Saturday, November 16, 2002

So, today was a very fun day! Yay! I awoke around 7:30 am to begin working on homework. I typed a 1.5 page paper in about an hour and then went downstairs to a lovely breakfast. I then proceeded to my friend J. Riemer's house and we then both proceeded to Texas A&M University, to attend the football game against Missouri. The game was intense, the crowd did yells and the teams provided sound entertainment. The game ended up going into double overtime, unfortunately the Ags lost. Maybe RC will have better luck at another school. We ended the day with pizza and watching the University of Texas get slaughtered by Texas Tech. Finally, we returned home, after cruising around Tomball for a while.

As of yet, I am still trying to understand the entire college admissions process. From what I have heard, in general, most colleges look at: A. Your class rank B. Your SAT/ACT composite score C. Your extracurricular activities D. Leadership positions E. Talents/Awards. I believe this to be a sound method of student selection, but I believe it could be greatly improved upon. There are some students in high school that take a minimal number of 'Honors/AP' classes that still have higher GPAs than those students that take entirely 'Honors/AP' classes. In essence, students that are taking easier classes are getting better grades because of their less challenging schedules, while those students taking the most challenging classes are getting punished because of their desire to further expand their mental horizons (result: they don't have higher grades). Initially, one might say that those students should not be in the 'Honors/AP' classes, but the idea is that they push themselves to become better students. I'm not saying that the other students are slacking, but, they potentially could do better. The idea of this argument is to encourage college admissions counselors to not look directly at class rank. I have heard many high school counselors say that the colleges do look at your high school class schedules before making their decision. Unfortunately, this assumption is of a lucrative loss to the college and according to admissions employment, impossible. In order for colleges to view these documents, many people would have to be trained to determine the worthiness of the applicant at the school. These workers would not be needed all year long, but only during the time that applications are being reviewed. Obviously, colleges are not going to take the time, money, and office space to provide for these 'temps' in the manner described. In my opinion, the colleges simply divide your application according to class rank and then go about their regular admissions process. (i.e. only allowing those students in with the highest class rank). I hold these general opinions to be true and the entire process to be somewhat biased.

In recent years, at Texas A&M University (my #1 college choice), the admissions board was sued for not allowing enough minorities into the school. So, I suppose they should now discriminate whites (considered to be the majority) as well. Perhaps the students that were picked were more qualified, as opposed to having a particular skin color. Now, the university is accepting minorities over whites (considered the majority) only if they performed in a mediocre fashion during their high school/pre-college years. I believe that this in itself is a racist act and contradicts the famous quote, "No one should be judged by the color of their skin..." (Martin Luther King Jr.). In this case, people are judged by the color of their skin, only to defy the words of minority deliverance in America. All of these opinions of mine are most likely biased, but, I see it as my opinion, not written to offend, but only to allow people to see my thought(s). I am not a racist or a member of any group or organization that promotes discrimination, but only a hungry scholar, hoping to continue my education in the school of my choice.

Well, I am exhausted from this long day of revelry and I dread tomorrow, a day full of homework and homework.

"Peace out..." -Biff

posted by Adam @ 10:36 PM Comments: 0