These days, it seems like everyone is doing whatever they can to get into the best possible school, from loading up on volunteer hours, to shelling out cash for SAT prep classes, to hiring expensive college counselors. And for good reason; with all the competition out there, we all want to do whatever we can to get that edge when our school days (finally!) come to an end.

But does all that matter? Does it make a difference?
As our friends at Lemondrop recently asked: does it matter where we went to college?

At first thought, I’m not sure where I stand on this issue. On the one hand, people who attend great schools (i.e. the ones U.S. News World and Report rank highly, or those esteemed Ivy Leagues) are obviously qualified, and the amount of work prestigious schools put into giving their students the best possible education is remarkable. On the other hand, there are so many people at “average” schools who have extraordinary promise in their fields and work just as hard, if not harder, than those who attend an Ivy League institution. Maybe they couldn’t attend a more prestigious school because of financial reasons, or because they didn’t truly learn their potential until college started, or because their test taking skills weren’t the best, leaving them with less than stellar SAT scores.

Yet all of that considered, Ivy Leaguers with those cushy names atop their diplomas certainly have an easier time navigating the “real world.” Hiring managers and grad school admissions counselors are naturally awed by their  education and where they received it, and Harvard grads have a much easier time landing coveted positions than their state school counterparts.

But is this the right way to go about things? Who is ultimately a better candidate – the brilliant student who aced his SATs and went on to attend a top school where he simply coasted, or the girl who struggled to make it into a state school, where she worked hard and learned a lot, earned a good GPA, participated in as many activities as possible, and held a few internships? Read More »

In 2008′s least shocking expose, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution dredged the sweat-stained pit of college academics and came up with, essentially, a national “dumb jock” joke.

Hating on athletes is pretty standard practice for the squishy intellectual set, probably because we’ve got a few bones to pick about getting stuffed in lockers and picked last for dodgeball. (As an aside, has anyone actually been stuffed into a locker in the past thirty years? The jocks these days just steal our iPods.)

But, whether we hear it from major newspapers or the bottom of locker no. 104, the news is the same: at the corner of college athletics and college admissions, something is gravely ill. Read More »

Remember when you had to prepare for the SATs? The courses, the books, the tutors, and missing many Saturdays with your friends to take those damn practice tests? Yeah, that totally sucked.

And remember even before that when you were a sophomore and you had to take the PSAT? The Saturday morning spent at school instead of in bed (with reruns of Saved By the Bell), and then that stupid breakdown that told you what your future held (mine said “guidance counselor”)? Yeah, that totally sucked too.

Especially since I hate kids.

Looks like those fools at College Board (those are the people behind the SAT and PSAT, by the way) want to ruin yet another part of your life. This time: middle school. They are sick of losing potential testers to the dreaded ACT (which was so. much. better.), so they decided to rope em in early. Like, in 8th grade.

The College Board claims that this new test will point out areas that students need to work on to be successful in both high school and college, but it is basically just another way to make a few bucks, freak parents the eff out, and piss off 13 year olds across the country.

I may dislike children, but I still feel for them. Another test? There is already plenty of controversy surrounding the validity of the SAT to predict future success, so how can anyone think this test will be any different? And I made it through high school and college successfully without this test, so why burden these poor, defenseless kids (who already have enough to worry about with braces and acne) with another test?!

Just be glad this happened long after we finished all that standardized testing. Although, if College Board has its way, there may be a standardized test for getting a job. Or finding a new apartment. Or having kids.

But maybe that one won’t be so bad.

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