Harvard Caught Off-Guard by Drop in Early Admissions Rejections

pjmedia.com

We were not dirt poor when I was growing up. But we were not exactly rich, either. A few times, we were barely lucky enough to hang on to the designation of “middle class.” Despite that, and my parents’ deep desire to be seen as ’60s radicals, my mother always held out hope that I might somehow make it to membership in the Hyannis Port crowd. She wanted me to be either a high-powered lawyer or an Episcopal bishop. Or maybe the host of “Masterpiece Theater.” I ended up being a writer, so no trips to the Cape with Buffy for me. But if, by some miracle, an acceptance letter from Harvard had arrived in our mailbox, I would have been freeze-dried, zip-locked, and shipped off to Cambridge before the envelope even hit the garbage can. But alas, we did not have the money or the social standing for such aspirations. I was accepted to four colleges (it was much easier in the ’80s, kids), and none were in the Ivy League.

But as it turns out, the recent insanity that has gripped the hallowed halls of our best and brightest universities has not proven to be a boon for enrollment, at least in the case of Harvard. And who would not want to go to Harvard? Actually, more people than one would expect. And to be completely honest, it is rather refreshing to see some common sense prairie-dogging across the American landscape.

If I were a college-aged person I wouldn’t want to go to Harvard right now. For that matter, I wouldn’t want to go to college right now. And students seem to agree. In fact, 17% of college-bound students have rejected early admission to Harvard. The Ivy League ain’t what it used to be.

On Wednesday, college admissions counselor Christopher Rim, who is the CEO of New York and Miami-based Command Education, told “FOX & Friends First”:

Virtually every student I’ve ever worked with who got into Harvard early pretty much stopped [looking elsewhere] This is the first time and first application season where I’ve seen a student who got into Harvard early that I’ve worked with for almost three and a half, four years now, starting in ninth grade — we’re seeing them say, ‘You know what? I want to apply to other schools because what if I graduate and this stigma and this reputation of Harvard stays the same?’ That’s their true concern.

One can hardly blame them. When the hallmark of an upper-tier school is anarchy, one would save time and frustration by simply setting a pile of money ablaze. The effect would be about the same, even if the college president has not plagiarized everything except her DoorDash orders. On top of that, it is clear that the collegiate hordes of hyenas have no sense of boundaries. No sane person wants to go to a college where there is a chance that they will be assaulted for the color of their skin, their gender, their beliefs, or their religion. Many people may see Harvard and similar institutions not just as wastes of time and money but as risks to their personal safety…