Put Personality over Professionalization

Saturday. 3PM. I, cradled in my bed, deemed social media the perfect escape for this idle afternoon. However, my “for you” page was flooded with  fee-based internships, advertisements for extensive “pre-college” programs and, most appallingly, a  “guaranteed admissions” service——each swipe added to my feelings of inadequacy, though I am still two years away from college apps. 

Flyers for these services have been floating around the Chinese social media, “XiaoHongShu” (小红书),  for a while, promising admission to an Ivy League School for a price of thirty thousand dollars. How? Counterfeit transcripts and fake resumés.

Gone is the hopeful optimism of education: the great equalizer. The modern college admission landscape has grown to cater to the financial elites, and though many well-off families consider it unethical to purchase a fake resume, they still feel the need to make lavish investments in their children’s early education to prepare them for prestigious colleges. Over-priced pre-college programs, “passion projects”, and flashy internships have all  become standards of one’s admission profile that close out  the majority of college applicants, especially working class ones. Colleges should reconsider their admission criteria if they hope to establish a diverse and vibrant community that does not feed off pay-to-play students. 

At a time where gaudy (real and fabricated alike) admission profiles styled with ECs, awards and flawless GPA—all of which are almost exclusive to privileged families due to their overwhelming costs—overflow the admission offices, colleges should shift their focus away from pre-professional metrics toward characteristics like intellectual vitality, curiosity, and creativity, if they wish to rekindle the true purpose of higher education. 

Contrary to popular belief, many think college admissions is anything but “luckocracy.” Over the years schools and freelance counselors scour for  “patterns” to systematize the college admissions process to a simple equation that will get their clients into college and line their pockets. Many profess that colleges hope to see “zeal” for specific majors, and how the students’ work in high school demonstrates their capability in a variety of academic  fields. Their assumptions are not unfounded: Many college essay prompts revolve around academic disciplines and future careers. The emphasis on evaluating extracurricular activities makes student’s futures dependent on their career decisions and job experiences as preteens, when their worldview has barely taken shape. In response students flock to selective summer programs and competitions, where they can experience college level courses or win special awards that will qualify a student’s academic interest on their college applications. With the prospect of college admissions looming over the students that participate, the programs lead students to box themselves to one academic subject. Many colleges play into the allure of these college programs within the larger college admissions culture. Thousands of colleges run their own programs, with the University of Chicago launching  an exclusive early decision round for program participants this year. 

We have created a system that overvalues the technocratic talents while undervaluing the moral and social skills that any healthy society ought to place greater importance on. At the end of the day, if the students grind out graduate-school level research or take advanced college courses before they even enter college, how can they make the best use of their time as undergrads? What use is an Ivy-League education to those that could already access it with their parent’s bank account? 

These prized “internships” and summer programs are also unaffordable for many; Most of the UChicago pre-college courses, for example, exceed eight thousand dollars and cultivating a research project for reputable competitions such as the ISEF (one of the most prestigious highschool science fairs) would require major expenses for one’s school or family to take on. 

When a measure becomes a standard, it’s no longer a good measure: An emphasis on academic specialization and pre-professional distinction betrays the purpose of higher education and, more importantly, skews in favor of wealthy students instead of great students.  Growing as a thinker and a person is the true reward of college. Thus, college admissions should stop searching for employees amongst faceless resumés but view their applicants as unabridged humans; ultimately, flexible, interdisciplinary thinkers are what fosters a community. While starting with good intention, many college’s definition of merit has skewed too far towards the cihand well connected. Merit, after all, does not start with flashy internships or pay-to-play summer programs. It starts with character. Crafting out-of-box essay prompts and interview questions, encouraging interdisciplinary extracurriculars are both ways that admissions could examine whether the applicant has the mindset to discover new capacities and spark meaningful conversations within their communities. Shifting our current admission criteria is the only way to impede this frantic, hyper-pre-professional rat race among high school students. 

Perhaps, in doing so, we can level the playing field between the advantaged and the disadvantaged. To find the best kids, universities should ask kids to be just that: kids.