I have a lot of sympathies to Suzy Lee Weiss, who's op-ed about the artificiality of the college admissions racket is still getting lots of attention.
Like me, millions of high-school seniors with sour grapes are asking themselves this week how they failed to get into the colleges of their dreams. It's simple: For years, they—we—were lied to.
Colleges tell you, "Just be yourself." That is great advice, as long as yourself has nine extracurriculars, six leadership positions, three varsity sports, killer SAT scores and two moms. Then by all means, be yourself! If you work at a local pizza shop and are the slowest person on the cross-country team, consider taking your business elsewhere.
Although there aren't enough activities for kids like Ian, there never seems to be enough teenagers volunteering to help out. His swimming class is so packed with volunteers that sometimes there are more volunteers than diabled kids in the pool. Same goes with his art classes and bowling league. At the library, there are always more volunteer tutors than kids who need help.
Why? Because teenagers need stuff to put on the college resume. Some of the volunteers genuinely want to help and are awesome kids; others not so much.
Suzy doesn't want to do fake-volunteering and doesn't have a Tiger Mom to push her to do this stuff. Does she deserve a spot at Penn anyway?