Buy the Genesis - Sell the Porsche: Changing the Paradigm of Most-Rejective College Admissions

In my last article, I lamented how much I loathe late March/early April and implored parents and young adults to jump off the elite college admissions treadmill before it is too late. I noted very significant concerns in the current admissions ecosystem, most notably:

• Disingenuous admissions practices (test optional – yeah right!, targeted marketing campaigns intended solely to raise the number of applicants – thereby ensuring a significantly reduced acceptance rate and higher?US News and World Report?rankings/prestige.)
• Informal (well – not that informal at all – but not publicized) relationships between top-tier private high schools and their university counterparts that result in about 50-75% of these private schools’ graduates gaining acceptance to highly-selective (more on this term later), top-tier colleges and universities vs. (maybe) 5 – 7 (total number – not percentage) of the very best students in the graduating class of the nation’s top public high schools.
• Read that again. 50-75% of the Phillips Andover, Trinity, Choate, Pingry, Lawrenceville, Horace Mann, Rye Country Day, etc. graduating class each year gain acceptance to the likes of Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, Bates, Colby, Williams, Vanderbilt, Duke, etc.??How many in your local high school????
• Laughable - perhaps immoral? - Pell Grant and other low-income scholarship and grant program statistics at the nation’s most-selective colleges and universities – especially in light of these institutions’ galactically spectacular (and tax free!) endowment fund balances.

In my previous article I insisted: “It’s nonsense. All of it. Nonsense.”?

And it is.

So - what can we do about it?

In rare agreement with the fine folks at Fair Test (The National Center for Fair and Open Testing), I vow no longer to use the term “most-selective” when referring to the nation’s so-called elite universities. Instead, I have adopted “most-rejective.”?

Think about that for a second.?

Most-rejective. Every year, our highest-performing young adults flail themselves trying to earn admission to the nation’s “best” universities. Unfortunately, we define “best” using lists and algorithms that privilege how many applicants a university rejects – not accepts! It’s akin to applying only to companies who reject nearly everyone they interview. Or wanting to date the person who rejects 97 offers for every 3 he or she accepts.????

It’s ridiculous. All of it. Ridiculous.

Exclusivity does not always equate to excellence. In so many instances – seriously – almost all instances except, perhaps, the Humanities – it makes infinitely more sense to seek an undergraduate degree from the nation’s flagship state universities rather than an outlandishly expensive private college – whether Harvard or Duke.

Why? Because these flagship public universities have more. They offer more.?

More lab complexes. More internship opportunities. More research opportunities. More diversity. More access to and immersion in learning communities. More robust study abroad options. More fun.?

Sure, Harold Bloom isn’t going to stroll down to the lectern in your State U English 102 literature class and lecture on the finer complexities of the Western Canon. (Then again, he’s no longer doing that at Yale, either. He’s dead.)??But you don’t need the very much still alive (and truly unbelievable) Stephen Greenblatt at Harvard to awaken your passion for Shakespeare. Curtis Perry did a very fine job of that when I sat in his graduate seminar at Arizona State, and he continues to do so to this day for his very lucky students at the University of Illinois.

You do not need – no – nobody needs – the world’s most eminent Shakespearean scholar to teach ENG 102 (or the leading chemical engineer to teach CHEM 101, or the leading architect, food scientist, etc. within their disciplines to teach introductory or even secondary courses.)

Yes – we need the Greenblatts of the world – in graduate school – and maybe even in upper-level undergraduate seminars. But – and I mean this – they are not ESSENTIAL to the undergraduate experience. These scholars, scientists, and researchers (because that’s what they really are…not teachers) change the world; there’s no doubt.

But my daughter didn’t need them at High Point. She’s excelling in law school without them. My wife didn’t need them at Rutgers. I didn’t need them at West Point. My students didn't need them at Arizona State, Texas Tech, or The Citadel.? (Primarily, of course, because they had me....)?

These most rejective universities (and their faculty) are novelties. They are “brands.” They produce woefully few of the engineers, architects, teachers, nurses, doctors, farmers, biomedical scientists, poets, bankers, and entrepreneurs that make this nation great on a daily basis. They could! But they don’t.?

Instead, they teach the few, the privileged, and the wealthy. Oh – and the talented. Do not, for a second, get me wrong. Many (if not most) of the students at Harvard, Princeton, Duke, Columbia, Bates, etc. are supremely talented, brilliant even – but decidedly NO more than the students you will find on the campuses and honors colleges at Georgia, Florida, Illinois, Texas, Indiana, Purdue, Minnesota, Wisconsin – or even Arizona State or South Carolina – both of which have unbelievable honors colleges.?

The time has come to change the paradigm. And the only way we’re going to do that is to stop applying to these laughably rejectable colleges and universities. Let Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, Cornell (I chuckle at this one), Duke, Vanderbilt, and Williams service the young adults they were going to service anyway – but without our applications. Let’s stop driving up their application numbers and down their acceptance rates. Your local valedictorian wasn’t getting into these schools anyway. Why give them the time of day?

Instead, apply to the honors colleges of major flagship universities. After all, 54 of the Top 103 national universities are public institutions! Let’s move Georgia, Florida, Texas, Cal, and their friends to the top of the charts – while reminding public schools like Michigan, UVA, and UNC that their role is to be inclusive – not rejective. Let’s change the paradigm.

We need to, before it’s too late.

Again, 99.5% of the nation’s top public-school students have a 0% chance of gaining admission to a Top-20 national university. Instead of having those schools reject our top students, let’s have our top students reject these schools for their undergraduate education.??Then, after they thrive at Texas McCombs with a 4.0 GPA, an internship with Goldman Sachs in Dallas, and having founded and funded their own start-up – they can go to a T-7 MBA program at Harvard or Columbia – because, then, they will have earned their spot with merit – not private school backroom handshakes, parents’ wealth and networking, etc.

Bottom line – an undergraduate Top 20 degree does infinitely less for you today than a Top 20 graduate degree – and most young adults have a much better chance of gaining admission to these graduate programs than their undergraduate counterparts.

We already have a precedent for this paradigm shift.

Look, Hyundai makes the Genesis – one of the very top sellers in the current luxury car/SUV market. Sure, it has Genesis branding, finishes, etc. – but it’s a Hyundai! And that’s great!?Go sit in one; you won't believe it's a Hyundai.

It’s time our young adults embrace their inner Genesis. Besides, a Porsche is just a flashy Volkswagen – which certainly speaks volumes about the impact of branding and exclusivity - and, by extension, today's college admissions marketplace.

Buy the Genesis. Sell the Porsche. You'll be glad you did.