francie_
The Really Cheerful
Distinguished Senior Member
Posts: 3,815
The Voice of Reason
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« on: October 14, 2006, 10:40:58 AM » |
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Below is a link to a recent (10/10/06) article in the San Francisco Chronicle about the supposed trend among colleges and universities toward rescinding admission to high school seniors who become afflicted with bad cases of "senioritis" in their final months before graduating. My question are, how common was this practice in the past, how widespread is this practice likely to become, and, is it merely like sticking one's finger in the proverbial dam? http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/10/10/BAGL9LLT7J1.DTL&hw=college+admission&sn=002&sc=955 |
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Oh realfrancie, so clever!
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acrimone
The Red Queen's Court Assassin
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Posts: 4,049
I am not a professor at all, despite what I say.
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« Reply #1 on: October 14, 2006, 10:51:51 AM » |
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It was done in the past. Just like there are always shark attacks.
Sometimes newspapers (and TV stations) just pick something that happens all the time but which people don't regularly notice and make NEWS!!!! out of it.
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"All right, but apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, a fresh water system, and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?"
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comp_queen
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« Reply #2 on: October 14, 2006, 12:27:13 PM » |
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Yes, this was done in my day (about 10-12 years ago). I wouldn't have slacked off because I wanted to be one of the valedictorians (yes, we had multiple, it was GPA not average and kept us from competing against each other), but we all knew about the threat and got unnecessarily stressed out about it on things like our final senior term papers.
As I've grown older, though, and especially as I read the article (thanks for an article link that WORKS, which many forumites don't provide!), I've developed some problems with this:
1) This article mentioned schools that take extenuating circumstances into account, but how can such a thing ever possibly be fairly adjudicated on a case-by-case basis?
2) HOW THE HECK IS THIS LEGAL? Once you have a letter, on letterhead, with a university official's signature, stating that you are accepted, how is that not the end? I was amazed that there wasn't a section in the article talking about schools being sued for breach of contract or whatever the equivalent would be? Are schools not AFRAID of being sued in this day and age?
3) HOW THE HECK IS THIS LEGAL? Part II--especially once a school has received money from the student/parents, in the form of a housing deposit or what have you, especially once government aid may have been processed . . . I just have to think that schools are on shaky legal ground.
4) I would dearly love to smack (gently, with a pillow) whoever it was in the article saying that the entire point of high school is not to get into college. Yes . . . it . . . is. The entire purpose of those four years is to amass as many things as possible to write on college applications. That's . . . it. My generation was at the leading edge of this, and high school is a stress-filled nightmare for top students, and I assume it's only gotten worse. Very young people run themselves ragged on multiple levels because they know that's what's needed to get into the top colleges, and then at the end of the road the colleges whose requirements necessitate all this are going to pull out one more card? Give me a break. Apply the admission standards to everyone, let them be for the last few months of high school, and then let them sink or swim in college. All this says nothing about the high schools that give seniors a free ride on the way out anyway, so there's no way for colleges to judge.
I ask as a college teacher--what is so sacred and holy about any school's admissions standards that gives that school the right to mess around with the last truly free months of a person's life?
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I hateseses powerpointseses
accreditation better be worth it!
"How...the bolt of our fate slides home." ~Thomas Harris |
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prytania3
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« Reply #3 on: October 14, 2006, 02:43:08 PM » |
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Phew. Never heard of this happening in my time. Good thing or my college admission would have been rescinded for sure. I had serious senioritis.
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Clowns, I tell you. Clowns.
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notaprof
Not a
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Notaclique: You can only join if you don't want to
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« Reply #4 on: October 14, 2006, 02:44:20 PM » |
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From Comp Queen: 2) HOW THE HECK IS THIS LEGAL? Once you have a letter, on letterhead, with a university official's signature, stating that you are accepted, how is that not the end? It is not the end if the acceptance letter had a phrase in the letter like the one mentioned in the article with acceptance being contingent on continuing good grades and completion of the coursework that was promised in the student's application. It is the student who first breached the contract if they blow off the last semester of their senior year. |
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I am sick and tired of following my dreams. I think I'll just ask them where they are going and catch up with them later. Mitch Hedberg
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elsie
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« Reply #5 on: October 14, 2006, 02:47:06 PM » |
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Last truly free months of a person's life? WTF? What -- is the senior year of high school somehow supposed to be a vacation????
No wonder so many of them turn out to be such slackers when they actually make it to college.
I suppose that means their last semester of their college career is somehow supposed to be their last big vacation before the workforce.
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"People assume that time is a strict progression from cause to effect. But actually, from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint, it's more like a big ball of wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey stuff." - the Doctor
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mcchesne
New member
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« Reply #6 on: January 09, 2007, 08:26:14 PM » |
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Where I work in admissions, we actually require students to submit a final transcript. If the Admissions committee feels that the student's GPA went down dramatically. Last year, we rescinded 3 students offers. 2 of them simply got C's and D's after they were accepted and the other one had drug problems.
Most private universities and colleges put in their admissions letters that the decision is not final till the final transcript is sent.
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jackofallchem
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« Reply #7 on: January 11, 2007, 09:17:18 AM » |
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This happened when I was in high school (late 80's) and it happens at all levels. A friend of mine had his full-ride scholarship and acceptance to Michigan State revoked because he blew off the second semester of his senior year. He ended up going to Eastern Michigan with no scholarship.
I am glad that they are publicizing this now. I have too many senior (college students!) who think that once they get accepted to med school (or dental school, or optometry school), they can blow off their last semester. I try to tell them they are putting their future in jeopardy, but they don't believe me. When I was an undergrad, a professor failed an entire section of an honors physical chemistry lab course (last semester of college for 15 students) because he felt that none of them put forth the minimal effort required. Several students lost their med school spots, including one Harvard med school spot.
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Anything you do not understand is magic.
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hkjl5768
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« Reply #8 on: January 11, 2007, 04:54:48 PM » |
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Not a revocation, but I did poorly enough my last semester of high school to receive a disapproving letter that put me on probabtion my first semester. This was in the early 90's at a mid sized State U.
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helpful
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« Reply #9 on: January 11, 2007, 06:08:24 PM » |
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When I was in high school we had 'early admission' to universities. These 'early admissions' were 'contingent', based on final marks.
When did this change?
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philoctetes
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« Reply #10 on: January 18, 2007, 02:06:10 AM » |
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When I was in high school we had 'early admission' to universities. These 'early admissions' were 'contingent', based on final marks.
When did this change?
It didn't. It was done in the past. Just like there are always shark attacks.
Sometimes newspapers (and TV stations) just pick something that happens all the time but which people don't regularly notice and make NEWS!!!! out of it.
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melbrosmi
New member
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« Reply #11 on: February 28, 2007, 02:41:12 PM » |
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I am glad that this issue was made known through this forum. I am currently a Senior, and have recently been accepted to my first choice college. I haven't experienced much "Senioritis" yet, but I feel if I let myself, I could. And I believed that if I did end up slacking the last few months before graduation, it wouldn't be that big of a deal. I'd never heard of a college recalling a students admission. Thanks for informing me!
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« Last Edit: February 28, 2007, 02:42:07 PM by melbrosmi »
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hooplah666
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« Reply #12 on: March 06, 2007, 04:03:45 PM » |
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