I got home late today because I was talking with former students who are on their ways to college. It was a little depressing, though, because the colleges have been kind of rough on them with the acceptances and rejections.
Now, to be fair to the college system, they are BOMBARDED with applications these days. Everyone is an Athenian; there are no Spartans left. We will have scholars everywhere, but no one to fix a leaky faucet. But I digress. There are so many kids applying to college that some really solid applicants are being left in the dust with rejections and wait-list statuses.
4.3 GPA with a 28 on the ACT. Sounds pretty good, except if you’re one of the better UCs. I get that the ACT could be a little higher, but this is one of my better students in the last few years. Was this student amazing? No. But I would have loved to have had the chance to teach the student again, and any college should have been, too.
There are tons of other stories like this, I’m sure. The bottom line is that there becomes little rhyme or reason for who gets in and who doesn’t because of all the paperwork involved. When there are 80,000 plus kids applying to each school, there are going to be winners and losers in that sea of students. What is the “rubric” for college acceptance? for there should be some sort of tally for all the variables that go into deciding a student’s next-four-years fate.
My boy is 12. He’s smart enough. Next year, he will attend 8th grade. After that, we don’t know. We just went, as a family, to an EEP meeting at Cal State Los Angeles. EEP is the Early Entrance Program for college. Kids as young as 11 can be accepted, but the average age is around 13 or 14. They have to test and interview, but, if they pass, they get to attend college, albeit Cal State Los Angeles.
There are other programs that kids to graduate high school AND have a two-year-college degree, also.
And, students can always take classes at a two-year school while in high school so they can receive college and high school credits. There are lots of options out there.
The option that’s looking pretty awful these days is giving up four years of high school to be at the mercy of a deciding committee who doesn’t really tell you why you are in or not in. I get it–it’s a real-world scenario for students. Doesn’t mean it’s fair or representative of the student and situation, but when all those kids are applying . . . some got to go.
Options. With our boy, we are keeping them open. Cat sanctuaries in Costa Rica look pretty good right about now. Chocolatier in the South Bay. Baker of breads and pastries for the locals. Maybe even a fixer of a leaky faucet.