Sarah Katz

03-October-2008

Period 1

AP Language

Dr. Gen

 

The Gatekeepers:

College Admissions

 

    “Colleges make their admissions decisions behind a cordon of security befitting the selection of the pope” (Steinberg vii). Around November of every high school senior’s last year, comes a time of excitement, adventure, curiosity, and stress. This time is known as “college admissions.” Thousands of students from all of the country, not to mention the world, apply to hundreds of colleges each year. These students are searching for the right place to complete their education and prepare themselves to eventually become part of the real world. These decisions that one makes while applying to college can be some of the hardest choices one will make in their life. “Whether you are a student or a parent, the entire college admission process can seem mysterious” (How College Admission Works). The entire admissions process is very confusing and mysterious until a student has officially turned in his or her application to a college; the outcome is then completely out of their hands. Each student’s acceptance or denial is now up to the admissions officers and the colleges the students are applying to. The admissions process can be very brutal and at times extremely unfair. How does one beat the system? How does one know what the college admissions officers are thinking? In the book, The Gatekeepers, the audience gets an inside look of the admissions process of one of the most prestigious colleges in the United States, Wesleyan University. Students learn what and what not to do when completing a college application and how prejudice an unequal a college really can be to innocent high school students. The college application process in the United States is extremely intimidating and competitive which sometimes leads students away from showing their real disposition, but others tackle the admissions process with fury, thus leading to their success.

    Thousands of students apply to college each year and get accepted, however, the more competitive and selective school are particular to the kinds of kids they accept.  Sometimes for a very competitive college, the acceptance rate can be around nine percent!  This is due to the difficulty of the college admissions process. In The Gatekeepers, an admission’s officer explained, “You realize that, further down the line, a lot of these kids will end up applying and being denied” (Steinberg 5). Each college has an admissions committee that chooses who the college does and does not let into their program, “There is wide variation among colleges over how much to rely on committees to make admissions decisions” (Steinberg 94). Each college is looking for something different. If a student is not right for the college, the admissions officers will look at that student’s portfolio and decide that their college is not right for the student either. Colleges are looking for a specific type of person, “And sprinkled among those applicants…should be more valedictorians, more students with high SAT scores, more science majors, more bassoonists…students of color…” (Steinberg 63). These are just some of the examples of the types of students that a college is looking for. Colleges try to make their campuses diverse, “So does race matter when it comes to college admissions?” Diversity matters,"…"The working world in the 21st century is going to be increasingly diverse, particularly racially diverse. I [teacher] tell students that the diversity of college is a transitional place between the homogeneity of high school and the diversity of the 'real world.'" (How College Admissions Works); however, it does not always work out that way. Colleges attempt to achieve this goal by using other aspects of a student’s application. As stated by an alternative source, “There are other factors that can affect admission besides grades, scores and activities. A big question is whether the color of your skin or your heritage can actually make a difference when you're applying to schools” (How College Admission Works). It all depends upon which school one is applying to and how generous the admissions committee is to incoming freshmen. For some colleges the more percentage of Asian students there are, the less likely they are looking for Asian applicants. However, at other colleges, this idea is just the opposite. If a school has a population of 65 percent African American, they may be looking to increase that number. For other colleges, race is no matter; it is all about the money. Money to them is more important than grades. Every year students wonder why they are not getting into the college of their choice. This is because other students that come from a family of reputation and cash are being accepted instead of them. This prejudice towards lower income and less fortunate students is not right. This shows how unequal a college can be to become “famous” and gain the name of a college of the “elite”. This leads back to Wesleyan and the steps that this school was willing to take to please the public and make themselves known as a “force to be reckon with”. In The Gatekeepers, it was proclaimed that, “Wesleyan might decide to issue a string of rejection decisions to send a wake-up call to one of its longtime feeder schools” (Steinberg 65). This shows how far a school will go to get someone to notice them. This “wake-up call” is letting all of the high schools know that the competition between students to get into college is becoming more and more difficult by the day. Recently, the class of 2008 was one of the largest classes the United States has ever seen. Imagine the competition in that year! Colleges are not understanding the mentality of students. Not only are these processes of picking students unfair, quite simply it is unconstitutional.  However, the constitution does not guarantee a college of one’s choice; it is all up to the student’s hard work and drive to show his or her true disposition to the admissions staff.

    Students from all over the nation try their best to organize their application to show their best assets. After all, college advisors do suggest picking the highlights of one’s high school career, “If you are applying to more selective schools, or to popular programs that tend to be more selective than the school as a whole, you will have to work a bit harder to prepare an application that highlights your strongest features” (College Confidential). However, sometimes not even the best application gets into an Ivey League College. As previously stated, colleges are looking for a diverse population of students. Usually, if one college has too many students with 4.5 GPA’s, then the college will look for students with 3.5 GPA’s to make their campus different and create homeostasis on campus. No matter what assets a student has, one would believe that they would have an equal chance to learn, but some colleges just do not see it that way.  The ways this book tells the stories of teenagers and their fights to get into college really inspires a future applicant to try their best and always tell the truth no matter what the ramifications may be. If an applicant lies to a college, that is a serious risk that could lead to expulsion or a “red flag” on one’s application. As future freshmen in college, high school students need to take in the information from this book and understand that even though this is a very hard process for everyone, they can and will get through it. Students need to learn to highlight their best successes on their application and show the college how unique and original they can be. Colleges are looking for these kinds of people that will add something special to their campus. Every student is special; they just have to prove it!

    The college admissions process is very competitive and ready to reject or accept anyone at any time. One may never know if they will be able to get into a certain college automatically. It is all up to the college admissions committee to choose what is perceived as the “right student” The Gatekeepers suggests that each adolescent try their best and establish themselves worthy of their dream college. If one can dream, one can achieve!

 

Works Cited

Steinberg, Jacques. The Gatekeepers: Inside the Admissions Process of a Premier College. Penguin Books: New York, 1991.

“College Admissions”. College Confidential. 2001. 15 Sept. 2008 <http://www.collegeconfidential.com/college_admissions/>

"How College Admissions Works". How Stuff Works. 1998. 15 Sept. 2008    <http://www.howstuffworks.com/college-    admission.htm>.

"How College Admissions Works". How Stuff Works. 1998. 15 Sept. 2008

            <http://people.howstuffworks.com/college-admission3.htm>.

 

 

Teacher Edited/Graded- Second Draft-Gatekeepers Essay

 

 

Sarah Katz

19-September-2008

Period 1

AP Language

Dr. Gen

The Gatekeepers:

College Admissions

    “Colleges make their admissions decisions behind a cordon of security befitting the selection of the pope” (Steinberg vii). Around November of every high school senior’s last year, comes a time of excitement, adventure, curiosity, and stress. This time is known as “college admissions”. -period goes inside the quote - Docraygen 9/25/08 11:22 PM Thousands of students from all of the country, not to mention the world, apply to hundreds of colleges each year. These students are searching for the right place to complete their education and prepare themselves to eventually become part of the real world. These decisions that one makes while applying to college can be some of the hardest choices one will make in their life. “Whether you are a student or a parent, the entire college admission process can seem mysterious” (How College Admission Works). The entire admissions process is very confusing and mysterious until a student has officially turned in their -STUDENT=SINGULAR; THEIR=PLURAL- Docraygen 9/25/08 11:26 PMapplication to a college; the outcome is then completely out of their hands. Each student’s acceptance or denial is now up to the admissions officers and the colleges the students are applying to. The admissions process can be very brutal and at times extremely unfair. How does one beat the system? How does one know what the college admissions officers are thinking? In the book, The Gatekeepers, the audience gets an inside look of the admissions process of one of the most prestigious colleges in the United States, Wesleyan University. Students learn what and what not to do when completing a college application and how prejudice an unequal a college really can be to innocent high school students. The college application process in the United States is extremely intimidating and competitive which leads students away from showing their real disposition. THIS ISN'T THE INTENDED RESULT -Docraygen 9/25/08 11:28 PM 

    Thousands of students apply to college each year; however, very few students get into the college of their "dreams".NOT TRUE, MOST SCHOOLS ACCEPT MOST STUDENTS. JUST THE VERY COMPETITIVE ONES REJECT THE MAJORITY OF APPLICANTS. -Docraygen 9/25/08 11:31 PM  This is due to the difficulty of the college admissions process. In The Gatekeepers, an admission’s officer explained, “You realize that, further down the line, a lot of these kids will end up applying and being denied” (Steinberg 5). Each college has an admissions committee that chooses who the college does and does not let into their program, “There is wide variation among colleges over how much to rely on committees to make admissions decisions” (Steinberg 94). Each college is looking for something different. If a student is not right for the college, the admissions officers will look at that student’s portfolio and decide that their college is not right for the student either. Colleges are looking for a specific type of person, “And sprinkled among those applicants…should be more valedictorians, more students with high SAT scores, more science majors, more bassoonists…students of color…” (Steinberg 63). These are just some of the examples of the types of students that a college is looking for. Colleges try to make their campuses diverse, “So does race matter when it comes to college admissions?”Diversity matters,"…"The working world in the 21st century is going to be increasingly diverse, particularly racially diverse. I [teacher] tell students that the diversity of college is a transitional place between the homogeneity of high school and the diversity of the 'real world.'" (How College Admissions Works); however, it does not always work out that way. Colleges attempt to achieve this goal by using other aspects of a student’s application. As stated by an alternative source, “There are other factors that can affect admission besides grades, scores and activities. A big question is whether the color of your skin or your heritage can actually make a difference when you're applying to schools” (How College Admission Works). It all depends upon which school one is applying to and how generous the admissions committee is to incoming freshmen. For some colleges the more percentage of Asian students there are, the less likely they are looking for Asian applicants. However, at other colleges, this idea is just the opposite. If a school has a population of 65 percent African American, they may be looking to increase that number. For other colleges, race is no matter; it is all about the money. Money to them is more important than grades. Every year students wonder why they are not getting into the college of their choice. This is because other students that come from a family of reputation and cash are being accepted instead of them. This prejudice towards lower income and less fortunate students is not right. This shows how unequal a college can be to become “famous” and gain the name of a college of the “elite”. This leads back to Wesleyan and the steps that this school was willing to take to please the public and make themselves known as a “force to be reckon with”. In The Gatekeepers, it was proclaimed that, “Wesleyan might decide to issue a string of rejection decisions to send a wake-up call to one of its longtime feeder schools” (Steinberg 65). This shows how far a school will go to get someone to notice them. This “wake-up call” is letting all of the high schools know that the competition between students to get into college is becoming more and more difficult by the day. Recently, the class of 2008 was one of the largest classes the United States has ever seen. Imagine the competition in that year! Colleges are not understanding the mentality of students. Not only are these processes of picking students unfair, quite simply it is unconstitutional.THE CONSTITUTION DOES NOT GARANTEE A COLLEGE OF YOUR CHOICE. -Docraygen 9/25/08 11:37 PM 

    Students from all over the nation try their best to organize their application to show their best assets. After all, college advisors do suggest picking the highlights of one’s high school career, “If you are applying to more selective schools, or to popular programs that tend to be more selective than the school as a whole, you will have to work a bit harder to prepare an application that highlights your strongest features” (College Confidential). However, sometimes not even the best application gets into an Ivey League College. As previously stated, colleges are looking for a diverse population of students. Usually, if one college has too many students with 4.5 GPA’s, then the college will look for students with 3.5 GPA’s to make their campus different and create homeostasis on campus. No matter what assets a student has, one would believe that they would have an equal chance to learn, but some colleges just do not see it that way.  The ways this book tells the stories of teenagers and their fights to get into college really inspires a future applicant to try their best and always tell the truth no matter what the ramifications may be. If an applicant lies to a college, that is a serious risk that could lead to expulsion or a “red flag” on one’s application. As future freshmen in college, high school students need to take in the information from this book and understand that even though this is a very hard process for everyone, they can and will get through it. Students need to learn to highlight their best successes on their application and show the college how unique and original they can be. Colleges are looking for these kinds of people that will add something special to their campus. Every student is special; they just have to prove it!

    The college admissions process is very competitive and ready to reject or accept anyone at any time. One may never know if they will be able to get into a certain college automatically. It is all up to the college admissions committee to choose what is perceived as the “right student” The Gatekeepers suggests that each adolescent try their best and establish themselves worthy of their dream college. If one can dream, one can achieve!

 

Works Cited

Steinberg, Jacques. The Gatekeepers: Inside the admissions process of a premier collegeTHE TILE IS IN APA NOT MLA FORMAT -Docraygen 9/25/08 11:42 PM . Penguin Books: New York, 1991.

“College Admissions”. College Confidential. 2001.NEED ACCESS DATE -Docraygen 9/25/08 11:42 PM  <http://www.collegeconfidential.com/college_admissions/>

"How College Admissions Works". How Stuff Works. 1998.NEED ACCESS DATE -Docraygen 9/25/08 11:43 PM  <http://www.howstuffworks.com/college-admission.htm>.

"How College Admissions Works". How Stuff Works. 1998.NEED ACCESS DATE -Docraygen 9/25/08 11:43 PM 

http://people.howstuffworks.com/college-admission3.htm.

YOU WRITE WELL. GOOD ARGUMENTS. GOOD WORK. GRADE 95/100

Peer Edited- First Draft-Gatekeepers Essay

Sarah Katz

AP English Language

Dr. Gen

12-September-2008

The Gatekeepers:

College Admissions

“Colleges make their admissions decisions behind a cordon of security befitting the selection of the pope” (Steinberg vii). Around November of every high school senior’s last year, comes a time of excitement, adventure, curiosity, and stress. This time is known as “college admissions”. Thousands of students from all of the country, not to mention the world, apply to hundreds of colleges to complete their education and prepare them to eventually become part of the real world. (kind of a long sentance)  These decisions that one makes while applying to college can be some of the hardest choices one will make in their life. “Whether you are a student or a parent, the entire college admission process can seem mysterious” (How College Admission Works). The entire admissions process is very confusing and mysterious until a student has officially turned in their application to a college; the outcome is then completely out of their hands. Each student’s acceptance or denial is now up to the admissions officers and the colleges the students are applying to. The admissions process can be very brutal and at times extremely unfair. How does one beat the system? How does one know what the college admissions officers are thinking? In the book, The Gatekeepers, the audience gets an inside look of the admissions process of one of the most prestigious colleges in the United States, Wesleyan College( University). Students learn what to do and what not to do(WORDY:ex of correct: what and what not to do) when completing a college application and how prejudice an unequal a college really can be to innocent high school students. The college application process in the United States is extremely intimidating and competitive which leads students away from showing their real disposition.

Thousands of students apply to college each year; however, very few students get into the college of their "dreams". This is due to the difficulty of the college admissions process. In The Gatekeepers, an admission’s officer explained, “You realize that, further down the line, a lot of these kids will end up applying and being denied” (Steinberg 5). Each college has an admissions committee that chooses who the college does and does not let into their program, “There is wide variation among colleges over how much to rely on committees to make admissions decisions” (Steinberg 94). Each college is looking for something different. If a student is not right for the college, the admissions officers will look at that student’s portfolio and decide that their college is not right for the student either. Colleges are looking for a specific type of person, “And sprinkled among those applicants…should be more valedictorians, more students with high SAT scores, more science majors, more bassoonists…students of color…” (Steinberg 63). These are just some of the examples of the types of students that a college is looking for. Colleges try to make their campuses diverse, “So does race matter when it comes to college admissions? "Diversity matters,"…"The working world in the 21st century is going to be increasingly diverse, particularly racially diverse. I [teacher] tell students that the diversity of college is a transitional place between the homogeneity of high school and the diversity of the 'real world.'" (How College Admissions Works); however, it does not always work out that way. Colleges attempt to achieve this goal by using other aspects of a student’s application. As stated by an alternative source, “There are other factors that can affect admission besides grades, scores and activities. A big question is whether the color of your skin or your heritage can actually make a difference when you're applying to schools” (How College Admission Works). It all depends upon which school one is applying to and how generous the admissions committee is to incoming freshmen.( you may wanna add a little more commentary then 1 sentance.)

For some colleges, money is more important than grades. Every year students wonder why they are not getting into the college of their choice. This is because other students that come from a family of reputation and cash are being accepted instead of them. This prejudice towards lower income and less fortunate students is not right. This shows how unequal a college can be to become “famous” and gain the name of a college of the “elite”. This leads back to Wesleyan and the steps that this school was willing to take to please the public and make themselves known as a “force to be reckon with”. In The Gatekeepers, it was proclaimed that, “Wesleyan might decide to issue a string of rejection decisions to send a wake-up call to one of its longtime feeder schools” (Steinberg 65). This shows how far a school will go to get someone to notice them. This “wake-up call” is letting all of the high schools know that the competition between students to get into college is becoming more and more difficult by the day. Recently, the class of 2008 was one of the largest classes the United States has ever seen. Imagine the competition in that year! Colleges are not understanding the mentality of students. Not only are these processes of picking students unfair, quite simply it is unconstitutional.

Students from all over the nation try their best to organize their application to show their best assets. After all, college advisors do suggest to pick the highlights of one’s high school career, “If you are applying to more selective schools, or to popular programs that tend to be more selective than the school as a whole, you will have to work a bit harder to prepare an application that highlights your strongest features” (College Confidential). However, sometimes not even the best application gets into an Ivey League College. As previously stated, colleges are looking for a diverse population of students. Usually, if one college has too many students with 4.5 GPA’s, then the college will look for students with 3.5 GPA’s to make their campus different and create homeostasis on campus. No matter what assets a student has, one would believe that they would have an equal chance to learn, but some colleges just do not see it that way.

The ways this book tells the stories of teenagers and their fights to get into college really inspires a future applicant to try their best and always tell the truth no matter what the ramifications may be. If an applicant lies to a college, that is a serious risk that could lead to expulsion or a “red flag” on one’s application. As future freshmen in college, high school students need to take in the information from this book and understand that even though this is a very hard process for everyone, they can and will get through it. Students need to learn to highlight their best successes on their application and show the college how unique and original they can be. Colleges are looking for these kinds of people that will add something special to their campus. Every student is special; they just have to prove it!

The college admissions process is very competitive and ready to reject or accept anyone at any time. One may never know if they will be able to get into a certain college automatically. It is all up to the college admissions committee to choose what is perceived as the “right student” The Gatekeepers suggests that each adolescent try their best and establish themselves worthy of their dream college. If one can dream, one can achieve!

 

Works Cited

Steinberg, Jacques. The Gatekeepers: Inside the admissions process of a premier college. Penguin Books: New York, 1991.

“College Admissions”. College Confidential. 2001. <http://www.collegeconfidential.com/college_admissions/>

"How College Admissions Works". How Stuff Works. 1998. <http://www.howstuffworks.com/college-admission.htm>.

"How College Admissions Works". How Stuff Works. 1998.