[Farm93]

The article was really depressing on a lot of levels.


I sometimes wonder if the SF Bay Area's rather limited set of college experiences only intensifies that quest for Stanford or UCB or bust.  There are just not that many schools, especially smaller private schools, in the Bay Area in that slightly less selective national second tier.


In my day, living on the East Coast, the HS students all knew that there were plenty of pretty good schools that would enable you to have a career, start a business, go to law school or med school.  The families knew those options and students visited multiple schools over their time in HS.  Many of those schools accepted students with 1100 SAT & 3.0 GPA students.  Life could continue without Harvard or Princeton.  The number of college choices also allowed future graduates to craft credible "Why did you decide to attend X?" answers.  Many wanted the best, but the rest were OK too.


I am not so sure that set of options is as evident to families in Palo Alto or Cupertino schools.  Stanford or bust or Stanford/UCB/UCLA or bust would just create a world of stress.  Kind of sad.  There are lots of paths to happiness and most of them do not include 1500 SATs, 4.0 GPAs and admission to Stanford University.

[Farm93]

The article was really depressing on a lot of levels.


I sometimes wonder if the SF Bay Area's rather limited set of college experiences only intensifies that quest for Stanford or UCB or bust.  There are just not that many schools, especially smaller private schools, in the Bay Area in that slightly less selective national second tier.


In my day, living on the East Coast, the HS students all knew that there were plenty of pretty good schools that would enable you to have a career, start a business, go to law school or med school.  The families knew those options and students visited multiple schools over their time in HS.  Many of those schools accepted students with 1100 SAT & 3.0 GPA students.  Life could continue without Harvard or Princeton.  The number of college choices also allowed future graduates to craft credible "Why did you decide to attend X?" answers.  Many wanted the best, but the rest were OK too.


I am not so sure that set of options is as evident to families in Palo Alto or Cupertino schools.  Stanford or bust or Stanford/UCB/UCLA or bust would just create a world of stress.  Kind of sad.  There are lots of paths to happiness and most of them do not include 1500 SATs, 4.0 GPAs and admission to Stanford University.