Article, Chronicle of Higher Education, November 19, 2004
http://chronicle.com/free/v51/i13/13a03601.htm This article from the Chronicle of Higher Education highlights the work of one man in Oregon who is trying to downplay the atmosphere of competition and fear that currently surrounds the college admission process.
Lloyd Thacker has been both a college admissions counselor and a high school guidance counselor. Like many others in his position around the country, he has seen a growing competitive atmosphere in the college admissions process among high school students and their parents. He claims that the pressure to get into a top-tier college has never been higher, and that many students worry that if they don't get into an Ivy League school, they will be failures.
Thacker attributes much of this new atmosphere to popular college ranking publications such as the U.S. News and World report rankings which come out each year. A ranking system implies that students, by going to a lower ranked school, are somehow not as successful as those that get into the top schools.
The reality of going to college, claims Thacker, is that there is no "perfect fit" college, and that many institutions can serve a student's needs, even if they are not ranked in the top 10.
To get this point across, Thacker is trying to publish a new book called College Unranked, which is a collection of essays and other works by admissions counselors, deans, and college presidents discussing the problems with today's college admissions process. The book is meant to give high school students a better idea of what they should be looking for in a college instead of any artificial rank.
