurred to her
boyfriend who has a 4.0 GPA, is involved in extracurricular activities, and has
a number of AP exams with scores of 4s and 5s.
The question now is: If obtaining a 4.0 GPA, passining AP exams
with 4s and 5s, and having extracurricular activities isn’t enough, then what
is? Shouldn’t these students be more than qualified to be accepted by a university when admission directors
themselves state that “most of the students they turn down are such strong candidates that many are indistinguishable from those who get in”? So then why have
acceptance rates of universities dropped and rejected so many?
In an article called “Best, Brightest andRejected: Elite Colleges Turn Away Up to 95%”, the author describes prestige
and status as one factor for the rejection of
hundreds of students. Many universities desire a label that portrays the
university as highly competitive and selective, which undeniably contributes to
the decrease in acceptance rates and ultimately to the undermining success of
many students;“[o]ne
of the ways that colleges are measured is by the number of applicants and their
admit rate, and some colleges do things simply to increase their applicant pool
and manipulate those numbers”. Colleges sent out emails in order to motivate
students – well aware that some students will not get in– in order to increase
their applications and become even more selective by only accepting a few.
But yet, what is of concern is that many of these students who are
being rejected are equally as competitive and able to excel academically as
those accepted. Rather than a reduction in acceptance this demonstrates a need
for an increase. Colleges should not be as concerned about the number of
acceptance rates that can make them seem highly competitive or selective when
the goal of an educational institution is for students to learn, excel, and
prepare for their future.
Students who are academically successful should not be forced to
go to community college, where many of them are likely to spend several years
to transfer - minority students being more probable to take longer – due to a drop
in acceptance rates. Many of these students have gone through rigorous curriculums
that have prepared them for a higher education and so sending them to community
college simply undermines their success because of the lengthy process that
results from a shortage in classes in community colleges, especially remedial ones. For certain students this lengthy enrollment process becomes
impossible to the extent that some begin to lose hope and drop out. This
process therefore leads to the waste of valuable human capital from students
that were unfortunately denied acceptance and could not afford education at a
4-year institution.
Don’t get me wrong.
Community college is a great way for students who want to start over, save
money, get an Associates degree, or who were not accepted to the university of
their choice to obtain an education. I myself transferred from community
college and really appreciate the college experience that I received because it
allowed me to become better acquainted and prepared for a 4- year university
education like USC’s. However, community college is no longer an alternative route for students with the
above reasons. Rather, it is becoming a must even for students who have been academically
successful during their high school years. The hyper-competitive admission
process is leading to the undermining of students – particularly low-income
students of color- who become trapped in the institutional
problems faced in community colleges, such as the insufficient availability of classes
needed to transfer.
So then who pays the price for this hyper-competitiveness in
universities? Is it the elite? Of course not. Students who are legacies and are
in high socio-economic standing have the ability to pay for the cost of college
while many those who do not - low-income, minority students - are
systematically pushed out and excluded from attending competitive four year
institutions. In order to rectify this there must be an increase of acceptances
to halt the undermining of success of hundreds of students.
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Thank you for your article! I really like how you structure your argument to reflect that SCHOOLS themselves are cutting the acceptance rate meaning many students get left out. Often students are blamed for not being "competitive" enough but that takes away from the fact that in a hyper-competitive application process, schools are leveraging their acceptance rate as a way to increase in the rankings. As such, acceptance rates are not a flat out statistical figure but rather a reflection of the school's politics and the politics of higher education rankings. I think your article puts the spotlight on these rates and under serious scrutiny.
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I think the issue here lies in that the cost of college has gotten so high that public universities are getting more and more competitive. In Florida, for example, it's actually harder to get into the University of Florida, the best public school in the state, than the University of Miami, a highly ranked private university, simply because everyone wants to go to UF so they can get the best and cheapest education possible. This may be more of an issue of the rise in college cost than a decrease in acceptances.
ReplyDeleteIt's rather unfortunate to hear that these students with impressive GPAs and high test scores are being rejected from these well-known and established universities. But I agree with your point that the root cause of these rejections stems from the politics of the schools themselves. I also believe that it is remarkably unfortunate that some students are "granted" acceptance to these prestigious schools because of their family name or socioeconomic status. This certainly drives away the possibility of acceptance for well-deserving and high achieving applicants.
ReplyDeleteReally strong points in this piece, and very applicable to the current state of academia (especially at USC). It's such a shame to see bright young students put down because of the decision of a few people in a conference room who genuinely believe that “most of the students they turn down are such strong candidates that many are indistinguishable from those who get in.” My sister recently was denied admission to her top choice, and the letter she received actually told her to attend community college rather than a four-year university to optimize her 'transfer track.' I guess on their part that's realistic, given a lot of transfers come from CCs, but she felt both conflicted and offended at that advice.
ReplyDeleteReally interesting post – all I can say is I’m glad I won’t have to apply to college 10 years from now, although I’m scared what the process will look like for my children. I recently did a post as well that touched on the extraordinary pressures high schoolers face today. The hyper-competitiveness means that high schoolers are forced to revolve their entire high school experience on decisions that will affect their college acceptance. They over commit to numerous activities – Varsity sports, countless clubs, student government, five AP level classes, all for the sake of college, not for the sake of passion, interest, and personal growth. But even that’s not necessarily enough anymore. Community college is a great option for a lot of people, and I know many people who transferred to USC from community colleges. But it shouldn’t be an option that students are forced into because of an impossible admissions process. Colleges in the U.S. have become massive private entities trying to outperform one another through impossible acceptance rates. I’m not sure what can be done to reverse this trend, but I hope to see inclusiveness in colleges for the thousands of bright, hardworking youth out there.
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