Written by Chris Magyar
Tuesday, September 1st, 2009
There’s an issue with kids these days. Jeff Pilchiek sees it in the Westlake High School upperclassmen he counsels on college admissions. “These are kids who don’t
want to get rejections,” he says. “In the past, we’d just apply to schools and hope, but the student today is scared of rejection because they haven’t had much of that in their lives.”
This might not invoke much sympathy from the grow-from-your-failures generation, but it’s an attitude that’s been encouraged by state law. In the 12 years since the top 10 percent law (HB 588) was passed, The University of Texas at Austin (along with the other public state universities) has guaranteed admission to all in-state applicants who graduate in the top 10 percent of their high school classes. In 2008, HB 588 alone accounted for 76 percent of UT-Austin’s freshman class. Projections showed that the campus would be entirely occupied by HB 588 admissions within a decade. The school had, according to UT President William Powers Jr., “lost control”
of its admissions process.
(more…)
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