Thursday, July 9, 2020

Childhood and College Admissions

Childhood and College Admissions May 30, 2012 Dont ruin your daughters childhood because you think equestrian will get her into college. Theres a good chance youre a.) hurting your relationship with your daughter and b.) not helping her chances of admission. Having a nice childhood and college admissions success are not mutually exclusive. Contrary to what Belen Aranda-Alvarado wrote in The New York Times yesterday on their Motherlode blog, kids dont have to start thinking about college admissions when theyre ten! Ms. Aranda-Alvarado, a Tiger Mom-wannabe, is seemingly absolutely nuts. She seems to be under the misimpression that college admissions counselors will drool over a Latina young woman from the Bronx who rides horses. Is equestrian a hook for highly selective college admissions? It can be. Just as basketball can be a hook. In order for it to be a hook, Ms. Aranda-Alvarados daughter best be quite good at riding horses, though. But beyond that, you cant force a hook on a child. Just because Ms. Aranda-Alvarados daughter might like riding horses at ten, that doesnt mean shes going to like doing it at twelve. And while the mother jokes that if her daughter is thinking about quitting some years down the line shell put her foot down, who wants to put yourself in that position? Who wants to force a child to do an activity just to get into college? College admissions counselors werent born yesterday. They can tell if a student is truly passionate about an activity or if theyre doing it because mommy made them. And while Ms. Aranda-Alvarado cites Malcolm Gladwells 10,000 hour theory, a theory that weve written about quite a bit over the years, what she fails to realize is that Bill Gates programmed at a computer for 10,000 hours because he was passionate about programming. Michael Phelps swims for so many hours because he loves swimming. If your daughter isnt passionate about equestrian, shes a.) not going to reach 10,000 hours and b.) not going to impress college admissions counselors to the extent you think she will. A Latina young woman from the Bronx who rides horses isnt as incredible as you might think it is. It may even read: Mommy and Daddy paid big bucks for their daughter to develop a hook so she can get admitted to the college of her choice. Disagree? Let us know your thoughts by posting below.