George Will's "The Last Word" on College "Acceptance"

[Rick Nebiolo]

From George Will's "The Last Word" column in this week's Newsweek :

"April 9, 2007 issue - Ivies," "safeties," "AP prep courses," "legacy," "résumé-enhancing activity," "nonbinding early acceptance," "rolling admissions," "single-choice early action." If this argot is familiar to you, poor you: You have a child in high school, and these are the days that try your soul, the spring days when many college admissions are announced, often by e-mail, which is how AP Harry learned he was deferred by Harvard."

This is the start of Will's review of (quoting Will) "Susan Coll's new novel "Acceptance," set in Verona County, Md., which is the real Montgomery County, Md., thinly disguised—rich, liberal, full of strivers and contiguous to strivers' paradise.".

Good read even if you don't like Will. I missed all this but was a srtiver relatively speaking since I took the sample test in the exam notice before taking the actual SAT.

Was it similar to what was described in Will's column review for any of you younger people?

Has anyone read the actual book? There are only two reviews so far on Amazon. I nead some light reading for my trip back East to see family and I'm considering picking this up before the flight.

~ Rick

[Scotch78]

[ QUOTE ]
I missed all this but was a srtiver relatively speaking since I took the sample test in the exam notice before taking the actual SAT.

[/ QUOTE ]

After realizing that I didn't intend to take the SAT, my parents managed to schedule me for it the summer after graduation. Yeah . . . I read ~80 pages of God Emperor of Dune during the test. Definitely no strivers over here.

There were two 1600s in my graduating class of 273 though, if that counts for anything.

Scott

[ChipStorm]

I grew up in Montgomery County. I thought this was just how life was. Most of us actually enjoyed the competition. I'm sure the parents agonized a lot more than we ever did. I just applied to a big bunch of schools, got into a small bunch, went to the best I got into, started drinking heavily.

[NickMPK]

I also grew up in Montgomery County (and still live there), and went to the somewhat well-known math/science magnet program. But I don't remember this degree of competition over colleges. E.g. I never took an SAT prep coure, had college counseling, or applied anywhere early. I guess some of my friends did early admission or SAT prep, but it wasn't what our lives revolved around.

My parents did make me participate in the swim team, which I hated; I'm not sure whether that was more to give me a resume item or because they wanted me to get some sort of exercise.

[UMTerp]

[ QUOTE ]

I also grew up in Montgomery County (and still live there), and went to the somewhat well-known math/science magnet program.

[/ QUOTE ]

Blair?

I grew up in Southern Maryland (Calvert County for those in the area), which is extremely rural compared to the suburbia that is Montgomery County. My parents were/are both teachers, and stressed the importance of education to me growing up, so I did enough to get A's and make them happy. I graduated top of my HS class, had great SAT's, got in everywhere I applied, and ended up at Maryland on a full ride. When I got there, I was stunned at how much smarter some of the top Montgomery County kids were than me. And not in an aptitude sense; I could still pick new concepts up more quickly than just about any of them, but it was so obvious that the Montgomery County kids were like 100x better prepared for college than me. And through no fault of my own - I learned what I was taught. These kids knew 2 years of physics before they got to college, they all came in with 20-30 AP credits, etc. I was actually a bit jealous of the opportunities they had that I didn't. Why did I deserve to be so far behind the curve? That's probably a result of all the competition they had among each other in high school.

I could only imagine how far behind I'd have been if I wasn't near the top of my high school class, or if I grew up in an area with really inferior high schools.

Of course when I got to college, I liked my new-found freedom too much and drank every night and rarely went to class. Made it through OK though.

And I live in Montgomery County now too.

[miajag]

[ QUOTE ]

I grew up in Southern Maryland (Calvert County for those in the area), which is extremely rural compared to the suburbia that is Montgomery County. My parents were/are both teachers, and stressed the importance of education to me growing up, so I did enough to get A's and make them happy. I graduated top of my HS class, had great SAT's, got in everywhere I applied, and ended up at Maryland on a full ride. When I got there, I was stunned at how much smarter some of the top Montgomery County kids were than me. And not in an aptitude sense; I could still pick new concepts up more quickly than just about any of them, but it was so obvious that the Montgomery County kids were like 100x better prepared for college than me.

[/ QUOTE ]

My story is pretty much exactly the same except I'm from Wicomico, which I'm guessing is fairly similar to Calvert in terms of ruralness (also my parents aren't teachers, but did stress education very highly). It was a big shock to see the difference between my high school (which I still wouldn't consider a "bad" school; I did have a good # of AP credits) and some of the big Western Shore high schools.

What year did you graduate from Maryland, UMTerp?

[NickMPK]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

I also grew up in Montgomery County (and still live there), and went to the somewhat well-known math/science magnet program.

[/ QUOTE ]

Blair?

I grew up in Southern Maryland (Calvert County for those in the area), which is extremely rural compared to the suburbia that is Montgomery County. My parents were/are both teachers, and stressed the importance of education to me growing up, so I did enough to get A's and make them happy. I graduated top of my HS class, had great SAT's, got in everywhere I applied, and ended up at Maryland on a full ride. When I got there, I was stunned at how much smarter some of the top Montgomery County kids were than me. And not in an aptitude sense; I could still pick new concepts up more quickly than just about any of them, but it was so obvious that the Montgomery County kids were like 100x better prepared for college than me. And through no fault of my own - I learned what I was taught. These kids knew 2 years of physics before they got to college, they all came in with 20-30 AP credits, etc. I was actually a bit jealous of the opportunities they had that I didn't. Why did I deserve to be so far behind the curve? That's probably a result of all the competition they had among each other in high school.

I could only imagine how far behind I'd have been if I wasn't near the top of my high school class, or if I grew up in an area with really inferior high schools.

Of course when I got to college, I liked my new-found freedom too much and drank every night and rarely went to class. Made it through OK though.

And I live in Montgomery County now too.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, I went to Blair.

And I had a number of friends who also went to UMD despite being accepted at Ivy league schools b/c they got Banneker-Key scholarships.

The Blair Magnet might be the best math/science/computer high school program in the country. You could very easily graduate from there with three full years of calculus courses, and a full of year physics beyond the AP level class (including courses in quantum physics, thermodynamics, optics, etc.) Everyone also took the advanced computer programming AP exams as sophmores.

But I really didn't get the impression that most students took these course because the wanted to get into the best colleges, but because they were genuinely interested in the material. Many of the students who took the most advanced Magnet courses also didn't really have the sort of "balanced" resumes that Ivy League schools like.

I, on the other hand, was thoroughly fed up with science by my sophomore year and went into political theory, at an Ivy no less. And I never took a math or science class that wasn't a core requirement.

[turnipmonster]

this sounds like pretty much the exact opposite of my high school experience. iirc, no one at my high school was even remotely like this. then again, I am pretty sure no one went to an ivy for undergrad either.

[El Diablo]

Rick,

I went to a public school with over 2,000 students, so all that stuff is very foreign to me! I'm sure we have many prep school kids here who had experiences just like that.

[PITTM]

el d, daver,

most of these new phrases and obsessions only apply to people who have graduated high school in the last 20 years. this might explain why these concepts are so foreign.