There are plenty of frightening things in the news these days -- from the economic crisis to Iran's nuclear ambitions to gang violence that catches innocent children in its crossfire. The article that gave me the worst shivers last week, however, had nothing to do with impending global catastrophes or violence. Rather, the subject was college admissions.
The article, which appeared in the Chicago Tribune on Oct. 20, detailed a phenomenon beyond my imagination: parents attempting to sabotage other students' chances at admission by sending colleges incriminating information about other parents' children who are competing with their own.
Admissions officers from schools as different as Northwestern and Ohio State, Harvard and University of Illinois, reported receiving letters making slanderous allegations about other applicants. The letters, often unsigned, reported things like criminal records, suspensions for alcohol use, and the fact that an applicant wasn't actually class president. Sometimes the authors of these letters suggested that admissions officers check a student's Facebook pictures.
In the past I've rolled my eyes at college coaches, astronomically priced SAT tutoring and mission trips to third-world countries undertaken solely for the sake of resum building. Sabotage, though, is more than just another silly trend spawned by intense college competition. When the nature of competition changes from trying to present yourself as the best applicant you can be to trying to damage the reputation of other applicants, a serious line has been crossed. It's fine to work hard for admission to the school of your dreams. It's not fine to take the easy way out -- resorting to sneaky, backhanded attacks on your peers -- in hopes that it might somehow give you a leg up.
Although students often motivate themselves to strive for admission to prestigious universities, parents also stoke the flames. The Tribune article blamed parents for the underhand tactics, and comments on ChicagoTribune.com were quick to see the shadow of parental intervention in the phenomenon.
The idea that parents, whose supposed job it is to instill values and morals in their children, would stoop to this level, is particularly disturbing. We wonder why presidential campaigns are so dirty, and why CEOs are so willing to take advantage of others to make a profit. Perhaps both are symptomatic of a society that teaches its youth that maliciously defaming the competition is an appropriate way to succeed.
In this most competitive admissions year -- based on the number of current high school seniors -- maybe it's time for hyper parents and their panicked students to step back from the college admissions fray and ask themselves some serious questions, such as if going to the college of your choice is really worth compromising your morals.
According to Caroline Kerr '05, senior assistant director of admissions, Dartmouth occasionally receives such disparaging letters. Unlike some schools that choose to disregard such letters, Dartmouth may follow up on the information it receives by contacting the named student's guidance counselor, Kerr said. Therefore, letters sent to Dartmouth have the potential to seriously hurt an applicant's chance of admission. Conversely, I can only hope that students who have sent in damaging information about their peers haven't benefited from doing so.
Malicious competition is antithetical to the spirit of the Dartmouth community. I have already witnessed, and benefited from, the kindness and generosity of Dartmouth students. A student in my Humanities class put a lot of time and effort into making a comprehensive, six-page study guide for our midterm last week. He then emailed it to me and some of our other classmates, without asking for anything in return. As far as I can tell, examples like this are the rule, not the exception, at Dartmouth.
It might be frustrating to know that someone is succeeding based on lies. That doesn't make it alright to stoop to their level. People willing to engage in cutthroat, underhanded behavior in order to get admitted don't have a place at Dartmouth.
