We Are All Part of the US College Admissions Problem
We give you all the essentials in Beijing, from events to news to community connections.
advertisement
Just months ago, Operation Varsity Blues uncovered a United States college admissions scandal, involving nearly 50 parents and members of faculty. This scandal involved a crazy combination of falsified standardized testing scores, bribes, and manufactured images of students participating in athletic activities.
These teenagers, without a shadow of a doubt, did not deserve a spot in one of the many elite colleges such as Stanford University, the University of Southern California, and Yale University. This falsification allowed unqualified students to take the spots of students who worked hard and who would have been accepted otherwise. The scandal, which included bribing test proctors to change student’s scores and paying coaches to recruit students as part of a sports team were entirely, immoral, illegal, and unacceptable.
However, these underhand measures are not the only ways in which students gain a helping hand in increasing the probability of securing a coveted place at an elite school. Other factors, such as college counseling, SAT tutoring, and even just going to a school where there are more opportunities, will increase someone’s chances of being accepted into their dream school. What is the problem here? Not everyone has access to these options.
advertisement
For the majority of us, going to an international school is already a sign of privilege. Our parents pay large amounts of money for us to attend high quality international schools, many of which specialize in college preparation—money that a majority of families cannot afford to pay. Going to an international school opens up a million different ways of getting a boost on college applications. We have a wide range of extracurricular activities, from sports and arts, to speech and debate that we can choose from to build the perfect profile for ourselves. We have many challenging curriculums, like Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) and a wide range of classes that most other students don’t have access to.
In addition to this, we live in an environment where there are ample resources and experienced teachers in our schools to support our learning needs. The same cannot be said for many other schools. This already puts us, as international students, at an advantage.
For US colleges to decide who is accepted, a significant factor that admissions officers consider is a student’s standardized testing scores. These scores are meant to judge a student’s academic ability objectively; however, in reality, standardized testing is a judge of how much time, money, and effort we can put in. For example, paying for extra coaching and academic support is not a problem for us, and most students from an affluent background are not required to work a part-time job to help ease the pressure of paying for school or student supplies.
This leaves them with much more time to study than someone who has to work to support their family. Most standardized tests, like the SAT, are incredibly coachable, and those who can spend more than $800 on preparatory courses will have an advantage, according to the National Center for Fair Testing. As international school students living in Beijing, we can access a wealth of these programs, which give us an extra advantage.
What we can see here is that the US college admissions system is broken. College is meant to be the great equalizer, yet the admissions system is anything but equal. We, as international students, already have a much higher chance of getting into our dream schools than many others. When we work extremely hard to get what we want, chances are we will achieve that goal. For some others, no matter how hard they work, systematic barriers and socioeconomic factors get in the way of them reaching their goals. Dissolving this inequality would require an entire overhaul of the US admissions system, and as international students, we have no say or power in this situation. However, we must still understand the inequality that plagues the system and the position of privilege we have.
This article appeared in the beijingkids July-August 2019 Teen Takeover issue
Fall is just around the corner and with fall comes the highly anticipated Golden Week, which begins on October 1.
What Not to Ship When Moving Overseas
We moved to Beijing over a year ago, and shipped many of our belongings from England.Rain or Shine: 10 Ideas to Battle Summer Boredom
Here are ten ideas for strategies to help those bored kids launch into something scintillatingly stimulating.
Join the Conversation
beijingkids
Instagram/Twitter: @beijingkids
Tap Read More below to access the hyperlinks in this article.