Admissions into colleges have gotten tougher each year. The rate of admissions for top colleges is single-digit: ~6% for Harvard. The requirements for U.S. colleges are even more complicated than U.K. systems: GPAs, school activities, leaderships, sports, music performance etc. So it is not surprising that high schoolers are working every day till the small hours each day to compete for a fat admission letter from their dream schools.
This week, CNN reports a “massive college admission scandal” which include SAT administrators, coaches, college administrators and dozens of desperate parents. It is alleged that the parents pay a big cheque to the sports coaches and others to get their children admitted as top athletes, although the students have never played the sports before.
In my opinion, this is just a tip of an iceberg. U.S. college admissions are opaque processes. Unlike colleges here in Singapore, GPA is only one of the many factors in the application package for U.S. colleges. Even for students with perfect SAT scores of 1600, GPA of 4.0/4.0 and stellar record of activities, they are still not sure if they will be admitted or not. In such an unpredictable and opaque process, clever manipulations, legal and illegal, could find much demand among anxious parents. Therefore, these desperate attempts by parents to “buy” their children a seat in college are not surprising. In fact, we would be surprised if there are no such manipulations at all.
The thing is that if the students are not academically prepared for colleges, they are going to suffer throughout the four years. That is also why the graduation rate among U.S. colleges are relatively low: many drop out of college because they could not cope. Then what is the point of cheating into college and get stuck in a hole?
Instead, would it be better if the students get professional training to help them prepare themselves academically for colleges? Taking AP courses is a great way to go. The course materials are rigorous and relevant to college courses. For example, students who have taken AP calculus and AP physics are much better prepared for the rigor of college science and engineering. Some of them could also transfer academic credits from AP to college, saving time and money during college!
Here we offer effective AP VIP tutoring services, online and offline. Instead of paying millions for a fake score card, why not investing in your or your children’s future? Please feel free to contact us at +65-9646-7611 for enquiries.
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