[CTcard]

The fundamental problem is that there are vastly more kids who are qualified to attend top colleges than there are student slots in those colleges.  There are really only two things that would reduce pressure on kids: either get them to be more comfortable with the idea that they might not get into a top college (which seems difficult), or increase the size of those top colleges.  I've heard Stanford is planning to expand its undergrad numbers substantially, which is great (assuming they can do it without compromising quality, which I think they can), and I hope other elite schools will do the same.

Well, Stanford is accepting around 5% of its applicants. To get to the point where every "qualified" applicant gets in, it would have to expand ... a lot.

But, that also misses the point. The elite colleges are desired precisely because they are elite and reject most applicants. If the elite colleges suddenly had twice as many spots, public perception would shift so that only about half of them would be considered elite.


... and whether Stanford can expand substantially without affecting quality depends upon what you consider the quality of Stanford. I would consider one of it's important qualities is not being too big - and all that means for interactions between and amongst students, professors, and everyone else. Getting substantially bigger will affect that quality.

[CTcard]

The fundamental problem is that there are vastly more kids who are qualified to attend top colleges than there are student slots in those colleges.  There are really only two things that would reduce pressure on kids: either get them to be more comfortable with the idea that they might not get into a top college (which seems difficult), or increase the size of those top colleges.  I've heard Stanford is planning to expand its undergrad numbers substantially, which is great (assuming they can do it without compromising quality, which I think they can), and I hope other elite schools will do the same.

Well, Stanford is accepting around 5% of its applicants. To get to the point where every "qualified" applicant gets in, it would have to expand ... a lot.

But, that also misses the point. The elite colleges are desired precisely because they are elite and reject most applicants. If the elite colleges suddenly had twice as many spots, public perception would shift so that only about half of them would be considered elite.


... and whether Stanford can expand substantially without affecting quality depends upon what you consider the quality of Stanford. I would consider one of it's important qualities is not being too big - and all that means for interactions between and amongst students, professors, and everyone else. Getting substantially bigger will affect that quality.