Primrose Road

According to the Chronicle of Higher Education blog, the "wrong database of recipients" was selected when sending out acceptance letters to incoming freshmen at UC San Diego earlier this month, leading to 28,000 acceptance letters being sent out to students who had not been accepted.

I can't wait to hear about the lawsuits. ;)

Overheard on campus:

"This is the first school I've been that I've actually gone to."

Parent of a high school student, overheard at a diner near campus:

"He totally f****ed up his application. We want to switch him over to early decision, but the representative from [University of X] called me and said he needs to declare a major first to do that. He doesn't want to declare a major. I told him, I don't care, you can major in bondage if you want, just declare a major so you can do early decision."

cf. "Helicopter" parents

The Chicago Tribune offers up an article about why college might not always be "worth it". For example:

But they caution that some college choices are no longer a wise investment. Students destined for low-paying careers, they say, simply cannot manage certain debt levels. Loans can surpass $100,000 depending on the school and the borrower.

"If you're going to be a nursery school teacher your whole life, you should not be taking out a lot of loans," said Sandy Baum, senior policy analyst for the College Board and an economics professor at Skidmore College. "That's the problem. It's an investment people make without knowing how they will pay it off."

The counterargument, of course, is that the value of college is not necessarily a higher salary, but more finely-tuned critical thinking skills:

Experts point out that the college experience is not just about financial rewards. There is also that business about learning a few things. Students are able to explore their interests. They often become inspired by subjects they never knew existed and are able to view the world through a broader lens.

"There's value added when it comes to critical thinking and moral reasoning," said Ernest Pascarella, a University of Iowa professor who has studied the effects of college.

...

"Career-wise, college has been very important for me," [a 22-year-old finance major] said. "But it's also about knowledge. If I wasn't in school, I wouldn't be able to understand what's going on with the economy and with other things that affect my life."

I wonder if the question is not so much one of whether college is "worth it" but whether college has become the new high school. Young people in many places in the US find themselves competing for service and retail jobs with college graduates, even though these jobs do not necessarily require "college-level" skills. Meanwhile, graduate school seems to be fast becoming the new college, where college graduates find that they can't get higher-level jobs unless they hold M.A.s or M.B.A.s, and some, unable to find jobs after graduation, enter graduate school in order to delay their disappointment with the job market.

Perhaps the critical thinking skills that we work so hard to develop in our freshman comp students need to be taught in high school. I'm concerned that instead of teaching important skills in high school, parents, teachers, and the public education system in some states are merely extending adolescence until at least age twenty-two.

(Sometimes, I give my 200-level literature classes tongue-in-cheek "how to be a grownup" lessons. They're more appreciative than you might imagine.)

The envelope was what first tipped me off: a return address from an organization called "Colleges in New York" located in Little Falls, New Jersey, with a message reading "Ever dream of earning a million dollars? Check out your personalized website inside."

Enclosed is a questionnaire that informs me that "according to the US Department of Labor, those who have a bachelor's degree earn about one million dollars throughout their careers than those who only have their high school diplomas."

(Quick statement unpack: If you work from age 22-62 at $25,000/year, you earn one million dollars throughout your career. If you work the same 40 years at $50,000/year, you earned one million more dollars throughout your career.)

The "questionnaire" never identifies itself as what it is (most likely a request for information from an unaccredited college program). only asking questions like the following:

Are you satisfied with your employment?
- Totally satisfied with employment situation
- Currently considering a job change
- Need more income, greater challenge, etc.
- Other

They also invite me to fill out the questionnaire on the web via a "personallized website," which turns out to be just a form with my name and address filled out, asking for my phone number and the best time to call. At the top, they tell me that they "look forward to helping [me] identify educational programs that will improve your earning power and enhance your long-term employment skills." The website http://www.collegesofny4you.com (without the extra info for my "personalized site") produces a 404 error. Further, I can't determine what institution the site is affiliated with because I cannot get past the "personalized" page without submitting my phone number.

Neither the site nor the questionnaire offers any identifying information, which I am fairly sure is not permissible in most states. A WhoIs search offers little more because the domain name was registered by proxy. And the return address on the envelope happens to be exactly the same address (P.O. Box) as a school that closed in 1990; thus, a quick Google search might lead a person to believe that the questionnaire comes from a valid, operating school.

In any case, anyone brave enough to proffer his or her phone number in order to determine who these people are and what their game is (I have enough diploma mills calling me already, thank you) wins $5 in chips from the Atlantic City -- or Council Bluffs, Iowa -- casino of your choice. ;)

On May 17th, I received a postcard from something called "The National Scholars Honor Society" inviting me to apply for membership via http://www.magnacumlaude.org. Listen closely and you'll hear the scam sirens:



The fact that they give out a handful of $5000 scholarships is what probably keeps them on the right side of legal, but technical legality doesn't mean it's not a scam (i.e. Poetry.com, PublishAmerica, and blogosphere favorite DirectBuy). Naturally, I decided to apply for membership, since I was "cordially invited," after all.

The online application requested my address and phone number, the name of my college/university (shouldn't they already know that?), my "current scholastic level" (fascinating how the application is identical for undergrads and grad students), and an optional section for "personal information," including "awards, honors, memberships, personal attributes, accomplishments, experiences." It said that the section was optional but would be used for "initial evaluation," so of course, I left it blank.

This morning, I received a -- what do you know? -- letter of acceptance from the National Honor Society! (Incidentally, or perhaps not, I also received a notice that I am being "considered for inclusion" in the Cambridge Who's Who Among Executive and Professional Women.) The National Honor Society writes:

It is my honor and privilege to extend congratulations on your acceptance into The National Scholars Honor Society. Our membership of over 90,000 university scholars and students welcomes you.

Hmm, this doesn't sound like an uberselect group, does it?

And naturally, the next step is for me to "complete my membership" with a Visa, Mastercard, or Discover; their "lifetime membership fee" is $85.00.

College students and their parents should be aware that "The National Scholars Honor Society" most likely operates along the same lines as publishing scams: every student is accepted, and every student must pay a membership fee. (Yes, most legitimate honor societies do charge a yearly fee, but they don't send unsolicited application requests and have a much more rigorous application process than an online form that asks for your name, address, email, and the name of your school.) I'd warn students and parents to avoid any unsolicited invitations to join honors societies or be listed in a directory, and of course, to be wary of "scholarship search services" that charge exorbitant fees merely to do what you could do with Google and a printer.