Getting an education on college admissions
Karin Klein makes a good point that teenagers should have a life while in high school instead of joining “The Rat Race to a Top College” (Current, March 26). But maybe they don’t have to sacrifice themselves for their studies.
The college track is made up of an assortment of interesting classes that explain the world to youngsters: history, calculus, physics, literature, writing, foreign languages and cultures, art and music. My daughter told me that when she signed up for her first Advanced Placement courses in 10th grade, she wanted to learn “everything in the world.” She also was a four-year cross-country runner. Between six periods of high school and three hours of cross-country practice every day, she was spending loads of time with other teens.
If Klein’s son is not one of those who wants to learn “everything in the world,” I can assure her that he should not be forced to and that there are plenty of teens out there who are working on it. My daughter goes to college in Palo Alto with a whole bunch of their big brothers and sisters.
KATHI SMITH
Ojai
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With 30 years of college admissions experience, I wonder why we all feel so helpless. Union College mailed its decision letters March 24. Now the ball is in the court of the admitted seniors. What should be an exciting rite of passage for high-aspiration students has turned into a multiyear contest in which process seems to trump content, leaving student egos bruised, the high school experience degraded, parents crazed and educators increasingly cynical.
DAN LUNDQUIST
Vice President of Admissions
and Financial Aid, Union College
Schenectady, N.Y.
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Re “UC San Diego -- or prostitute college,” Current, March 26
I want to thank Catherine Seipp for inadvertently highlighting the highly selective admissions requirements at UC Santa Barbara, where I am a senior.
I’m sure she did not intend to praise UCSB’s discerning admissions standards, but she has done just that by lamenting her daughter’s rejection to the university.
The 2005 admitted freshman class boasts an average GPA of 3.99 and an average SAT score of 1260. No doubt Seipp wants the best for her daughter, but just because a school admits “more than half those who apply” does not mean that it is worthy of belittling; I’m sure our five Nobel Prize winners would agree.
DAVID FUAD
Santa Barbara
