Last Friday, there was an interesting apparition at the front desk. My fellow receptionist and two other deans were engaged in a lively discussion of whether designer brand apparel, handbags, shoes and accessories were worth the price. I kind of started it by asking anyone who walked by what kind of wallet they would buy for their mom. Teehee. XD (By the way, what *would* you recommend? I'm kind of stumped. I want to be able to buy her something nice with the $$ I've earned this summer but the zip arounds she likes are just out of my price range.. hmm..*
This got me to thinking, are designer products really better than their much more modestly priced counterparts? What exactly are you paying for? The name stamped into the leather? Or superior craftsmanship, quality, materials and service? Of course, a bit of both, but do these things added together justify a price tag well into the thousands? How about all the odd, sidelong glances you receive when you use one? Does that make anyone uncomfortable? I've always been oblivious to monograms and stamps and such, but my recent research into presents has opened up my eyes a little to common brands.
And that, logically, (to me at least, haha), brought me to the thought of colleges. In a way, the Ivies are the designer brands of the college world. It's not quite a complete analogy, but close enough for what I want to expound on. Being private schools, their tuition is much higher compared to a public school like UVA (especially if you're instate) -- is that higher price tag worth it? Sure it's immediate recognition, people know your college immediately, you might be getting a better quality education -- but that's doubtful, so is it really worth the money and the cutthroat competition to get in? (And perhaps the competitiveness once you're in? It's not the same at every school, so it does depend.) I d'no, what do you think?
Showing posts with label college application search. Show all posts
Showing posts with label college application search. Show all posts
Monday, August 4, 2008
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
sats suck. so do rankings.
Who here thinks standardized testing rocks? (Please don't let me have a comment from someone whose hobby is ACT testing!) I think it sucks. Horribly. It's time consuming, non constructive, and just spews out another set of numbers for students to feel inferior with.
Why the sudden rant? I had a long conversation last night with one of my friends who's still in high school. He's ready to take his fourth SAT. Eurgh. Cue vomit. His reasons why? He feels that he could really go up another 30 points on his scores. He's already scoring over 2200 on his highest combined scores. *facepalm* That, my friends, is unnecessary overkill. At some point all the testing has to stop, if you can't break a.. 2000 barrier, don't beat yourself up trying to do it. Seriously, numbers aren't everything. These days, I feel that an admissions committee would look at the scores, think "Alright, they can do the work. Next! What makes them special?" And no, I don't think having a perfect GPA and ACT score makes you special.
But really, don't. stress. out!! If you've done your best, you've done your best. Really. Relax, you'll be fine.
Now, why did my friend want to get such a high score? Of course, his parents want him to go to a school ranked in the top 10 of US News and World Report. *cue fit of irritation* Rankings also really, really annoy me. They're so... useless. Do they measure how much the students learn? Do they measure how happy people are at the college? How about how openminded the administration is? How useful the education is, seriously? Nope to all four, yet people go by them as if they're a holy text. They're also really regionalized.
Take UVA for example. Most of you guys probably know that UVA is considered a public Ivy and is one of the top schools in the nation. (Yadda yadda how awesome we are, hehe). What you might not know is that we have a vastly different reputation say in.... Asia. There we're actually known as a safety school, because we're public. Or that we're not a good school at all because we don't have the same prestige as an Ivy League. How different is that? Or let's not even go overseas, let's stay in the continental United States. Those of you on the East Coast. How good do you think California's UC schools are? I've heard some East Coast friends bash it to heck and back, firmly convinced that it's barely a step above high schools. West Coast friends, that's obviously not the case. How about those of you on the West Coast? How good do you think Swarthmore, Wellesley and UMCP are? ..I hope you've heard of them.. Precisely my point.
Nothing irks me more than hearing someone say, "Oh I'm going to be flipping burgers in McDonalds when I'm 30 because I didn't get into Cornell." ..no you won't. Your life will be perfectly fine. Don't pay attention to rankings so much when you're looking at colleges, and don't focus on numbers so much. It's what else is written on the application that really makes the person.
Why the sudden rant? I had a long conversation last night with one of my friends who's still in high school. He's ready to take his fourth SAT. Eurgh. Cue vomit. His reasons why? He feels that he could really go up another 30 points on his scores. He's already scoring over 2200 on his highest combined scores. *facepalm* That, my friends, is unnecessary overkill. At some point all the testing has to stop, if you can't break a.. 2000 barrier, don't beat yourself up trying to do it. Seriously, numbers aren't everything. These days, I feel that an admissions committee would look at the scores, think "Alright, they can do the work. Next! What makes them special?" And no, I don't think having a perfect GPA and ACT score makes you special.
But really, don't. stress. out!! If you've done your best, you've done your best. Really. Relax, you'll be fine.
Now, why did my friend want to get such a high score? Of course, his parents want him to go to a school ranked in the top 10 of US News and World Report. *cue fit of irritation* Rankings also really, really annoy me. They're so... useless. Do they measure how much the students learn? Do they measure how happy people are at the college? How about how openminded the administration is? How useful the education is, seriously? Nope to all four, yet people go by them as if they're a holy text. They're also really regionalized.
Take UVA for example. Most of you guys probably know that UVA is considered a public Ivy and is one of the top schools in the nation. (Yadda yadda how awesome we are, hehe). What you might not know is that we have a vastly different reputation say in.... Asia. There we're actually known as a safety school, because we're public. Or that we're not a good school at all because we don't have the same prestige as an Ivy League. How different is that? Or let's not even go overseas, let's stay in the continental United States. Those of you on the East Coast. How good do you think California's UC schools are? I've heard some East Coast friends bash it to heck and back, firmly convinced that it's barely a step above high schools. West Coast friends, that's obviously not the case. How about those of you on the West Coast? How good do you think Swarthmore, Wellesley and UMCP are? ..I hope you've heard of them.. Precisely my point.
Nothing irks me more than hearing someone say, "Oh I'm going to be flipping burgers in McDonalds when I'm 30 because I didn't get into Cornell." ..no you won't. Your life will be perfectly fine. Don't pay attention to rankings so much when you're looking at colleges, and don't focus on numbers so much. It's what else is written on the application that really makes the person.
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