Quote:
Originally posted by Munchkin03
No one is mentioning that 20 points for being an athlete is pretty excessive.
Does it only become a tragedy when it's middle to upper-middle class students who have to make difficult choices?
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I agree with you point on the athletic points -- and nearly mentioned it, but decided it wasn't the subject of the thread. But that's OK -- I probably should have.
You're also right on the Ivy's etc. My problem is that it keeps middle class, etc. kids out. Is that a tragedy? Probably not.
Our son was/is a National Merit Scholar and student body VP with lots of community service, extracurriculars etc. One of his girl friends (not girlfriend, if you understand) had the same (actually identical) test scores, etc. She wasn't nearly as active school and community wise.
Her father is wealthy and she's going to Harvard. I'm not, and our son is going to Oklahoma on a nearly full academic ride. Nothing wrong with Oklahoma -- it's a wonderful school, and he wasn't particularly interested in Harvard. BUT, he was interested in Northwestern, and they offered him $39,000 per year of loans.
My point is simply that, unless you want your kids saddled with big loans, here is a "super student" who can't get a scholarship at a highly selective school because of my income.
So, the message that sends to me is, "Why try so hard in high school?"
Finally, I'm not suggesting that scholarships should all be merit based either. I think there should be some of each.