39 of 40 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Something is wrong with college admissions, October 1, 2005
This review is from: College Unranked: Ending the College Admissions Frenzy (Paperback)
"Nobody likes what's going on in college admissions---not students, not parents, not college presidents and not deans."
- Lee Pelton, President of Willamette University (quoted in College Unranked)
So, what has happened to college admission? Have the ranksters, the testers, the branders, the marketers, the dot.coms, etc. taken over? How did we let it happen? And what, if anything, can we do about it? Well folks, there is hope, and hope has come in the form of a book and an organization.
College Unranked is more than a book; it is a call to action to all who care about education. The book is the first tangible contribution of the Education Conservancy (educationconservancy.org), a non-profit organization that is "committed to helping students, counselors, and colleges overcome commercial interference in college admissions." All proceeds from the book support the work of the Education Conservancy.
College Unranked is a collection of 20 essays all by college presidents, deans, directors, and others in admissions and higher education. The editor, Lloyd Thacker, wrote the introduction, four sets of "Editor's Stories," and the summary and recommendations. The theme of the book, which runs through the essays, is that "Commercialism's intrusion into college admission has transformed a uniquely American educational experience into a problematic American commercial exercise." This is not, however, a nostalgic look at the "good ol' days," it is full of practical wisdom that can affect what we do today.
Thacker and his essayists are doing more than just asking us to think outside the box; they are asking us to throw out the box completely; the box in which colleges are branded and students are packaged, where colleges are ranked and students are measured. A frequent and deserving target in the essays is the U.S.News rankings---"Complicity [with U.S.News] is a disservice to our students and prospective students, and it helps distort various public policy issues affecting higher education (Adams in College Unranked)." It is important to note that while essayists criticize industry icons, they also put responsibility on those who are compliant as well. While some of the stakeholders are more to blame than others, we are all feeding the problem at some level or, at the very least, our complacency is allowing it to continue.
It is difficult to present a book that can be read with equal interest by admissions personnel, secondary school counselors, parents, and students; but College Unranked has done it. While some outside the profession might not care about or grasp some of the "trade talk" in the essays, there is not enough of it to turn off these readers. This is not a "how to get in" book, it's a book about how to do it right. Parents and students are challenged to take responsibility as well and are given the tools and the advice to help them do so.
Those of us who agree that "Something is wrong with college admissions---something wrong enough to care about, to discuss, and to change (Thacker in College Unranked)" now have a flag to rally around.
"Let us all---counselors, students and parents---reclaim the college selection and admission processes a form of education rather than a form of commercialism (Ballinger, p. 175)." Quixotic? Maybe. But also visionary, optimistic, and crucial. Individual lament can become collective action. We won't know if it will work unless we give it a try. Let's give it a try.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Students, parents, and colleagues, College Unranked is a must-read, February 1, 2006
This review is from: College Unranked: Ending the College Admissions Frenzy (Paperback)
Given the moment we are in, Lloyd Thacker's book is not just good for, but vital to the admissions profession. With wisdom and disarming candor, College Unranked's contributors identify the commercial influence in our profession and describe its manifest forms: from the "ranksters" to the overgrown role of standardized testing in the admissions process; from the marketing of educational products to the reallocation of aid from those who need it to those whose numbers are in demand. Rather than just criticize, however, as so many volumes do, the essayists in College Unranked proffer bountiful and sage advice to virtually everyone involved in the college admissions process: students, parents, colleges, the media, for-profit educational companies and the College Board. Anchored by many years of experience, and fortified by their very unity in this volume, the essayists' insight is at once sound, challenging and reassuring. I join Thacker's endorsers who proclaim on the book's back cover that College Unranked is required reading for anyone who is planning to apply to college. As a college counselor who will soon welcome a class of undoubtedly anxious but hopeful high school juniors and their parents to the process, I am grateful to have this book on my shelf. Echoing College Unranked's already published praise, the advice it gives is more powerful, more heartening and more inspiring than that spun by any guidebook or magazine. For that, Thacker deserves abundant commendation.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Must read for the college-bound, December 21, 2005
This review is from: College Unranked: Ending the College Admissions Frenzy (Paperback)
If you are the parent of a college-bound high school student, you owe it to yourself to read this collection of essays before you enter the fray of college admissions. Too many rankings. Too much marketing. Too much pressure. Too many tests. There's alot of blame to go around, and this book is a beginning at reforming the schools, students, parents and media who drive the system.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
